What goes around, comes around

We were lucky to spend the first half of the day on the reservoir with our friend Steve. He has a nice 18' Crestliner boat made for fishin'. We met at the ramp at 8 AM just a few minutes from camp and headed off for the other side of the lake, where a stream comes in. There is a deep channel that is popular with the fishermen and fish. It took Rick and Steve a little while to figure out the right fly combination and then they caught fish! Nice big brown and rainbow trout. We didn't keep any fish nor did I see anyone else keep fish. But they may have put some in the cooler without me seeing. There were about 24 boats in the channel area. We changed flies, weights, and rigs many times and caught fish through the morning, just not as many as some of the others anchored there. We know people who fish the lake everyday, just as we fish the river everyday. Steve and Rick caught fish, but I did not bring any to the boat. I had 2 bites, but no fish. A sharp contrast to yesterday's bountiful day.

Around 1 PM we all agreed to pull up anchor and head back. Back to the river! Back to familiar water! I was looking forward to more like yesterday! As we were trolling out of the area we passed a guy fishing from a camo-colored skiff-of-a-boat who had caught fish after fish all morning. Earlier I said I wanted to ask him what he was using, but neither Rick nor Steve wanted to ask him, so I waited. And as we were leaving I waved to him and said "What are you using to catch so many fish?" His answer was rather smug and I thought rather rude, "The special fly. A special catch-everything fly." He wouldn't divulge the secret fly which I thought was not very nice!


When we got back to the campground Rick met an elderly gentleman named Logan (that means older than Rick) from New Zealand who wanted to fish the river, but he'd never done so. Rick said we were going and he was welcome to follow us. Rick ended up giving him some flies, even tying them on for him, and giving him some pointers on where to fish. The elderly gentleman hooked 2 fish right away and he was thrilled. He yelled to Rick, "My first Montana trout!" He knew how to fish and continued for the rest of the afternoon. He was a happy guy!

We fished for most of the afternoon, until about 6 PM. Again, Rick and Steve brought fish to the net, but I did not! Using a dry fly, I hooked a number of fish, but could not land any! Quite a difference a day will make.

While on the river we saw a fisherman we'd seen the day before. He was visiting the U.S.A. for 2 weeks from his home in Switzerland (I believe) and this was his first time fishing this river. Rick and I had given him a few flies the day before as we were leaving. Today he fished downstream from us and hooked a large trout. Rick grabbed our long-handled net and ran over to help with netting it. They brought it in and released it. Shortly after that fish he hooked another and gave me a big thumbs-up as he brought it in. We spoke with him as we were leaving and he said it was his first fish on the dry flies, the ones we had given him the day before. Rick took out his fly box and gave him a few more flies to finish out the evening. With a big smile he called it "the special fly" and it made me think of the guy in the camo-colored boat on the lake who wouldn't share what he knew, wouldn't even tell what he was using.

In the time we've been here we've shared flies, tippets, and sinkers with others on the river and others have shared what they have with us. We hope people have a good experience fly fishing. A couple weeks ago a young man was fishing upriver from me and a fish broke off all his flies and sinkers. He yelled across the river to his friend that he didn't have anymore sinkers with him. I had a fish on at the time and told him to come to me and take however many sinkers he needed from my pack. He was hesitant, but thankful. I told him there will be a time when he will help someone else who needed it. He said "yes, I will." What goes around, comes around.