Thanksgiving break

It has been an incredible past few days in the life of Vermont Trout Bum. From a 16lb turkey deep fried on Thanksgiving to some killer streamer fishing on the Missouri river, I couldn't have asked for a better break from school. 

Woke up to snow on Thanksgiving and had a great morning on the water. Only to be short lived because I had to hurry home to make food for Thanksgiving.

The Friday after Thanksgiving I hit the road around 6am en route to the Missouri River. The trip started off slow when I realized I had forgotten my jacket when I was already 30 miles out of missoula. I thought about just calling the trip off and heading back to missoula but the experiences I have had on the Missouri River lingered in my head and before I knew it I had me jacket in hand and was on the road again. 

 It wasn't long before I had big rainbows and browns ripping through my drag.

The streamer fishing was great and many fish like these two were eager to smack my streamer with every ounce of energy they had.

When I wasn't on the water I was siting by the fire or eating Thanksgiving dinner leftovers and enjoying the peace of being alone on the river with no one to answer too.

"I can see for miles and miles"

With 2 weeks of school left before exams, It is time to stay focused and finish the semester strong so I can continue to enjoy Montana and all the wildlife it has to offer.

Change

The recent change in weather from Fall to Winter here in Montana has got the fish lethargic and stacked up in deep slow pockets. The only effective way of fishing this time of year is nymphing (the least exciting way of fly fishing if you ask me) It may not be as exciting as having a big trout smack a streamer or the visual aspect of a trout coming up to take a fly off the surface but it works. The past week I only got on the water twice but with thanksgiving break 2 days away I see a lot of fishing in the near future and possibly a trip to do some Steelhead fishing. Livin' the good life!

 Rock Creek

Election Day Adventures

Yesterday Alec and I headed to a spot on the Blackfoot where we have had success in the fall before but quickly realized it wasn't worth it fishing at that spot all day. We headed back to the car and drove to a spot where I caught a handful of browns a couple weeks earlier. I ended up catching 2 browns and a nice bull trout. Alec had some action however didn't get a fish to hand but we all have those days. Regardless it was a great day fishing with Alec and showing him some new water.

 Alec working through "brown town"

Photo by Alec

Beautiful Bully

Its supposed to get real cold this weekend... Down in the 20s..brrrrrr

If I was a fair weather fishermen I would be posted up on the couch with a beer watching football all weekend. But we do have the day off monday opening up a nice 3 day weekend and I am not a fair weather fishermen so I will be hitting the river no matter what the temperature!  

Rainbows in dense fog and grey skys

Last night we got some snow here in Missoula, nothing crazy just a couple of inches that didn't even stick through the day. The forecast for today was calling for a chance of rain/snow and cloudy skys. Without thinking twice I grabbed my streamer rod and hit the river. Today the big rainbows were hungry, three different large rainbows smashed my streamer with only bad intentions. The fishing is off the hook right now and everyones got the pictures to prove it.

One brown of the day

 Got kype?

ohhh yaaa

A Sunday to Remember

Last night I did some serious recon work to find a section of water I thought held a good amount of LARGE brown trout. I was on google maps while flipping through river maps for at least 2 hours until I finally found THE spot. Call me crazy but sleeping last night was tough just knowing what I could be getting into today. All the pieces of the puzzle fell together for me, it was a beautiful day, I caught plenty of fish and topped it all off by out smarting Larry Lunker and landing the biggest brown trout of my life. 

 Be Bear Aware

 Shoulders for days

Larry Lunker...

FALL IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR! 

Its the little things that keep us coming back

Today Alec and I headed to the Bitterroot on what looked like was going to be a overcast cool afternoon. The farther we drove the nicer it got until there was barley a cloud in the sky and the sun was beating down like it was mid August. It wasn't long before we got into some nice cutthroats and even a couple browns. Today couldn't have possibly got any better.. Until two bald eagles flew over our heads and watched over us for a couple minutes. That was the perfect end to a perfect day on the river and Alec was able to get some nice pictures of the birds to top it all off.

 Photo taken by Alec 

 Alec working a log jam

Fall = Color

ATTENTION: FISH PORN!

REBOUND   This video is a must see!