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Back in the real world once again following a great family holiday spent down south with my family. Highlights of the trip included taking in the Cowboys game at the new stadium with my two boys and dad. Spending time with everyone, including my 85 year old grandma. Deciding whether or not to slaughter 4 little pigs my dad trapped  we opted to let them live to destroy more shit as neither of us could bring ourselves to whacking them!), Quail shooting over dogs, and watching my older son take a break from gaming on the Ipad to get jacked up by catching some bass on spinnerbaits.

Home now for awhile and back to strategizing and attending to all the necessities involved with running a seasonal business. People are fishing quite a lot right now and it sounds like the bite hasn't been too bad on nymphs around here. I'm anxious to get out for a few hours sometime soon. I love winter nymphing and the solitude that usually isn't too hard to find.

Holiday Newsletter

'Tis the season in which there is always a reason...to buy a bunch of stuff for the angler in your world...or even better...yourself. Give lots of love to your local retailers this holiday season! We've got some deals online for the holidays so check 'em out, buy early, buy often! Check' em out in our newest edition of the e-news

Hanging out down on my parent's ranch near Meridian, Tx. this weekend with the family. Got some bass yesterday, no ducks this morning, and a few hogs in the pig pen. The kids all took off with the my mom and wife to some wildlife park today. Dad and I are to do some bird hunting this afternoon. Catch and release hog hunting?

Captive Pigs

Free Pigs

Happy Thanksgiving

My sons at the Cowboys game...my wife kept dancing in the  background

After an uneventful day yesterday that started around 4:30 am mountain time, the family and I made it to Dallas to spend the Holiday weekend with family. Fantastic turkey day today spent with my parents, wife, kids, grandma, aunt and uncle. Dad took me and my 2 sons to the Cowboys game this afternoon and what a great time it was. Hopefully you had a great Thanksgiving too and we all remember what it is that really matters!

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Weather around here has been better for football watching than hunting or fishing this weekend. We're supposed to a get a little relief later in the week, but I'll be in Texas for Thanksgiving with the family. Planning on doing some Bass fishing and duck hunting down there though. Also going to the Cowboys game on Turkey Day with my dad and sons.

Starting to wrap up all the preseason orders and finishing up all my end of year outfitting paperwork. Visions of NZ are starting to fill the head at nights...February can't come soon enough.

Regulation Shmegulation

U snooze u lose.

And then there is the fact that FWP is going to begin the process of determining how to go about creating a whole new management program on the Madison. This will have to do with things like limiting both commercial and recreational usage on the river. The general public or average angler most likely won't be affected from this new program, but businesses like mine and non-resident anglers will most likely have their usage restricted in some way. It's all "on the table" right now as things are in the very early stages, but something is going to change.

The problem with this is not in the end result as there can hardly be any doubt that the Madison can be crowded. The problem is that it's a big river and the commercial congestion is centered around Lyon's Bridge for most of the year. So, let's say 15 miles of the river. The upper river is usually the first thing to clear in the spring so it sees a lot of use throughout it's course for the first 2-3 weeks of dropping water. Other than those two events though, it really isn't too crowded. I'm on that river a lot and there is very little commercial traffic from Macatee to Ennis Lake after salmonflies. Sure, there is the odd day when it is but more times than not you can expect to have most of the river to yourself or a handful of boats at most on most days.

Also, save the game warden in Ennis, there is virtually no visible enforcement of the current commercial use regulations that are in place. Outfitters contribute about $70000 to the Madison river every year through the BLM's implementation of the current SRP that is in place. That number is a few years old but I imagine that it is somewhere in that ballpark today. Essentially what happened is that the BLM decided that they had the right to 3% of the gross income of all commercial operations that take part on their land. This is not unique to the Madison and I think that most commercial users feel a little bit of pride in knowing that they are contributing directly to the resource....if you consider paying administrative costs and paving a few boat ramps the resource that is. Unless they are planning on raising fees another 3-5%, I don't see how they will possibly be able to effectively administer this developing plan

My problem with that program has always centered around the fact that our stream access laws provide for recreational opportunities in between the high water marks and the stream access laws apply to commercial usage as well. I've always felt that a boat launching fee would be much more appropriate as that's the only part of the trip we actually use the govt land. The rest of the time - the majority of the trip - is spent on our beloved highway system, county roads, and all the glorious water that we are all entitled to use per our state's stream access law which has been withheld legislature after legislature and even a US Supreme Court case. In addition, we already pay a $100 fee to FWP for use of their fishing access sites.

