Seeing Friends

Awoke this morning to that ever familiar sound of the big bad wolf huffing and puffing outside my house. While I debated the logic and merit of making a trip to the river over a cup of coffee, I convinced myself that I'm a true puss if a little wind keeps me off the water the only day I've had to get out in months.
So,off I headed to the lower and was surprised to get to an ez hole before anyone else. Got a few and had a friend show up and we proceeded to not get jack for an hour. We parted ways and I found a few more fish,a couple nicer fish and called it good after a few hours altogether.
Enjoyed the day out despite the crazy wind. Just a good feeling to be standing in water and watching a bobber again.

1/27/12

The wife made it home yesterday and suddenly life is good once again.

Going to go fishing this weekend am I! It's been too long for sure. Winter fishing is one of those things that doesn't always appeal to me like it did back in the day when I could stand in one hole all day long and just bang away at it. Then again, it's been so long since I've fished that I'm ready no matter what the temps or wind do this weekend. Hopefully we'll get some clouds, mid 30's, no wind and I can make a lazy day out of it over on the lower, provided that the flows remain stable that is. Funny thing this year in regards to the flow regimes coming through the dams on the Madison..they've kind of managed it like my 4 year old plays darts.

The End is Near...on a couple fronts

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer! My wife is set to return from am month in Antarctica tomorrow afternoon and thus another chapter in the epic tale known as "daddy daycare" is soon to end! I've learned that a 4 year old is a lot of work and I thank God that I don't have to do this all the time! If I had money, I would have a full time live in Swedish nanny and pay her well! I don't think I've ever been so drained in my life, but freedom is fast approaching so I shouldn't complain. It's been good to get the 1-1 time with my son, but I'm good for now.


Onward to things of an angling nature, specifically the status of the Madsion River Rec Planning process. A couple of comments on my part first. I find it ironic that FWP has been able to "find" the personnel and money to put this process into action when all we read about them in the paper is that they are strapped for the revenue required to do their basic responsibilities. Non-resident license sales are the primary source for department funding and that revenue is down.  I'm looking forward to paying more for my general fishing license, along with those for my kids and wife.

Anyway, the planning process has been announced and the next step is a series of public "scoping" meetings which are slated for around the region in February. The purpose of these meetings is for the department to get a feel for what the public perception is in regards to their recreational experience on the Madison is generally like. You should go to their website AND learn more about the process, especially if you are a non-resident that spends time on the Madison. According to FWP's data, you are the single largest user group of the Madison River (70% of all users!) and unless you plan on coming to one of these meetings in Feb in Bozeman, Whitehall, Ennis, or West Yellowstone...your opinions will not be heard UNLESS you visit the site and FILL out the public comment form! SO DO THIS as you are the largest user group and there is a BIG risk that you will not be heard!

Just to be clear on that, I am not talking about non-residents on guided trips...I am talking about non-resident anglers fishing on their own. Of course everyone should be represented, but I am most concerned about non-residents not having their opinions heard.

That and the tubers on the lower Madison...I think everyone that spends anytime on the lower in the summer would say that non-angling recreational use of the river and access sites appears to be a significant hindrance to the safety, cleanliness, and overall positive recreational opportunity for other user groups of this stretch of the river. I don't think anyone has any data as to how much non-angling recreational use goes on during this time of year on the LM and it is, in my opinion, one of many "Big Guerrillas" in the room that FWP is going to have to address moving forward.

There is also a call for applications to be appointed to the Citizens Advisory Committee which is largely going to come up with recommendations as to where this plan will ultimately end up. I'm sure there will be a lot of folks submitting applications for this committee (step 2 on the planning process page) and it my sincerest hope that all user groups will be represented fairly. I know there will be plenty of resident anglers, landowners, and commercial users represented but I am worried that the non-resident anglers and non-angling groups will have limited input. Hopefully I am wrong on this.

Anyway, please participate in this process otherwise...who knows where we'll end up.

To new gear

I recently got a new pair of boots to try out for Orvis on my upcoming trip to NZ. They've been sending me stuff the last few years to demo while in the early stages of development as I seem to be able to destroy anything, which my dad can attest to! Nz is a great place to test boots out as I walk a lot of miles while there and put the boots through he'll. Over the years, I've destroyed 2 pairs of pataguchi and an Orvis pair or two as well, each on a single trip! I had an early version of vibram soles the last trip and one of the soles actually fell off my boot about a half mile from the truck at the end of the last day.

