LAST LIGHT

It’s that time of the year. Potential Clients are setting up for the coming season. As with any well organized outing, I always get asked what the daily schedule looks like (if they don’t ask, I’ll certainly tell them).

CAN YOU HEAR THE WATER SONGS?

What do you hear when the river bank is near after cresting the forested byway?

Does it sound so serene, wash over you clean, this bubbling flowing highway?

THE LONG WAY HOME

In mid-April the Ladyfisher and I made the long trip from our winter residence in Tucson, Arizona back to our home in Livingston, Montana. By road it’s approximately 1,300 miles which at my age takes 3½ days. After 2 nights in motels with 4 cats and a canary it’s always a welcome sight to see that last exit on Interstate 90 that says Livingston.

ACROSS THE STREET

About a week before we packed up and headed back to Montana from our winter digs in Tucson Arizona we noticed a Pod had been delivered across the street from us. People showed up who apparently packed and filled the pod with boxes. Lots of boxes.

ROUGH DAY

It was early Sunday afternoon when we turned on the Weather Channel. I saw that there was a 100% chance of storms on Tuesday. My better half suggested that I go out now instead of being out in the rain. Who am I to argue?

THE PEACE AND QUIET OF FISHING

The angler drove his old Ford truck down a familiar dirt road. The trees on both sides of the road had grown and covered the road in a green leafy tunnel. The angler quietly wondered to himself why some people found him odd. He didn’t keep his catch, but instead quietly released them back into the cool water from which they came.

PERCEPTIONS CAN BE REALLY FUNNY THINGS

It was the first day of the Central Washington fish in. My good friend Jeff W and I headed out early in the morning on a quest for bluegills. We spent most of the morning fishing the deeper waters on the west end of Stan Coffin Lake near the reed bundles hoping for some early spring bluegills.

TYING WITH STYLE

I recently spent some time with a fishing partner discussing the waters planned for this year, and some of the events attended throughout the past winter. It was a good talk, the kind that comes naturally over a beverage-of-choice and good company.

HI - (fiction)

“Hi, I’m a caddis larva. Pardon me if I can’t talk right now but I just hatched out of this gelatinous egg mass that my mother placed under this rock just a few days ago. The water is really racing through here and I have to get myself attach to something or I’m going to be washed away.”

SPRING IN MONTANA

I thought our readers might like to see what the Yellowstone River south of Livingston looks like the first week of May 2011. Currently, as of May 7, 2011, the snow water equivalent in the Yellowstone basin is 152% of average, and the runoff has not started yet. May and June are typically wet months in Montana so it appears that we will be experiencing high water well into July.

THE "NIGHT STALKERS"

Any fisherman who’s spends any time on the river will tell you that the really ‘Big Browns’ come out at night.  To that end we spend countless dollars and hours on the river in hopes of nailing the 20+ inchers.

WB'S RRP

This is a pattern that I have fished in a lot of Montana waters with good luck. It can be tied from 14’s down to 20’s I have fished it as a caddis emerger in 14’s and as a midge pattern in 20’s, it just produces.