Caddis Chronicles

Arrived home safe and sound, unrested but happy and contented. We hit 6 rivers in a week of fishing - the Madison, Ruby, Missouri, Beaverhead, Big Hole and Henry's Fork rivers. Most were on the high side from the melting snow pack in the surrounding mountains, but clear and fishable. Well, mostly fishable, when the winds weren't blowing 40-50 miles an hour. Beautiful country, nice people and wildlife everywhere. I've been going out there for years and never have I seen it so lush and green as this time.

Speaking of lush and green, the first thing I did when I got home was go out into the raspberry patches around the house and pick the ripe fruit. Talk about fresh and sweet. Great stuff and we have enough to freeze a bunch and have it last for months!

So back to Montana. We went to bed late, like 1 or 2, and got up around 7 every day. Why? Because when you fish all day you don't eat dinner til 10 or so, then you tie flies, drink beer, and laugh for a few hours. Then when the sun comes through the windows, you wake up and get going so you don't miss any of the day's fishing or sights along the way. The fishing was good to great depending on the day and the river. Even when it was just good, it really was great given the scenery and the company.

Caught some seriously big fish on dries, and a few on nymphs, though I rarely fished subsurface this trip. Here's one of the big ones from the Madison River:

To give you an idea of the size of this guy, the reel seat and cork handle length is 13". It took a modified hair caddis dry about 5 inches off the bank. Fought like a beast. After taking this one quick pic, it was back in the water, a little wiser to the next guy that comes along and tries to entice it with a bit of feathers and fur on steel.

Got to run, more later or tomorrow.

Life is good. Get away once in a while to keep it that way.