It all sounds like  chump change until one starts to realize that 10 years ago, a guided fishing trip cost roughly $300 a day. If you rely on the free market influences (fuel prices amongst others), there has been a significant increase in costs to run a trip in that time of year. Throw on the increases in fees (a voluntary tax) and hours that it takes to administer the paperwork and increased insurance obligation and you're talking another 20%. However, the market sets it's own price and now we are sitting at around $450 for that same day of guided fishing. I'm kind of going by the seat of my pants here but the jist of the situation is that the neither of the primary users of the resource have benefited from this increase in govt. fees. The commercial operator pays more expense which gets passed along to the consumer and the govt adds no value to that relationship and the resource it regulates which in this case is ultimately the experience that a guide and guest has on the river. Whoa nelly...that's heavy.

So...occupy this! It's great to be an American where I can express my sentiment and take advantage of one of the things that the govt was actually put in place to protect...my right to free speech. As always...I could be wrong. More to come on the Madison situation and I encourage everyone to keep an eye out for public meetings whether you are for or against more regulation, it's important that your opinion is heard so that your interests will be considered while developing this plan.

Changes will happen in how most of us use the Madison River. Commercial users are deeply tied to this resource in ways that far transcend the almighty dollar. At the end of the day, everyone of us does this guiding thing because we all want to recreate that "ahhah" moment we had many years ago for the folks that we take out. Very few outfitters make enough money to worry about their tax brackets, the occupation is a means to a stable state of mind for most of us, not the bank.

Things that make you go hmmm

Here's a little something I saw on my recent bird hunting trip up to Chinook. Leaves the mind to wonder, does it not?

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It's windier than hell around Bozeman today, glad I'm not in a drift boat today. It's been blowing like hell for a few days just about everywhere around here and we're supposed to get some snow. Looking forward to winter for a change.
One of my favorite times of year to fish, just don't do it as often as I'd like. The lower Madison, on a mild winter day, can be as good a place and time to fish as anywhere, ever. There can be some people out there, but if you can work a few buckets well, it usually pays off. As for right now though, most of the browns are in mid spawn and I know myself well enough to know that I have a hard time resisting the temptation to go redd raiding...so I just don't go.

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Cold front made its way to Chinook today but we didn't get the show that they got in Bozeman. Bird dogs are worn out so we hunted a lot easier today and didn't find as many birds. But, we did get a few, developed some nice blisters, and glad that I'm not a bird dog. Pike lakes are all frozen.

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Great day up here near Havre. Little brezzy and mid 50's today but it's supposed to cool down tomorrow, maybe bring some moisture too. Dogs and us are all worn out after a mid-day death march trying to find the last bird.

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Made the trek up to the high line this afternoon and checked into the lovely Chinook Motor Inn. Was tempted to stop and hit the casino in Box Elder but somehow resisted the urge. Pheasant hunting the next couple of days, maybe try for some Pike too.

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Sounds like fishing has been alright the last few days on the Madison but the word is that the dry fly thing has been very good on the Yellowstone. Lots of midges and fish up on them. I prefer - especially this time of year - the cerebral numbness that comes with a bobber to the mental masturbation that accompanies steady risers and little dry flies. Don't matter though, I aint' fishing this week, gonna go shoot some birds up the high line instead.

Angling Heros - Vol 1

Defintley a boring week for me around the shop as things have officially slowed down and I'm stuck in the ordering mode. Won't whine about it too much as I guess there are lots of folks that wouldn't mind trading places with me right now. But, a quick escape for me, as for you...is the blog and the inner working of that thing which I call my brain and which my wife swears does not exist.

Anyway, I have a lot of "heroes, " many of whom have nothing to do with angling and their praise and stories have no relevance to this audience. But, there are a ton of anglers out there that I do have a lot of respect for and that have made a lasting imprint on me and all things that I perceive in angling. So, I thought I'd start mentioning them from time to time here and a little story about what it was that they did that made an impact on me. I'll try to do one of these once a month or so.

