Fly Fishing: Photo...Porn...

Big Spring Creek (Lewistown, MT) has been a favorite ever since the first time we fished it way back when. The photo is more recent, shot during our marathon two year odyssey desperate to at least wet a line in as many of the dozens of creeks, rivers and lakes we planned to include in Flyfisher's Guide to Montana. I can't remember what or how many we caught or did not catch that day but the highlight was all the wonderful stream improvement work ongoing. Successful changes such as these only serve to make great cricks even greater fishing-wise but fish and catch rates aside healing old wounds is just downright good for everything and every one...sort a like chicken soup for the soul...

The blue-winged olive hatch is among the best hatches at Big Spring Creek. Generally speaking the hatch comes off in March and April and then again in October and November. A couple sizes bigger in the spring, like #18-20s; the fall hatch is more like #22-24s. While I can't prove it bwos like pmds are trout candy and whenever the tiny bugs are around you can almost bet the farm trout are keying on them; at least some of the trout most of the time. Though it takes a keen and practiced eye sometimes to figure out just which stage the trout are relishing at any given moment...nymph, emerger, cripple, dun...and of course not all the trout are in tune to the same items and naturally trout being trout are apt to switch gears without notice. The good news is no matter how it all turns out all fun...Right? Right... 

Label this shot Gale captured high in the Beartooths: Yee intrepid reporter doin' his thing...in this case, as opposed to gittin' 'er done. Although it pains the ol' boy to confess, truth is the trout in this here pond done kicked my butt...Of the dozens slurping and swirling every direction, mad for some little itty bitty no-seeums I landed...oh maybe three or four...What's wrong with that you say? Well, nothing really just the trout were but a wee bit bigger than the nearly invisible hatch....OK maybe not that small but you get my drift, I'm sure...

 Not long after shooting this one at Cliff Lake in the Gravellys a whole herd of rainbows moved in almost on the beach, cruising around in plain sight, merrily picking off hatching callibaetis; an easy cast in any direction. Feeding with reckless abandon I think would about cover it.  Okay, we did not eat skunk but the licking those hungry trout put on us...But then as Gale said, Who cares about a slimy ol' trout when you're finnin' around immersed in all that wonderful blue water and a white sand beach besides...Hard to argue, eh?