Starting the year off right...

         I've spent many many hours wading these beautiful streams and rivers here in big sky country. Only being here for one year, and a few hundred fish later, I consider myself a fair trout fisherman. I started off chasing trout by using the skills I learned from the warm waters of the Midwest, and have since transitioned into fly fishing.  Trout fishing was something I was very thrilled to immerse myself into. I was amazed to find out about the wonders of trout, they are nothing like the warm water species back home. There is a special allure to trout that only unveils itself the longer you are out there pursuing them.
           I started off buying my eighty dollar non-residential fishing license (must be a MT resident for 6 months). It was hard to stomach paying that much for less than a year of fishing but we are talking Blue Ribbon fisheries here. I was anxious to fish the deep, swirling pools, of crystal clear water that flowed through the canyons. Waterfalls, class IV and V rapids, to long running riffles paralleled by amber fields and high canyon walls were something to look forward to. Not only was I standing in the middle of a river in  a beautiful place, I was also catching fish.
           I have been living in the "last best place" since May of 2012, and hit the waters within the first few days of  my U-Haul return. The weather was always changing and unpredictable.You don't change your plans by what the forecast says, you just prepare for it. My exploring days began around July of '12. The weather by then had gotten very hot and dry. I often went to the river with my ultra-light, 4 lb test, a box of spinners, rapalas, and spoons, and just slay them! I would have days where I would catch fifteen or more. The fish were too easy and I would come home bragging!  The spinners and crank baits sure did kill them on some days, and I felt pretty confident with them. They didnt always work but I might as well have been fishing with live bait because my success rate was high. Who would have thought that six months later my theory on trout didn't improve at all. I just couldn't find a pattern on weather fronts, barometric pressure, changing temps, and how it effects the fish; this bothered me.
         I finally bought a fly rod and started the grueling process of relearning how to do something I've done all my life, fish. I felt I was getting away with murder, usually out fishing my fly fishing partners with spinning gear. I wanted a challenge, this was one major reason I made the switch. Let me tell you its A LOT harder than it looks! The wind, knots, and trees, are three things that can ruin your day, and until I learned how to improve my fishing with these factors, I could spend more time fishing and less time tying.
           It was probably somewhere around early September that I caught my first trout on a fly rod. I had just purchased a cheap nine foot rod and five-weight reel and a handful of flies. Very anxious, and unfortunately not knowing what I was getting myself into, headed to where dreams were made, the Gallatin River. My third or fourth cast into a beautiful hole resulted in a fourteen inch rainbow trout! Let me tell you the feeling of fighting a strong, cold water fish, on a nine foot rod and 3 lb tapered leader, incredible! The feeling after have landed my first trout on my first day with a fly rod was awesome. I myself had been hooked, ha!
          So I will share with all who are willing to accept, my trout fishing journey in Montana. My experience has taught me a few things about trout themselves, and also the trout have taught me. Spending hours and hours a day along a gently flowing stream, with hundreds of trout silently below the water, has showed me many things. Its not at all about catching the fish, its about immersing oneself in their world.