River tagged posts

Wildfire season has been particularly bad this year in the west.  The smoke is heavy and the ground is dry.  But home in Montana for 10 days we found peace on the river. 

We drove over to Bozeman from Missoula to spend time with my sister, celebrate her new baby and take time to get outside.

After picking up some purple haze flies and rigging up the new rod, we headed to the Gallatin.  As we carefully selected which holes to fish, the smoke remained thick and the mountains looked like distant ghosts.  But the water was cool on our feet, the temperature warm and the breeze on the river was pure the further we waded.  We only had a few nibbles in the hours we were out on the water but our casts got stronger and further as the day passed.

There’s nothing like being outside standing side-by-s...

By Kascie Herron

I never look forward to the first day of the fishing season. I know, I know, call me crazy, but hear me out. It’s usually a $&*t show and I’m a hot mess. I’m not a super proficient angler as it is, but on the first day out I’m pretty rusty and the whole experience only highlights my status as an amateur. My line gets tangled; I lose about a dozen flies and a few feet of line; I break off nearly every fish that bites (if any bite); maybe a rod gets broken. By the end of the day some tears have been shed and my boyfriend and I pretty much want to kill each other. The first day out fishing is just one we must get through in order to move on and enjoy the rest of the season together.

But this year things went a little differently...

By Jill Alban

It’s May in Montana. And my husband and I have entered what we affectionately call “the crazy season.”

I’m not sure if it’s because of the long, cold nights that have us inside playing Scrabble through most of December and January – but once spring hits, we’re a little giddy. Grant wishes on his lucky star and puts in for the special moose or sheep tag that might just be in the cards later this year. I bike down to the farmer’s market to buy the jaunty, bright green starts that will turn into endless bowls of salad in a month’s time. We pull out the calendar, plan our backpacking adventures, and make grand goals to plant an herb garden or build a greenhouse in the long summer evenings after work.

And, of course, I pull out my fly box...

Last month, Dan and I headed out to Colorado to fly fish and toted the SHE Outdoor Waterfowl Waders across the country to finally do the field test.   

We rented a car in Denver and drove six hours to Durango (yes, we took the long way!), stopping only for a beer in Ouray.  Although charmed by the Alps like town, we couldn’t wait to get over the mountain because we were fly fishing in the morning!  

My entire family fly fishes but I’d only been a few times and Dan had only been once – we were giddy!  Since getting married in 2013, we had talked at length about what activity might be suited for us to “grow old together” and without much debate, we settled on fly fishing...