Montana Adventure

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pscb50f487.jpg
Aloha, went to Montana after baja for some trout action. This is the Westfork of the Bitterroot. It is Luke and my favorite stream to wade in the bitterroot drainage. It was higher water than normal, about 1200-1000cfcs while we were there. Salmon flies were around, and we had fun fishing the big bugs.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps15718923.jpg
This was my first fish, a nice cutbow. I had to land it myself and take the photo in the net, no hero shot. Thanks Luke!
He was busy finding his own trout
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps2730daf4.jpg
He got a nice one up stream. My wife joined us in Montana and she had fun hooking the trout. Landing them proved more difficult.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps7e89db62.jpg
If you could find soft water you found fish. They liked logs and log jams.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps496e83af.jpg
We fished a variety of feeder creeks as well. Black buggers worked well in the high water conditions.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pscb968248.jpg
My favorite rod for these little creeks is the TFO 1/2 wt. What a fun rod! I love the colors on the westslope cutts
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps94142067.jpg
We headed over to Rock Creek for a couple of days. I stopped in at Grizzly Hackle shop and met Dan Sheppard. Cool guy, we swapped stories from Christmas Island.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps0511d9f5.jpg
My wife got into the fishing and got this little brown on a dry all by herself! Purple haze are the best dry fly to use in Montana.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps12d3a67a.jpg
Rock Creek was high as well, but we had fun fishing for the browns and cutts. Fisherman's Mercantile is an awesome little shop and we stayed in their inexpensive cabins.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps53020a1d.jpg
All you need for fishing. Notice Jay's koa fly box! The Partagas is a cuban I smuggled in from Baja.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psfe55e3b5.jpg
Jay's box in action, nice brookie.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psfcde63ab.jpg
Morning wood. Squirrel's escape route.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps04e560e7.jpg
Luke's last fish, a nice rainbow. I hooked three fish over 20 inches but with the high water got broken off when they went down stream. Luke would do a River Run's through it and chase them down. I just tried to get em back up stream and lost the battle. It was fun to fish trout again, and we really enjoyed the fishing, but I think I will wait for lower water conditions next time.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps71026b50.jpg
I kept seeing these horses in this meadow on our way up the west fork. Last day I stopped to take their picture in a rain storm. It ended up being a fuzzy kinda of impressionist type picture. I love Montana and trout. We will be back, Mems.