We fished the Big Hole with our friend Eric, co-owner of Sunrise Flyshop in Melrose. I’ve said it before, Eric is seriously one of the hardest working guides on the planet.

The air temp was 17 when we woke up that morning and the water temp was hovering somewhere around 33 degrees when we started our day. Fish were sluggish so we had to go BIG to get their attention. As in big, big streamers.

We caught a number of browns early but the real fun started when the sun came out after lunch and the fish came to life. We had a blast! All of the fish were in the 15-19” range but we each caught several and had some super fun chases toward the end of the float. Nothing cooler than watching these trout hot on the trail of these massive streamers.

Did I mention we were throwing BIG streamers? I threw one fly all day long. Eric had tied it as a prototype so it was the only one in existence. Which was touch and go each of the two dozen or so times I caught it on rocks and in trees and on bushes. I was hung up a lot. But hey, I was trying to get tight to the bank to get these troutcicle fish interested!

 A massive articulated streamers with two giant hooks is simply going to get caught a few thousand times…or so. Right? (Yikes. Sorry for the extra backrowing, Eric.) Luckily we were catching enough fish to mask any potential frustration over my multiple snags.

I cast that colossal fly so many times over the course of seven hours that it actually started to hurt. I swear I think I developed tendonitis in my right arm. The Professor has recently suffered serious tendonitis in both elbows, resulting in two cortisone shots, so he wasn’t particularly sympathetic and maintains I was just “a little sore”. But I am telling you, I was one cast away from a steroid shot myself. Pitiful that just last summer I paddled 260-miles in 73 hours and was AOK, yet somehow I contracted a “sports” injury after a guided day of streamer fishing.

But it was damn worth it.

We celebrated a great day on the water and the official close of the Sunrise Flyshop season (we were the last clients for Sunrise in 2011) with Eric and his business partner Ryan. We watched Game 7 and TCU-BYU at the Melrose Bar and warmed up with homemade onion rings and other bar fare.

Ryan, Eric (of Sunrise Flyshop) and myself. Have I mentioned we are big fans of these guys? Not only have they become good friends of ours, the Professor and I are both keen to tell anyone and everyone about their operation in Melrose. If you need a guide in SW Montana, run don’t walk.

The Professor’s philly cheese steak and onion rings.

The next day we were planning to fish the Jefferson but some juicy intel advised us it wasn’t worth it right now. Which was probably for the best given I was suffering with my inflamed streameritis elbow. I wasn’t up for chucking another 5-pound fly and rowing all day – this time in gusting wind. So instead we opted for something new, a roadtrip over to Willow Creek.

That’s right. After a killer day on the Big Hole with big streamers and big fish, we decided to go dainty on their ass. We wade fished the Willow Creek spring creeks. Smaller water, smaller flies, smaller fish.

I think this little guy was actually smaller than the streamer I’d been throwing the day before. That said, he was lots of fun to catch. I had a few other bumps on the teeny nymph and one good take on an ant, even though the fished missed it. The Professor switched to an ant pattern and outfished me with this beast:

The spring creeks provided nice lite fishing and the scenery on this last-minute audible daytrip was to die for.

One of the many outtakes of my experimentation with the self timer.

After our breezy angling afternoon on the creeks, we sought out the Willow Creek Cafe and Saloon which we heard serves up the best ribs in Montana.

The barkeep was kind enough to switch the TV over to the Carolina-Wake Forest game for me. Go Heels.

In keeping with that juicy Tarheel victory, the North Carolina style mustard-base sauce on these ribs won us over as well.

Another fabulous October Montana trip punctuated by this big sky view for the ride home last evening. Replete with a little picturesque sliver of a moon…

Adios Montana. Catch you on the flipside…in 2012.

Still love ‘em. Caught this on the Missouri on this evening’s caddis hatch.

In terms of the fishing, highlights include: floating the Missouri with my new niece (the Professor’s niece) who tricked a few fish into eating on top including two takes on a fly we were told would absolutely not work. Next was floating the Big Hole with the Professor, Little Chick and my parents. Highlight was how hard Little Chick fished and the big rainbow that came unbuttoned on her. Yesterday we all had a blast on the Madison where we caught a record number of trout in the 6-10 inch range.

Where to start with the food? One day we ventured to Augusta to look at the art at Latigo and Lace. We left with many goodies, including a 1950s vintage leather western jacket and some cowboy boots Miss Kitty wore in Gunsmoke. We celebrated our shopping across the street at the Buckhorn Bar with copious amounts of fried food including jalapeno cheese tater tots, mozarella sticka and cheesy curly fries.

That night we feasted at home with family on delicious ribeyes grilled to perfection by my brother-in-law Randy. My mother cooked the rest including off-the-chart mixed berry cobbler, topped with homemade whipped cream that niece Margaret made with nephew Jack’s careful consultation.

Sadly the next evening wasn’t nearly as delightful. My mother, Little Chick and I dined at Izaaks in Craig which is under new management. I had heard negative reports and wow, they were right. Across the board the service was so atrocious and it was such a negative experience we are struggling to ever go back. To be fair, the manager was very apologetic and my mom’s pasta was delish. But they have some work to do there.

We turned things around the next night in Sheridan with the Professor on the grill. Incredible pork tenderloin, grilled vegetables, roasted potatoes, topped off with key lime pie. All made for great leftovers on the river the next day…

Then we had a splendid family dinner the next night at the Old Hotel in Twin Bridges!! Calamari, rabbit cacciatore, scallops, steaks, risotto. It was fantastic and we loved our server Rachel, who by the way had just eloped with her new husband after they had only spent three days together. Romantic!

And of course, after fishing the Madison yesterday, we couldn’t pass through Ennis without stopping in at our favorite: Banditos. Great to see our friend Scott and take my parents for their first time. After we all shared the Queso Fundido appetizer of cheese, potato, peppers and chorizo, I had the crab enchiladas. They were so good last night that I might just have the leftovers for breakfast.

Today we are switching gears. Less food, more fishing. After many chores we will head back over to the Missouri later today. While my pounds are on the rise, the Mo has finally dropped and is holding steady round 10k. No time to worry about the bathroom scales, our minds are on fish scales. Stay tuned for the report…

(One more update from the past week. We finalized the PADDLEFISH manuscript and sent it to the designer. We are in a new phase! The book is in layout, they are working on a map and cover design, we are trying to pick the interior photo shots. Progress!!)

and…..

To which I rubbed my back and replied, “Perfect, I can’t row.”

It was all worth it as we hobbled up the boat ramp at day’s end…

But back to fishing. Glorious weather. Spring creeks offering safe harbour from the choas of high rivers. PMD hatch. Everyone else was making it happen with dries but I was sticking with my little black woolybugger. Big chase and huge eat from this chunkalicious rainbow…

‘Paddlefish’ Book update: I have been hard at work and the manuscript is now officially with the editor. Progress! Still hope to have it in your hands this October. In the meantime, will keep you posted on fishing misadventures and the VERY high water out here in MT.

Thank heavens for spring creeks—they always seem to deliver a consistent performance.

Whew. That was four days of anxiety.

To diffuse the computer-blood-pressure blues, I am going to transport myself back to the Big Hole where we managed to coordinate our trip at the peak of the autumn colors. Namely, yellow. The trees were an extraordinary, electric shade of yellow. It was a lovely backdrop for throwing streamers and catching fishes…

Ahhh, now that is mellow. Om….Om….Om….