I caught a couple more brook trout from that little pool before Joe suggested that we move on upstream. The little creek continued through a series of riffles and pools, each one producing a couple more brook trout. As we went farther upstream I began to hear a noise that sounded like the rushing of water coming over a big waterfall.

It has been a rather strange summer - scheduled to be in the 90's today. In fact the last several days have really been warmer than usual, but since this was one of the longest, toughest winters in anyone's memory the hot weather is welcome.

It was a hot and steamy Saturday morning in central Pennsylvania as I stepped into the cool waters of the local tail water stream. What started out as a bluebird morning had quickly turned threatening, as the clouds closed in and overcast skies were accompanied by stifling humidity.

By all rights I should never have become a fly fisherman. By heritage I'm born of Danish, German, and Welsh parentage. My grandparents migrated to the USA in the late 1800's, or early 1900's. There wasn't a fishing gene of any kind in their background. I was born in 1942 at the end of the depression, and my father had a real struggle just keeping his large family alive.

It has dried out enough that I was told that I could drive into one pond as long as I followed the path the tractor had made. It's the middle of June and the first time the canoe hits the water. I was glad he said to follow the path as there were some places the truck would have sunk out of site.

I had a day off and that means that a pond will be visited. It has been very hot so the decision was made to go out early, and that way I could be home before it got real hot. Also that would let me get some things done in the garden. I can plant a few and the sit in the shade for a while.

I thought I had seen a pattern similar to this before, but I couldn't find it online, so I may have just dreamed it. Anyway, I was playing around at the bench try to find a way to make decent-looking large-bodied bugs like katydids and humpbacked crickets. I got the ideas from roof shingles. This is an easy tie.

HOME GROWN TOMATOES WITH BALSAMIC AND OIL

I wait in anticipation for this time of year, when the tomatoes are fully ripe and ready for the picking the slicing and the eating! And oh what a feast to lay out for yourself and friends if you have any there with you. The best part there is no cooking involved.

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.

The sun on this late Montana morning rose over my Big Sky home into a robin-egg blue sky that, in Montana, seems to go on forever. The mountains were tack sharp against the blue sky and the air had a certain crispness that foretold the coming of fall. I was aware that somewhere beyond those mountains the first cold winds of winter are gathering, but not today.

Perhaps it's old age but with the passage of time I find myself becoming more cynical. Since I have spent better than half a lifetime chasing fish, especially trout, with a long rod and a hook covered with fur and feathers I am inclined towards casting a jaundiced eye at much of what passes for sound advice when it comes to catching fish on a fly.