I grew up in Dallas - not my fault - and spent most weekends on or around Cedar Creek Lake in east Texas. Countless hours of my time were wasted during the week spent in a small, all boys Catholic school (Cistercian Preperatory School) while my mind was on the Bass that inhabited Cedar Creek Lake. I probably didn't fish as much as I think I did, but I remember always wanting to be fishing rather than be sitting in school. Of course, this changed my sophomore year when I realized girls were nice. Some of the best memories I have of being "young" though were fishing with my dad on Cedar Creek and Lake Fork in east Texas.

Lake Fork was a "new" lake back then, managed and designed with trophy bass fishing as a primary goal. It's a very classic Bass lake with countless coves and bays with lillypads and standing trees, making for an overwhelming abundance of holding water for Bass. Dad took me fishing there a few times and we used a local guide there named Richard McCarty.

This was my first exposure to a fishing guide and he probably inspired me more so than anyone to actually want to be a fishing guide. He was probably in his early 30's at the time and was driven by fish like few I've ever met. We'd meet him for breakfast at some little marina ("the minnow bucket?" in the pre-dawn hours and usually fish until near dark. Unlike trout guides, the bass guides there would run the trolling motor and fish at the front of the boat. Kind of bizarre in my mind now, but seemed normal at the time. Anyway, the guy was as fishy a person I've ever met and he knew where and how to catch bass.

We went out with him several times over the years and he taught me persistence, to look for patterns, and that you don't need to worry about how to get a fish out of heavy cover until you hook 'em. Though my dad and I fished the lake a few times on our own, we never had the success that we had with Richard and the value of a good guide was instilled in me at an early age.

The largest bass I've ever actually held was this one that went just shy of 10 lbs. I've caught some 7-8 pound fish, but nothing like this behemoth. In the years since, fish like this are far more common than they were in in the mid 80's and hopefully I'll get the chance to get one of these on my own before I go the way of the Dodo. Richard actually caught this fish from the front of the boat, but I was just as thrilled to hold the fish and get my picture taken with it as I would have been if I caught it myself.

Funny how that is. There was a time when I could have cared less to take a picture of someone else's fish and would have been flat out pissed if they caught more or bigger fish than I. The last several years though, I'm just as happy to watch someone else catch a fish as I am to catch one myself. Maybe Richard taught me that too, we just didn't know it 'til now.

Don't know if he still guides or not, but he probably should. I know he's got an archery store in east Texas and is well known in that sport.

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The Monday grind is here. Slowly working my way through orders for next year, scouring through the fly catalogs with hopes of finding something truly new while making sure I don't forget the essentials. Never ceases t amaze me at how many patterns are out there and that we carry. Yet, someone is always looking for that one we don't carry or they've been carrying around in their box for 8 years and suddenly lost the last one this morning on the Gallatin.

Seems trivial until you're that guy. Like this summer when we were railing fish on the Zics up on the MO and we were all down to the last 2 or 3 on day 2 of a 5 day trip. Times like that will test a friendship amongst guides. There's that unwritten code that we all understand that it's nothing personal, but no I'm not going to give you anymore of these. At the same time, if you're motivated enough to sneak into my truck at night or do a swithceroo on my foam patch when I'm not looking....well then you've earned that fly and I won't take it personal either.

So, even though we all know that there's not much difference between a copper bead and a brass bead when ti comes to adorning a Prince nymph...the reality can be all the difference. As a flyshop owner, I'm always picking flies for the 99%, but really try hard to not make that 1% feel so overlooked too. The line is not quite as distinct as those folks in NYC claim when it comes to flies that work and don't work.

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The weekend is just around the corner...like I need a weekend to take a break from work right now! We're supposed to get some weather tomorrow so probably best that I'm not fishing anyway.
If I were to fish this weekend...I'd probably brave the cold and deal with some ice on the guides and hit the Madison in the park (along with a lot of other folks). Always one of my favorite things to do and I never did get the chance to make it this year. Some good fish to be had if you can make it one last time.
Nothing beats swinging a big soft hackle through those runs when the weather is right for it. If not...an egg will do the trick just fine. Enjoy if you can.

Also, check out the latest issue of Catch when you get a chance. It's an online fishing photo mag. I coerced them into using one of my images which is the lead in the colors of fly fishing photo essay" section.

