Snakebite Victim Update...

It's been 15 days since Gale shot this gruesome photo; some 12 hours after Annie's run in with a rattler in the grass beside Freezeout Lake. As I posted previously up until a week ago the leg was not looking good, things were not going well. She would not drink unless forced to and was eating very little. She would not put her foot down instead continued to hop about on three legs...Trust me, for us it was damn frustrating, difficult to deal with and tough to watch. But then last weekend something of drastic turn for the good, the swelling began disappearing, the discoloration began to fade, and every now and then she started using her foot. Better still she began eating although still not drinking anywhere near normal, she did drink.

The above two photos shot a couple days ago show how fast the healing is progressing. The swelling is gone, hair is growing in and except for the two places where dead skin sloughed (also sloughed between her toes where the snake hit) if it weren't for the short hairs you would never know. Especially if you saw her running through the snow this morning...leaping Annie of old fashion from the concrete to the deck...twice mind you...Well hell, can you blame us for cheerin' like two little kids at Christmas...Anyway Dandy Annie is if not herownself at last, my take is she's damn close...Hooray!

The "Last Best River In the Last Best Place" Is Today Even Better...

thanks to Montana's Future Fisheries program. Since 2006 more than 32 miles of the Big Hole River and tributary streams—including Bryant, Swamp, LaMarche, Rock, Big Lake, South Fork Big Swamp, Fishtrap, Berry and Deep creeks—have been or will be restored or protected by the projects.

Projects have included riparian fencing to protect stream banks, stream-channel restoration, and the restoration of riparian areas by planting native grasses and shrubs. In addition, restoration workers installed fish ladders to allow fish passage and constructed additional pools in the river to improve grayling habitat, fashioned hardened cattle crossings, laid pipelines, installed water-measuring devices, and built solar paneled stock-water wells and stock-watering areas. The new stock-watering areas are designed to encourage grazing away from the stream to protect stream-side vegetation and to improve late-summer flows critical for fish survival.

Most of the work is taking place on lands owned by ranchers participating in the nation's largest federally approved Conservation Candidate Agreement with Assurances program. Approved by FWP and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services in 2006, the Big Hole River CCAA includes 32 local landowners with 152,139 acres of private land and 6,030 acres of state land enrolled.

For the rest of the story, work that is ongoing all across the state go to http://fwp.mt.gov/habitat/futureFisheries/

Don't Put Away the Fly Rods Yet...

...November is prime time for hooking into the fattest trout of the season. As these photos show...

Fall brown trout are fat, happy and hungry...

So too brook trout; as both are fall spawners and need major calories to survive the rigorous event...

Rainbows spawn in spring but cooling water temperatures trigger the instinct to put on as much weight as possible to fend off the harsh, lean winter just around the corner...

The old adage big fish/big fly certainly applies most any season...

...But come November you can hardly go wrong pitchin' the biggest, nastiest, meatiest lookin' ties in the box...