It was good to be back in MT, and also unmistakable that I was home. There is just something about MT...it is a special place. My dad and I had planned on fishing the reservation lakes for big bows, but a winter blizzard came out of the mountains and dumped something like 18 inches of snow on the plains, so we changed plans and fished this beautiful river near Libby. It was the first snow of the year, and first real cold spell. The fish knew it. Despite perfect looking water the fishing was tough. My dad landed the first trout of the day, a beautiful 14 inch rainbow...as wild as they get! Unfortunately it was the only fish he landed, though did connect with several more throughout the day. I ended up landing 3 trout and seven fat whitefish, and hooked 5 or 6 more fish as well. If we could find a nice looking slot in the sunshine, we hooked fish. The trout were perfect specimens, just amazing creatures but I couldn't get a good picture of one. We fished in the snow and cold, and had an outstanding day. I spent a lot of time just looking up into the mountains and ignoring my flies completely. The setting was such that the result was of no consequence. As always, it was great to fish with my dad, and being at home in MT surrounded by the mountain I love was all I could ask for on this trip.
8 comments:
I liked that sentence..."the setting was such that the result was of no consequence".
It sure is beautiful country out there...though I did never view it from the middle of a stream. How is that possible?
i got back into fly fishing too late. having a flyrod with us would have really added to that summer. you should come out to OR with justin and do some fishing.
Hey...check out my last blog posting "continuing ed". I need you and Justin to add some fuel to a potential fire. I need some stimulating discussion.
Yeah, I will have to pester Justin to go fishing. It takes awhile to get good though. Tough learning curve.
justin can short cut that learning curve without a problem...he is a heck of a good fisherman. just get him to take you, he'll walk you right into fish.
i'll check out your blog when i get a chance...
Look forward to seeing your first defense of your Dukies, they're the feature of one of our recent blogs!
Hey, I like your site and love those Montana pictures. I've only been once but am planning a spring trip. You mentioned reservation lake fishing, and I wondered if you fish Flathead lake on Salish & Kootenai's Flathead reservation. I stayed in the cool town of Polson and wondered if the fishing was any good on that lake, it'd be a nice stop on this next western MT vacation.
Sorry for the long comment, but I live in Virginia and often see carp while fly fishing for smallmouth around the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. I think next year I might just take the 8-weight out and see if I can catch one!
flathead lake has some great lake trout fishing, but it can be tough without a boat and with a flathead. for big bows on the reservation (near browning, MT) you want to fish Duck, Kipp, etc. any of the lakes over there have nice fish, and are much more accessible with a flyrod. the flathead is a great river system with a flyrod though!
give the carp thing a shot, you'll enjoy it!
I've never fished carp using my fly rod, but after reading this think I will give it a try. I have the Fishing Tackle for it! Thanks for giving me something new to think about!
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