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The day before yesterday took me on a meandering stroll in the Suburban around Livingston as we waited for the rain to stop as we also looked for cheap rain pants in a 3XL. The rain stopped, we never found the pants. Floated in the lower Paradsie Valley where I was reminded of the lack of value added to our aquatic ecosystems by Whitefish. And I burned the crap out of the top of my head through the mesh on my hat. Got some fish, one good one on a hopper.
Yesterday was shop day, crazy busy, took off in the afternoon and fished with some dudes for a few hours. Fishing was ok, hanging out was great. Broke the tip off my 907 Radian doing a hero move on a snagged Gonga…got the Gonga. Sadly, I have no more tan and yellow double gongas.
Fished through town on the stone today, crappy morning, things got better as the day progressed. Not sure, but it seems like fish were eating fine enough but the good water is still hard to find…I know that they are not in dead water, 2" deep and .5-6" off the bank…we fished that a lot today…inadvertently. But at the end of the day, we had enough fish to make for a good day, lots of laughs, nice weather, good company. Yippie Skippy, can I have another?
The love of guiding, that feeling that I was born to do this, the anticipation of the day ahead…it's all leaving me now. So what if my elbow doesn't hurt, so what if it's beautiful outside on the river everyday, so what if I spend my days trying to find wild trout across SW Montana, I could care less about it right now…right now, selling cars sounds like the dream. That will change tomorrow, but as we all know, you gots to stay in today, don't worry about tomorrow.
Fish are eating stonefly nymphs dropped off Chubbies and Hoppers, some on the dries. A skilled nympher can get them better. It's all trash fishing to me now, Gonga is the only way to a clean soul for me right now. I am full of shame for not even throwing one today...