I am checking out this new sole that they're thinking is far superior to vibram so we'll see. I actually have come to like the rubber soles over the last couple of years. They're not as durable as the world would like and they don't offer the traction of felt, but they work well as happy medium and I like them in the boat better than felt. So, here's to innovation and a better world for the fly fisher...I just hope they don't fall apart!

011712

More winter junk is on the way, been blowing like hell here most of the day and the forecast is for snow snow snow the next couple of days. Looking forward to it for a change!

The new e-newsletter is out and you can check it out online. Be sure to sign up for it on our website if you don't already receive it.

Starting to get jacked about NZ in a few weeks, sure the blog will turn to that direction soon. I like fishin'!

Sprigs and Snow

Winter is back and it feels good! Some crazy people were heading out this morning when it was 8 degrees, they wanted to know if it would be slushy on the river? Snowed most of yesterday and is looking good for some more the rest of the week. We could use it.

So, I took the youngn' driving around with me yesterday for a bit to see if we could find some ducks to take a few pics. I thought about making him stand by the river while I fished but decided that wouldn't have been appropriate parenting. I like the snow!

The Haps

Finally starting to see some fruit for the labor of winter website maintenance bullshit as I like to call it. The never ending Grondhog Day phenomena of SEO fun land. Keywords, SEO Titles and Descriptions, phraseology and more all with trying to add more and better content to make the world wide web more efficient.

All of that just to be able to announce a few new guide trip options for 2012, check them out. These are in addition to our standard fare around Bozeman and Missoula. My personal favorite is the trip I like to refer to as my "Dazed and Confused in Central Montana."

011112

The only fishing I have going on right now is in my head! This daddy daycare thing is a lot of work...makes me appreciate my wife a whole lot more. Who knew how much laundry, groceries, and slobbery a 40 yr old and 4 yr old were capable of? Crazy.

Anyway, I'm a month from heading to NZ and I am getting jacked up! We finished out the back room, have orders placed, and am now working on website stuff and organizing bookings for 2012. Sounds like things have been good on the lower the last week but I'm sure today and tonight's cold weather will put a temporary dampening on that.

The Dudes

Trouble X 2

I've only been guiding about 10 years now and really started from nothing in terms of experience or a client base. Looking back now, it probably wasn't the best way to go about getting started as it was a slow building process in terms of being able to make a living...and I really had no idea what the hell I was doing in terms of guiding. I'll give myself some credit in terms of being able to fish, teach people how to fish, and row a boat so it wasn't totally like those Holiday Inn Express commercials when I picked my clients up in the morning! In hindsight, I would have been better, quicker if I had someone to learn from and work for.

1 in a 1,000,000

Needless to say, I didn't get much repeat business those first couple of years. My first trip was a classic trip from hell in that it was hot, their were river closures, and I had good anglers. We ended up doing a monster day where we fished Hebgen in the morning, ate lunch at Quake, and then floated Varney to Ennis in the afternoon. The outfitter we were with back then had USFS permits back then by the way. Anyway, I rowed around the Madison Arm chasing gulpers while the two anglers relentlessly cast and cast away the entire morning. I got hooked in the arm twice and they got some whitefish. We got a few in the afternoon on the Madison. What I remember most was the feeling that we all have when we are waking up from a bad dream except that I kept feeling the bad dream just kept going.

Why the F*&% do I let Toby do these things to me?

Now, things are a lot different and it's probably got something to do with me, but it also has to do with the dudes in the boat. Most of my business is now all repeat and referrals and that really makes my job a zillion times easier! So , as I sit here in early 2012 looking ahead, I look forward to seeing the people that have showed me more about rivers, fish, and myself than I could have learned in a lifetime of doing something else. The fish will be there and the rivers will have water, but it really is about that connection between humanity reached through water that makes this a life worth living for me. God knows it's not about the money. If you're looking to book in 2012, I could use that deposit money about now by the way!

Yeah Tom...that's Scott up here on the Blog

For me, it really is about the people, the interaction, and watching someone else squeeze a little more soul into their being when they hook a fish. I've learned so much about life the last several years, thanks to all that sign up for the insanity every year, I can't wait to see you all again.

"How long you been guiding?" Oh, since I about 2 minutes ago was my response.

I got some great news the other day when Pete, the 86 yr. old from Cali called me up and...after calling me a yardbird and hillbilly...booked me for another 10 days in August. I used to dread that phone call but now it's one of the highlights of the year for me as I kind of get what he's trying to do and feel a privileged to be a part of it. He just wants to fish for the rest of his life.

