Pix

Photos of good times and a few curiosities. You could be next . . . for a good time, that is.

Lisa, a Michigan Flygirl, netting a Brown that was caught while snugged up to a bank on the upper Madison. Her enthusiasm helped her land several more sizeable fish before the float was over.

OK, she's back, with an upper Madison Rainbow caught in a rushing circular eddy during the spring of 2006.

Doesn't she ever quit? Guess–who with a healthy Brown captured with a big streamer (looked like a golfball in a green sock) on the lower Gallatin.

This chunky Rainbow held by Gerry here was teased out of a very thin rushing Madison riffle. The fish hit on the first cast, and Ger eased him in after going to his backing once and exercising caution thereafter.

There's plenty of wildlife in the river bottoms. We saw this guy munching his way through some green biomass on the banks as we drifted silently past in the raft.

The grizzled character holding this ingot of golden Brown is Rik, a true trout-addict. This fish inspired Rik's near-endless request for "just one more."

Rik displays a big Brown from the lower Gallatin river

Rik wasn't kidding when he said streamers are a guy's best friend . . . the results, a monster Brown from the lower Gallatin, taken on the same float as Lisa's quarry above.

Justin releases a gorgeous 22-inch Rainbow caught sipping spinners on a buggy, trout-infested stream in Western Montana.

Justin's brother Scott with his catch-of-the-day on the same small river.

Big tom turkey with all his feathers spread out trotting along the bank of the Gallatin river

A wild tom turkey who followed the boat along the banks of the lower Gallatin. He kept rattling his feathers as if to say "HA, I'M not scared of YOU!

Tom hoists a big Yellowstone Brown, victim of a late-afternoon caddisfly.

A brown jetting away in the Yellowstone after a careful release by Jim the lobsterman.

Lucille here cradles her first Yellowstone Cutthroat. Judging from the grin, it won't be her last.

Dick pulled this 17" Rainbow out of a big wave on the Yellowstone with a 4-weight!

Brian from the U.K. with a Rainbow caught in early June on the lower Madison river; his second day flyfishing . . . ever!

Todd dredged up this beauty from a slow-water gravel bank on the Yellowstone river on July 4 - a holiday treat.

Xan cradles big Rainbow from the Bighorn river

My homepage leader, a stalwart Rainbow caught in a wide riffle on the Bighorn on a tiny midge pupa by Lord Alexander Rufus-Isaacs . . . yep, you heard right. The Lord is a story all to himself. How come? Well, aside from being Richard Starkey's bro-in-law, he was one of the original bungee-jumpers of Royal Gorge fame, taught the Japanese the basics of reverse bungee-jumping, and once piloted a four-poster bed on skis at St. Moritz.

Aftermath of the Mother's Day caddis-storm on the Yellowstone. Thousands of caddis swamp up in an eddy at my feet and fish are eager.

And one more . . . no fish, just rocks, the freestoners so typical of our rivers around here. These are in the Gallatin, but could be almost anywhere is our fishing range. The clear water, the glacier-rounded rocks, the ribbons of light playing on the water - all the elements of a relaxing day astream. Add the possibility of some great fish, and . . . well, come on, admit it - this is what fishing is all about.

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I love taking pictures of folks hoisting their catch, but I wonder about the fish. For the last few years, I've been urging clients to keep their trophys close to the water if not submerged in it when we snap their moment. We've all seen a lot of 'grip–n–grin' photographs, even the ones with the angler's hands extended toward the camera to 'grow' an otherwise ordinary fish. I finally splurged for a camera capable of underwater shots, so now we can leave our quarry in the water the whole time and still create pictoral evidence for subtle bragging rights.

Another aspect of fishing around here is the spectacular scenery and the often awesome cloud–and–sun changes weather brings on in just a few minutes. Folks and I have seen the sheeting rain and snow of early spring sweep across nearby mountain ranges in huge white–out curtains; lightening storms blustering up out of nowhere on sunny days, blowing wide herds of whitecaps across previously calm water and linking cloud and earth with stitching flashes while the sudden wind pressed hard against our backs, pulling flylines from the water and right-angling them from quivering rodtips; three or four kinds of weather all within eye–range in one huge 360° sky; the sweet–light late afternoons in fall when you're reaching for a sweater while immersed in pure golden sunwash and the aspen and cottonwood leaves float on the water like flakes of that light. All good for the soul.

These pix are tougher to get, especially when I'm at the oars or eagle–eyeing some riser for a client, but they remind me to keep asking people to look up from the water, take a break, and stretch their eyes on the surroundings.

An often unspoken but satisfying part of this fishing game are the chances to see wildlife. Up to 25 species of birds in a single day, including the riverine raptors like ospreys and eagles,

the common, but always silly mergansers zipping low–level upstream looking like little SST's, flocks of ducks and geese or the singletons skying from a stand of trees or suddenly exploding out of a close–by reed cluster, the red–winged blackbirds putting up their busy, quarrelsome thicket of noise from the bankside bushes - even the unexpected rustle, drumming, and cackle of a wild turkey. We see lots of bankside critters such as muskrats, ferrets, the occasional mink, and the rare beaver, deer bedded down along the bank below a bluff, safe from their land–side predators, a few bigger ungulates like moose and elk, and, in those long, deserted flatland stretches along some of our rivers, foxes and coyotes. Even the frogs you sidestep while working up a side–channel and the now–and–then snake undulating across the river are reminders of the rich riparian life-zone.

I know these galleries are quiet come–on's to lure you to Montana, but they can also help us through long winters away from the water. Just seeing some guy's smile while momentarily possessing a trout brings back our own memories and stirs the latent urge to get outside, get on the water, flex a rod, and chase trout.

I hope these few glimpses of our fishing help you keep fresh your angling desires. Come on over some time and satisfy them.

Robin Cunningham's Headwaters Guide Service,a Montana flyfishing outfitter

Pix

Robin Cunningham's Headwaters Guide Service,
a Montana flyfishing outfitter