montana trip

posted pics on abpf. fishing was excellent. only fished the madison
one day...last sunday...from 3 dollar up to the slide inn. oddly, i saw
only one person on my side of the river until i got to raynolds, then
only 3 others from there. lots of big fish on the edges in early
morning and late afternoon. caddis were the ticket. fished to one huge
brown for about an hour at indian joe's turn above miller's archipelago.
that fish still haunts me like middleton's blind trout in the bright
country...except i didn't catch him. he was well over 20 inches. he
nosed my fly three separate times, toying with me. each time, his head
came out of the water and that one big brown eye looked right through
me. i have a few fish i'll never forget...he is one of them.

the rest of the time, danl and i fished smaller creeks and the gallatin.
all except fan creek were very productive. we hit one spot that was so
good we spent 3 full days on it. big rainbows and cutts...beautiful,
healthy fish. danl left for wyoming last saturday to fish some streams
down there before heading back to californicania, and other than my day
on the madison, i spent the rest of the time touring with rachel. i
missed seeing the usual folks, but danl, rachel, and the fish are great
companions. the campfire lodge breakfasts are still the best anywhere,
though there is a new waitstaff. mark and his wife (she received her
nursing degree and licensure) have moved to billings.

jeff