Thoughts on Steel

Steelheading has never really been “my thing” as all of my experiences up to this point has been characterized by countless hours spent standing in an unknown river searching for something that either is or isn’t there. I’ve heard the stories, seen the DVD’s, and had given it an honest crack. So, when some friends asked if I wanted to join them on their annual trip to BC for Pacific Steelhead, I said “hell yeah.”

Any great fly fishing adventure is more about the experiences in between the trudge and the tug so I’m always up for something new. There was little doubt that this trip would deliver on the trudge side of things. After 2 days of driving in which we crossed the never ending northern plains well into Alberta and a seemingly endless string of mountain passes through the Canadian Rockies, we ended up in some little logging town closer to Alaska than Vancouver.

Steelhead are anadromous, move from one piece of holding water to another as they make their way to wherever it is that they’ve come so far to do their duty to the continuation of their diminishing species. Oblivious to hatches, they are only there to spawn, after which they ride the high water of next spring back to the Pacific for another year or two of doing whatever they do until the next time they decide to give it another go. To say that they’re not like any trout I know would be an understatement. It’s the chance encounter with one of these amazing Salmonids that has given purpose and focus to many a lost soul on their way to becoming what we affectionately call a “Steelheader.”

This trip was my chance to see not only the fish, but also the infectious obsession that “Steelheaders” are best known for. The tug is their drug and in it’s pursuit, all other priorities seem trivial at best. Black or purple is a much more important concern than a hotel reservation. Being the first in a run far outweighs the significance of bringing lunch or grabbing breakfast. Remembering that wallet full of heads sits much higher on the list than double checking the gas tank.  

Many a diehard Steelheader has spent day after day swinging flies through countless runs without a pull, knowing that as each fruitless swing is finished they are that closer to their next hook-up. I’ve given it a few tries over the years and I was of the opinion that this is one fish that I’m not meant to catch. So I figured I’d take the camera, make a few casts here and there while enjoying the various moments along the way to wherever it was that we were all headed.

The rivers we fished were all beautiful in their own ways with towering conifers coming right down to the river’s edge seemingly everywhere we anchored the jet boat. Spey fishing was not an option, but the rule. With no formal lessons in my background, it didn’t take me long to figure out that a Skagit line is a good thing and that my routine would go something like “duck, chuck, swing, step, and repeat.” I’d like to say that my skill set improved after a few days, but the reality is my aching muscles just got used to the movements after awhile and ibuprofen really is the miracle drug! Though I won’t be asked to do any guest spey casting appearances anytime soon, I still managed to marry my fly with the mouth of several truly wild steelhead in the course of a few day’s fishing. The other anglers managed to make that event happen more often than I, so I’d say that they were eating pretty well if that term can ever be applied to these fish.

The “thing” I’ve come to appreciate more and more every year is that I just enjoy fishing in cold, clean water. I’m just as happy to prowl the banks of a small stream, row down a big western river, or stand in frigid water hour after hour. When a fish is on the other end of my line, there is a sense of completion to the cycle that starts all over again once it is released.

There are countless moments in between the first cast and the tug, all of which have their own significance in making the “bigger picture” just a little more clear. If I know anything about fishing for Pacific Steelhead, it’s best characterized by an abundance of “in-between moments.” But, when that remarkable fish comes to hand along with it the realization that this animal has survived countless hardships only to eat this size 2 leach with a chartreuse head, there is an unmistakable feeling that we are all connected. I’ll be back there next year.

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Made it home around 5:30 this afternoon. Herman Cain is kind of screwed. Newt maybe making a late run. Perry is a bit of a ham. Some plane landed in Poland with no landing gear. The Hendricks motorsports guys plan crash landed in FL with no injuries. Michael Jackson's doc likes strippers. Pretty much listened to  these stories being played over and over again all day.

Feels more like winter around here. Think I need to get out and do some fishing at some point this week. I've had some unique angling opportunities this year and still find there's no place like home. 2011 is the year in which I landed my first truly wild steelhead and permit, both of which are memories that I'll hold tight for the rest of my life. At the end of all my trips this year though, I've looked forward to coming home more than the desire to stay away. There is still so much water here that I'm yet to fish and it's hard to beat that feeling that comes along with trout fishing in SW MT.