Amidst a covid crisis which has threatened our physical as well as our financial health world-wide, the sun continues to rise and set each day.

The ways in which we experience our world have undergone drastic change over the past two months with social distancing, shelter in place orders, arbitrary and ambiguous designations of which businesses are “essential” during a pandemic, empty store shelves, masks, meat shortages, travel bans, zoom meetings, fear and loathing and an uneasy uncertainty about what the future holds.

But through all this chaos in the structure of our lives the rhythms of the natural world continue, taking no notice of the covid chaos. Spring continues to transition into summer. The grass gets greener, the days get longer, the air gets warmer, the flowers grow and the rivers flow.

Spring has always been a great time to fish the Missouri and that hasn’t changed. What has changed however, is that with non-residents being required to quarantine for 14 days when traveling to Montana PRIOR to taking part in any activities, traffic on the rivers is but a fraction of what it would normally be during this time of the year.

And while that’s bad for fly shops and outfitters, it’s a golden opportunity for Montana anglers to extend the quiet season on rivers and lakes all around the state. The absence of out of state visitors means less traffic at the ramps and on the water, less pressure on the fish and an abundance of solitude, during what is usually an extremely busy time of the year, especially on the Missouri as run-off elsewhere forces an influx of traffic to the perfect water conditions on the MO.

That being said, we did just experience what was by far our busiest weekend of 2020 with a full house and a steady parade of customers in and out of the shop all weekend long. Things actually felt “normal” on Saturday (which would have been Caddis Fest) with boat ramps buzzing with activity and an armada of drift boats and rafts occupying every stretch of water. The hope is that these were all Montanans converging on the MO, taking advantage of the nice weather and the great fishing and reveling in the freedoms afforded by phase one of our reopening. The assumption however is that not everyone on the water this weekend was a Montanan.

We are so anxious to welcome all out of state visitors back to Montana. Not only are we looking forward to seeing you all again but our livelihoods actually depend on it. That being said, we’re of the opinion that Montana has done a great job of handling this thing thus far so we urge you to abide by the quarantine rules currently in place and wait until the quarantine is lifted before you travel here. We have a feeling that will be very soon.

In the meantime this is a season of opportunity for the Montana angler. An opportunity to have what will likely soon be very busy rivers all to yourself during the prime of spring fishing.

Wolf Creek Angler is your Missouri River destination with everything you need for magical days on the Missouri. The hardest working guides on the river, clean and affordable lodging, Adipose drift boat rentals, vehicle shuttles, Simms waders, boots and sportswear and the legendary largest selection of flies ever assembled under one roof in Wolf Creek Montana. And don’t forget, we are also proud to host the Mending Waters Montana drift boat program providing FREE drift boat rentals to all vets and active duty military personnel. Book your boat today at mendingwatersmontana.org