New Rods, Getting My Ass Kicked and Guiding

When you own a fly shop there are days, especially in the early part of the season, that are like Christmas. Instead of being delivered by Santa and a sleigh pulled by reindeer, these gifts come via the UPS and FedEx trucks that pull into the parking lot. Unfortunately, these gifts cannot be bought with milk and cookies! Such was the case the other day when my R.L Winston order came to the shop. This will be the first year I will carry R.L. Winston rods. Not only are these great fly rods but they are made here in Montana. Just like a kid who gets exactly what they want for Christmas, I had to go out and play with my new toys. After all I have to know how the rods will fish if I am going to sell them, at least that was my justification for closing the shop at 4:00 and hitting the river.

Right off the bat I could tell I was going to love the new rods. I started off fishing the 9 foot 5 weight Boron IIX. This is their faster model but still has the characteristic flex that has made R.L. Winston famous. My good fishing buddy Donn was gracious enough to let me fish most of the time we were out so I could have some quality bonding with my new toy. If you haven't fished one of these rods, when you do, be prepared to buy one. Not only do they cast amazing but they mend like no other rod I have ever fished. I started out of the gate by landing a decent cuttbow, which was a good way to christen the rod. After that, I completely farmed my next six fish. Don't ever let a guide tell you they don't miss fish. If they do they are full of themselves and shit! Anyway, we pulled into a inside bend where I knew a very large brown trout resided last fall. Granted, I haven't seen this particular fish since October so I was not sure he would be back in the inside line yet. On my second cast as my Skwala slid behind a big boulder there was a sound akin to a toilet being flushed. After my miserable performance on the six prior fish, I was not going to prematurely set this one. Like I tell all my clients, after counting to two I lifted the rod only to have a hell break loose! True to big brownie form, this fish instalty took off and headed for deeper water littered with structure. I battled the fish for about five minutes during which he took me into backing and a across the entire river twice. As he started to tire he made a hot run right at me and I was picking my line up as fast as possible to keep a tight line. However, this wily brown had one last trick up his sleeve and as he got to the slower seam just ten feet in front of me he instantly turned back and ran toward the faster water. Just like that was gone only to return and haunt me in my dreams! I looked over to Donn with dismay and he laughed and said "That fish just kicked your ass!" Yes, he was worthy adversary and had the upper hand on me that day. All I could do was laugh and while drowning my sorrows in a nice cold Budweiser. We ended up having a stellar afternoon with a lot of fish coming to the boat in the 15-19 inch range. Donn landed a nice 19 inch pure Westslope cutthroat. All in all in was a great day to play with the new toys.

Yesterday, was the first day I had a commercial trip for the season. Although I have guiding for the better part of ten years, on the first trip there are always butterflies and checks and rechecks to make sure I have everything. Yesterday I took Clay and his son Mark. Clay owns the City Center Motel here in Hamilton. If you are looking for a very affordable motel that is located right downtown, this is the place. Clay fishes with me a few times a month during the season and it is always a pleasure to have him on the boat. I met Mark last summer but never got to fish with him. The fishing started off a little slow for the simple fact that the water was temping out at 38 degrees in the morning. However, after lunch the water started hitting the magic number of forty-two. If you don't have a thermometer with you while fishing the Bitterroot River this spring, don't worry the fish will let you know when you start hearing and seeing the fish aggressively eating the naturals on the water. We had a great afternnon of fishing with about 35 fish that ate our flies. Of those, about twelve came to the boat. The best fish came at the very end of the float. We were coming through a long, fast riffle the used to house a pair of beautful rainbows. However, I haven't seen them for the last two years. Mark made a great cast about two feet from the bank and as soon as the fly touched the water a very large mouth sucked the Skwala down. He paused long enough to let the fish get his body back under water and then lifted his rod. Immediately, his 8 foot 5 wieght rod doubled over and I knew we were going to have a battle on our hands. I instantly started pulling us upriver and toward the opposite bank, as the fish was not wanting to leave its home which was now about 25 yards upstream. Mark got the fish turned back downstream (the first time) and started coaxing him toward the boat. But of course as soon as it saw the boat it instantly peeled line off his singing reel and headed upstream and to the opposite bank. I dug my oars into the current and tried to head upstream with him but now were were at the bottom of the riffle and the best I could do was to try and stay stationary as he tried to turn the fish back downstream. After a few tense moments he got him turned around and I slid the boat downstream and into a back eddy. The fish took a couple of hard runs but eventually came into the net litteraly 50 yards from the takeout. Mark is a Marine pilot and flies an Osprey, so we have a Osprey bond going. I would like to thank Mark again for serving this great country as he readies for a redeployment to Afghanistan. Godspeed and come home safe so we can do some more fishing.