The Original Yardbird

I've been really fortunate to have developed some wonderful friendships over the years. Yeah, on the front side of the relationship it's all about how many fish will we catch, how big will they be, where will we go, how long will we fish, and blah blah blah. After a trip or two though, I think we all appreciate that the "meat" of the trip are all the little things throughout the day. That transition of emotion when expectations become reality and we all realize, at the same time, that there actually is a big f'in fish on that line. It's a good life I live.

Even the British can do this!

The fish

winner winner chicken dinner on Thompson Creek at the MZ

2011 was a challenging year in terms of water conditions...understatement. It was the first year in awhile that I didn't see anything over 24" to the boat, but probably landed more 23" fish than I ever have before. Not sure which one was actually the biggest, honestly it was one that my client dropped right while I was getting ready to make the click and he had already landed one over 23" that day.

The biggest trout I saw all year was hooked up by one of our clients that was fishing with Rick on the Blackfoot. Rick was just ahead of me going down a run and his angler hooked an enormous Brown that we all got a really good look at. It was every bit of 8lbs, maybe more. It was SO big that I told my client to get his rig out of the water even though we were 50' behind them. Anyway, he had it on for awhile and it just came unbuttoned. Craziest part of that day was that I had floated the same stretch just a few days earlier and managed to boat maybe 5 fish, but this day the fish were going ape shit for zonkers and we landed over 80 fish between the 3 boats and both boats landed Bull, Cutties, Brook, Brown, Bows, and the mighty whitey with a few fish landed in the 22-23 range.

Take Out fish on the Blackfoot after a Crazy Day

What could've been is what keeps us coming back. I'll never forget my first truly big fish and the heartache that came when I lost it. I was maybe 10 or 12 and my grandparents took me to our family lake house in East Texas one weekend. We were having some work done on the boat dock and there were a bunch of rednecks working away and yammerring along. I threw a huge willow bladed, double hook, white spinner bait out and WHAM! Had the fish for awhile but I was standing on a cement retaining wall and the water was about 3-4 feet down from the top. I got the fish to the base of the wall and then the guys realized that I actually had something big on. They were hollering at me to wait a second but I tried to hoist the fish up the wall with the rod. The bass was a 7-8 pound fish and it's mouth was so big I was terrified to stick my hand down and grab it. But, as I didn't want to look like a puss, I decided to try to do it my way rather than wait for help. Needless to say, the line snapped about an inch from the top of the wall and as one of the guys was reaching to grab it. 30 years later and I still have that sick feeling when I think about that fish swimming around with a 3/8 oz double bladed, double hook spinnerbait in it's mouth. Nah, I'm sick because I lost the fish...I should bass fish more.

When to Quit

I like guiding fly fishers...which is a good thing as that's pretty much what I do. Winter time is kind of the lull in between the storms for me. On one hand, I'm glad to not be guiding right now, but on the...I miss it and can't wait for spring to get here. I think I actually enjoy guiding more than fishing which is a crazy statement in itself if you know me at all as I really like to fish. Anyway trying to think of something to talk about today and not much comes to mind in terms of motivating me for a big dump of verbiage at this time.

However, as this is a new year, I've spent the last month or so thinking about last year. It was a memorable year for many reasons and maybe I'll rattle all the things off at sometime but I wanted to share the most memorable quote of the year. It's not really pc and might not be funny outside of the conversation but here it is by a guide that used to guide a lot but has moved onto other things in life on why he chose to quit guiding (and he was/is a helluva guide by all accounts). "Toby, I just got tired of watching fat white guys desecrate the sport I love."

I guess I'll quit when that day comes for me too as all I have to do is look in the reflection on the water to see that happen every time I wet a line.

010312

Attended another meeting today in Ennis regarding the upcoming Madison River Mgmt Plan. Things are still very early in the process...in fact the process really hasn't started yet. I don't really want to get up on the soapbox tonight, so let's save that discussion for another day.

Starting to wonder about whether or not the snow will ever come this year. Amazing to me how we all know that weatherman aren't too reliable just a few days out, yet we'll put a lot of stock into their hemispheric climactic predictions 6 months out. They're all looney, but at least they give us something to talk about.

The lower looks good to me, going to try to get over there for a few hours one day this week. Flows are higher than normal this time of year...another soapbox topic best saved for another day...but all the ice is gone, clarity is perfect, and it's been windier than crap. Midging should get going good on the first overcast day and is probably alright in the mid-day shadows right now. I've been worked over there enough this time of year on sunny days so I'll hold my breath for some clouds and get over there next chance I get.