here for the benefit and the enjoyment of the people.
A dear friend of mine had grown up North of Hyalite, raised in a red barn school house, and tossed into bear country at a young age. We met working in the hotel and restaurant industry in Oklahoma City somewhere around 2010. We had similar hobbies, like hopping barbed wire and slicing through the briars and woods in search for the farm pond sure to hold large, gullible bass. Although at the time i was throwing a tandem hook imitation worm with spincast gear, little did I know I was well on way may to Montana.
The apartment I lived in was on a waterway between two small city lakes that had a dam to form a long wide, mostly shallow waterfowl pond, yet in the drainage there was flowing water and bobbers from bait fishermen lined the trees. I left many Rapala grasshoppers hooked into those same trees before learning the art of fishing with a fly.
I was eventually introduced to the fly, and bought my first fly rod from the world of Ebay. I ended up with a fiberglass antique, and attached, an ultralight spinning reel. I discovered "bubble fly fishing" when I googled "how to fly fish with a spinning rod", and I would catch fish in quantities that left others fooled. My method to "drop" a fly off the swivel and toss the weighted bubble under the edge of overhanging limbs proved fun. WHAMMO! fish on!
Soon I would buy my first fly reel after a trip to bass pro sent me home with the name of a man in New York that carried affordable and reliable gear. I ordered line, and a reel, that has recently been passed along to my next of kin.
This all led to me throwing Clouser minnows to smallmouth in NW Oklahoma, and then chasing trout on the South Platte outside of Florissant, CO. I proceeded to drive north through Wyoming into Big Sky country after feeling I had proved myself in the South Central Rockies. I spent that week looking at churned water in the Gallatin River runoff, a day below the dam in Bear Trap, and accepting the challenge that I had encountered.
I first interacted with Mike through his blog, some time before arriving in the Bozone. He invited me to join him on his most local water. It will soon be a year since I have put down in Southwest Montana. I've had the pleasure of knowing Montana Mike, and am grateful of the privilege to submit content to Montana Trout Fishing. See you on the water! -Cody
