05-08-2008, 11:10 AM
From the artistic to the eccentric-it has been seen at one time or the other at one of Montana's 306 Fishing Access Sites, say the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks folks who maintain, and like so many other Montanans, enjoy using these sites.
<br>Though FASs provide public fishing access to Montana's extraordinary waterways, they also seem to draw people looking for more than angling-a night under the stars, a place to quietly launch a canoe and drift for a few hours, an out of the ordinary experience.<br>
<br>FWP fisheries biologist in Hamilton, Chris Clancy, had an artistic experience at the Tucker Crossing FAS on the Bitterroot River near Victor. A large metal teepee-shaped burner remained at the site from the days when it burned wood wastes from nearby sawmills. One spring day he and a co-worker stopped to check the site and were engulfed by the otherworldly song of a stringed instrument. They investigated and found a young musician playing the violin inside the 'teepee burner.' They reluctantly slipped off, leaving the musician undisturbed, but Clancy still wishes he had heard the music from inside. The structure was removed a few year's later when the river migrated too close to it, but the memory of the music lives on.<br>
<br>In another instance, Carol Endicott, FWP's Yellowstone cutthroat trout restoration biologist in Livingston, met an older fellow at an FAS on the Yellowstone River. He introduced himself as 'Sunshine" and asked to borrow her boat pump. His plan was to float the river from Yellowstone National Park to its confluence with the Missouri River. When she expressed concern about his ancient rubber raft and the two rusty shovels he was using as oars, but he shrugged her off saying he had made the trip before equipped with the same gear. She last saw him rowing into the current with his shovels and wonders to this day if he made it.<br>
<br>Sometimes it is an object that speaks of a larger, private matter. Jack Austin, an FWP enforcement officer in Miles City, found a television set abandoned on the boat ramp of Roche Jaune FAS on the Yellowstone River. He investigated and a neighbor who witnessed the domestic dispute explained the argument escalated to the point that the woman threw a heavy statue at her husband. She missed and smashed the TV. Her husband deposited it on the FAS boat ramp-making a private dispute painfully public-and reaffirming why FAS maintenance folks have a challenging job.<br>
<br>Finally, and perhaps most curious, two FWP enforcement officers, unknowingly, sent in stories describing the same colorful character.<br>
<br>As a youngster Regan Dean, an FWP game warden, took karate in Dillon from an instructor, Jim, who, while still dressed in his karate uniform, would hitch a ride after class to a bar where locals would buy him drinks.<br>
<br>Twenty years later in the spring of 2002, Dean met his instructor at the Grant Marsh FAS near Hardin on the Bighorn River. Jim was camping in a wall tent, out of food and, though he was intent on fishing, he didn't have a license.<br>
<br>Dean encouraged him to get a license and left for home to get food for his old friend. He also set him up with a temporary job hoeing weeds between sugar beets rows. It was hot and dusty work but Jim stuck with it. His goal was to float the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Dean said.<br>
<br>Kevin Holland, FWP game warden in Billings, reported sighting of a fellow at Manuel Lisa FAS where the Big Horn River enters the Yellowstone. This traveler was planning to go to St. Louis by river to retrace the Lewis and Clark expedition. Holland said the fellow had a fishing license and kept a clean camp, so he didn't push the camping day limit with the older man.<br>
<br>After some checking we discovered that Holland and Dean were both describing Jim, the karate instructor. That summer was the last either has heard of the man who dreamed of floating the big river to relive history.<br>
<br>A guide to Montana's FASs can be found on the FWP web site at fwp.mt.gov on the Fishing page.
<br>Though FASs provide public fishing access to Montana's extraordinary waterways, they also seem to draw people looking for more than angling-a night under the stars, a place to quietly launch a canoe and drift for a few hours, an out of the ordinary experience.<br>
<br>FWP fisheries biologist in Hamilton, Chris Clancy, had an artistic experience at the Tucker Crossing FAS on the Bitterroot River near Victor. A large metal teepee-shaped burner remained at the site from the days when it burned wood wastes from nearby sawmills. One spring day he and a co-worker stopped to check the site and were engulfed by the otherworldly song of a stringed instrument. They investigated and found a young musician playing the violin inside the 'teepee burner.' They reluctantly slipped off, leaving the musician undisturbed, but Clancy still wishes he had heard the music from inside. The structure was removed a few year's later when the river migrated too close to it, but the memory of the music lives on.<br>
<br>In another instance, Carol Endicott, FWP's Yellowstone cutthroat trout restoration biologist in Livingston, met an older fellow at an FAS on the Yellowstone River. He introduced himself as 'Sunshine" and asked to borrow her boat pump. His plan was to float the river from Yellowstone National Park to its confluence with the Missouri River. When she expressed concern about his ancient rubber raft and the two rusty shovels he was using as oars, but he shrugged her off saying he had made the trip before equipped with the same gear. She last saw him rowing into the current with his shovels and wonders to this day if he made it.<br>
<br>Sometimes it is an object that speaks of a larger, private matter. Jack Austin, an FWP enforcement officer in Miles City, found a television set abandoned on the boat ramp of Roche Jaune FAS on the Yellowstone River. He investigated and a neighbor who witnessed the domestic dispute explained the argument escalated to the point that the woman threw a heavy statue at her husband. She missed and smashed the TV. Her husband deposited it on the FAS boat ramp-making a private dispute painfully public-and reaffirming why FAS maintenance folks have a challenging job.<br>
<br>Finally, and perhaps most curious, two FWP enforcement officers, unknowingly, sent in stories describing the same colorful character.<br>
<br>As a youngster Regan Dean, an FWP game warden, took karate in Dillon from an instructor, Jim, who, while still dressed in his karate uniform, would hitch a ride after class to a bar where locals would buy him drinks.<br>
<br>Twenty years later in the spring of 2002, Dean met his instructor at the Grant Marsh FAS near Hardin on the Bighorn River. Jim was camping in a wall tent, out of food and, though he was intent on fishing, he didn't have a license.<br>
<br>Dean encouraged him to get a license and left for home to get food for his old friend. He also set him up with a temporary job hoeing weeds between sugar beets rows. It was hot and dusty work but Jim stuck with it. His goal was to float the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Dean said.<br>
<br>Kevin Holland, FWP game warden in Billings, reported sighting of a fellow at Manuel Lisa FAS where the Big Horn River enters the Yellowstone. This traveler was planning to go to St. Louis by river to retrace the Lewis and Clark expedition. Holland said the fellow had a fishing license and kept a clean camp, so he didn't push the camping day limit with the older man.<br>
<br>After some checking we discovered that Holland and Dean were both describing Jim, the karate instructor. That summer was the last either has heard of the man who dreamed of floating the big river to relive history.<br>
<br>A guide to Montana's FASs can be found on the FWP web site at fwp.mt.gov on the Fishing page.