TR Montana
 

I brought two friends along and they both had a great time. We arrived
home at midnight last night after a 950 mile drive.

The fishing was, at times, beyond amazing. It's pretty incredible to
pitch a size 4 dry into big heavy water and see an 18" brown rise from
the depths and smash it. There were lots of giant stoneflies (salmon
flies in Montana) and even more golden stoneflies. I was suprised that
more anglers weren't fishing the big dries, choosing instead to fish
caddis dries. I took my cue from Jeff Miller, now frequently mistaken
for a guide in Montana, and fished the larger dry flies with success.

Willi did a great job of organizing some really good trips to nearby
waters. Steve and I like to say "do what Willi does" if you want to
catch fish and have fun in great places. Steve showed up even though
it was tough for him and I'm glad he did. John Hightower too, and he
was the only catcher on our morning in Quake Lake - RW and Willi had
done very well the day before. Warren is still a great and gregarious
host and a tremendous guide for the local waters.

I met lots of people in person for the first time. Wayno brought Rhea
with him and she is lovely - and Wayno gave a great mini concert one
night until the Western Amish, aka Mormon Girls, had him shut down.
The Maryland guys, Gene, Frank, and Allen, are great and they seemed to
have pretty consistently good fishing. Thanks for the flies Frank. We
were waiting for the shuttle drivers and fishing a little around the
put in at Lyons bridge when Gene complimented my casting, which was a
first for me. Thanks Gene. Willi says I look like a windmill. It's
much more fun to chuck dries. JR is a great guy, quiet and modest and
an excellent angler and fly tier, which I already knew. Asadi lived up
to my expectations and it was really fun to meet him and talk some. I
got to know Jeff Miller better, finally getting to spend a little time
with him at a clave. He's a great angler and very good guy, which I
also already knew, but he confirmed all that in the time we spent
together. IJ is a character and he doesn't call me Burger King any
more. Thanks for the dinner guys. I hope you're still having a great
time up there.

I'm still speechless - it was the best fishing of my life for three
days or so and the rest were pretty good too.

More later as I think of it. If anyone wants to discuss flies,
hatches, tactics, etc, I'm up for that too. It was incredible.

bruce h