By Land Tawney

The sky was blue, sun was hot, and water was clear.  I could see the rainbow colored Rapala lure working to perfection five feet below the surface of the water and then it happen.  A big juicy trout gave chase and in an instant attacked with veracity.  The line went taught and the fight began, the mighty fish was played to perfection, reeled to the dock and deftly guided into the net.  Cidney had caught her first fish!  When I asked her if she wanted to “keep it or put it back,” she exclaimed beaming with pride, “eat it Dad!” 

Colin and Cidney with a big Montana fish

As a young kid, I remember yearly, week long sojourns to the Bighole River in southwest Montana, timed to perfection at the peak of the salmon fly hatch...

By Brooke Vetter 

Jill Beauchesne Alban

It’s spring in Montana. Two weekends ago, I couldn’t get my car out of the driveway because of a blizzard that dumped close to two feet of snow in Missoula. Then, in a matter of days, warm temperatures melted most of the snow and bumped up local rivers to what the fishing guides call “chocolate milk.” Thankfully, the water started going down only a few days later, coinciding with a spate of days in the upper 50s.

When the weather gets a bit warm, the rivers around here start to beckon me, like they’re whispering my name. It hasn’t always been this way. When I first moved to Montana 10 years ago, I was mystified by the mania of fly-fishing and the way it drove my friends to wake up at 6 AM to hit a morning hatch...

The Tale of “the Sisters McGregor”

Merrill and Christie McGregor on Phantom Canyon

We’ve often been referred to as “the Sisters McGregor”. We work in the same professional field, share the same friends and are both avid outdoorswomen. Although we’re 10 years apart, we both have distinct memories of fishing off our grandparents dock in Charleston, camping with our parents and siblings in KY and WI, or hiking with friends across the southeast. 

We’re also pretty inseparable – living together off and on for over 10 years –or at least we were until Christie, the older/wiser one, decided to up and move from South Carolina to Washington DC for a new job (note: the younger sister, Merrill,  is NOT bitter and is DEFINITELY not harboring any resentment against her older sister who left ...

A River Runs Through It
The story of two brothers and their shared love for fly fishing on the Blackfoot River in Montana. 

Brave
An independent princess defies custom and relies on her bravery and archery skills to undo a curse. 

Dancing with Wolves
A Lieutenant is exiled to the West and befriends a Native American tribe while also learning to hunt with a traditional bow and arrow.

Fried Green Tomatoes
The story of four unrelated women who find strength in each other and one who finds comfort in the outdoors.

Last of the Dogmen
A Montana bounty hunter is sent to collect prisoners but instead find a Native American Tribe thought to no longer exist.

The Hunger Games 1 & 2
A teen girl competes in a televised fight to the death and survives due to her strong archery and survival skills.