"That kid is in for the ride of his life"

Friday was our second day of fishing and we took to the Flathead river in the early morning light...well it was actually more like 11am.

2009 Trout Slayers

As I mentioned before, Alicia and I have had to accept the fact that we occasionally must fish with someone other than Rod. Last year it was Andy, this year it was Eric's turn.

Let me set the stage here. Eric is the owner of the outfitter. He owns a fly shop on Main Street in downtown Bigfork. Married, father of 2. 40 years old. Let me also say that the guy is serious about fishing. I know, typically a great quality in a guide, but come on...look who your dealing with. I need to set the record straight though....while we are by no means fanatics, we do however like to fish and enjoy tips on mastering that perfect cast. So, this year the crazy girls we paired with the serious guide. As McCreedy once said, "this could be good, or this could be bad...but I think good." Indeed it was. To break the ice, we came bearing gifts....specifically in the form of tequila (which we heard would loosen him up a bit). Having seen Eric out on the town a few night prior, we had already broken through the initial "discover each other's bodies" faze (and yes, that's a euphemism), so once we got the iPod cranking (which he was initially opposed to) and the tequila flowing it was determined that "that kid was in for the ride of his life."

The more mature boat (and please note, I use that term very lightly) was its typical self. Ash and Brett paired with McCreedy who has no been affectionately dubbed McCreeky...thanks in part to old age and a salty lifestyle. To add to the fun...McCreeky brought Marley, his trusty chocolate lab. But to spice things up, McCreeky surprised us all with his helmet cam. Let's just say he had me at helmet cam! (and yes, I'll be getting one very soon).

Team Eric

Team McCreeky

Check out that helmet cam!

Marley had a ball (or should I say a stick)

The day on the water was fairly typical. Beautiful scenery, fabulous weather (although it was a recording breaking day of 88 degree heat - 88 degrees, hoh?!?! shesh), and great company. We got in some great boat on boat interaction, did some great casting (and sling shotting), and Alicia...I mean Terry...got to row the boat for a bit. We even shotgunned beers in honor of Andy, our back up guide from last year.

Dolly took to this pretty quickly

Alicia caught a nice cutthroat

I can't believe Eric let Terry row his boat

Our boat had some sling shotting fun

And we got pretty corporate with the tequilia

We have a strict "don't ask/don't tell" policy with this one

After a great day on the river, we headed to Woody's....our favorite gas station/restaurant/bar. Gotta love that. There we recapped the day and, well frankly, sobered up a bit with some assorted fried deliciousness.

Ash and the guides at Woody's

Brett and the ladies (sans Terry)

After Woody's the guides joined us back at the house for some of Ashley's famous chili on the porch. As if having the guides over to the house wasn't the icing on the cake, they kicked it up a notch building a fie down by the river and led us in a fire side sing-a-long. Well, the fire part is true, but a sing-a-long would have put it right over the top for me. Maybe next time.

It was Brett's last night, so we said our goodbyes that night before retiring.

Fireside by the river

Eric warming up by the fire

Check out more pics from our Friday fun on the Flathead.