I recommend going outside. It will be cold. Start a fire, laugh, fish a little. If you are lucky you will have some unexpected adventures show up. Bring some friends because an extra set of hands can be helpful. If the day lays out perfectly you will encounter a few fish. They will be worth Read More »
Bitterroot River Montana December 2018 Fishing – Sort Of The pace of a Missoula fishing guide’s life slows down quite a bit in the winter. Most of us take on odd jobs while our rivers sleep. We do watch the Missoula weather and the magic number we like is a winter day over 40 degrees Read More »
Slice of River Life – Missoula Montana Guide Brooks Jessen I have worked with Missoula fly fishing guide Brooks Jessen on water and in field for two decades. He became a fishing guide on almost the same day I did. He is a true veteran of the outdoors. As a guide’s career wears on he Read More »
Bitterroot River Montana – 9 Degrees Frigid dry dawns have been the recycling outcome of winter’s low rising sun. The clogging slog of warm wet blizzards that wanted to take over our Missoula Montana winter a few weeks ago have given way to lazer cold. The biting ice is entrepreneurial in its drive to erase Read More »
Montana’s Winter : Blackfoot River I like the Blackfoot River the most and the least. The latter is not her fault. Quiet winter weekday hikes remind me to favor her more. I wince when the summer waves of boats are aggressively mining her generous naive small fish population while inebriated tubers treat here like a Read More »
Missoula Fly Fishing : Photos, Season Wrap I took some time off lately to hunt, fish, sleep, think, and digest the Missoula fly fishing season. We had been running boats everyday since the beginning in March of 2018. In the early days of my guiding career it was just me and boat. Anglers would show Read More »
Montana has an initiative on the ballot this Nov. 2nd that would further protect our waterways. I hope we keep a long term view of resource management and protect our rivers from irresponsible mining practices that endanger our irreplaceable public resources.
Guide nicknames come and go, but the good ones stick like a whitefish on a prince nymph. The cultural milieu of the Missoula fly fishing guide world can get muddied and colorful at the same time.
The fall rolls on in Missoula Montana as fly fishing guides stay on the water and the net keeps getting filled. Humans row the oars and dance with the other humans in the knee locks. Fishing can be a funny business.
14 seconds of Missoula fly fishing zen. Thank clean freestone rivers and wild trout who prefer very small macro invertabrates.