Fishing in Montana

I got back from an amazing 4 day fishing tip to in Montana late Sunday night with my good friend Kyle. I posted the pics on Facebook and had a couple of questions about there not being any fish in the pictures. Before I get too far into my fish story let me say that the White River in Arkansas will forever be the place to catch a billion trout, but Montana has to be the one of the most picturesque places to be and to relax. Here is my travel log:

7/29 Travel Day -

I got up and started the day the best way I know how - a breakfast date with Chrissta. I travel quite a bit with work, so I would say that I am a pretty good packer and I like to pack at the last moment. I did the same as I always do for this trip as well. Only MAN, rounding up all my gear took a little longer than I thought it would and I had a couple of minor issues. First off I got my wading boots out and noticed that the felt on the bottom of one boot was coming off. That is a good way to ruin a trip, but no worries, a little Shoe Goo and I was in business. I put my newly repaired boots in my fully packed L.L. Bean fishing bag and noticed that I had over packed. I usually make fun of Chrissta doing that, but I is hard to pack for non - 103 degree weather. Well I noticed that I forgot to put my fly rod in the bag - no problem I will just carry it on. Plus I will look cool.

11:30 Kyle shows up and we load my crap in the car. Normally this would not deserve a mention in the blog, but he opens the back of his Explorer and he brought his same bag. I did not have much time to do anything about it so off we went. Did I mention that our bags are monogrammed? OH YEAH!

We flew to SLC then on into Bozeman. The flight to SLC was non-eventful but I did have the most leg room ever on a plane. Landing in Salt Lake was cool. I love to look at the big U on the hill. Living and going to school there was so fun. That is where Chrissta and I grew into a family. So it was a nice touch. The air port was was nutso and the plane to Bozeman was at the furthest reaches in the place, I think the gate was actually in Draper. (look at a map of the Salt Lake valley and that will be funny) So we are kickin it looking for a place to chill before we board, so we find a table in a lounge area.

It is time to go, we gather up our stuff and make it over to our gate about 15 min before we thought we were going to board. I find a nice place, out of the way by the pay phone to wait, and what do you know, someone needed to use the phone. I can't tell you when the last time a used a pay phone. But I looked down and there was no Rod Tube. I had left it on the table... BUMMER, I booked it over and thankfully it was still sitting on the table. That would have been a bummer trip.

While we were waiting, this not very quiet man was yelling throughout the gate area saying, "that is Jeff Bridges!" so of course I looked and sure enough there he was. Looking really normal. In fact if Mr. Loud man (in the yellow shirt) had not been shouting and calling everyone in his address book I would not have noticed that was him just a very normal un-assuming looking guy. I felt kind of bad cause this guy was telling the world that Jeff Bridges was there and all he was trying to do was catch a flight, but he was very calm and seemed flattered but not pretentious.

Jeff Bridges was not the only famous person at our gate. The other was non other than Coach Ron McBride. Coach McBride was the head coach of the Runnin Utes while I was there. Many consider Coach McBride the one who brought Utah football to where it is today. Urban Meyer won with all of McBrides guys and he is the one who hired Coach Wittingham, the current head coach, as his Defensive Coordinator. I have to admit I was more giddy about seeing him than Jeff Bridges...

We landed in Bozeman, it was about 60 degrees and I have to admit, I was cold... We went and checked in to the hotel with our matching monogrammed bags in a little red sports car. I said Chrissta's name about 500 times in about 15 min.... We ate dinner and went to Walmart to get water and snacks for our drive to Yellowstone the next day.

7/30 - Yellowstone

We got up and drove to Yellowstone the next day. The drive was awesome. All sorts of hills and trees and green. It was cool and very green, a nice change from the hot brown Texas we have been dealing with. Into Yellowstone we stopped, not by choice, to see a Moose, a bear, countless dear and antelope, a buffalo and 3000 ground squirrels... We saw the petrified tree and ate lunch on the porch of the Roosevelt Lodge. Oh, and there were no trout in the Gibbon river and the Yellowstone was too fast, deep and crowded...

7/31 - Ennis/Jeffers

Great spot. We fished all day on the Madison. I saw a couple of otters and a Beaver. I did see a nice brown because Kyle was nice enough to fight it over near me so I could see it. I did not catch anything but some mosquito bites and a sunburn, but boy was I relaxed and felt at one with nature. At about 4 pm we started back and decided to fish our way back to Bozeman up the Madison. We stopped at one place that looked promising, but ended up being a 5 mile drive up washbard road. I think I lost all my teeth - and there were no fish.

8/1 - The Gallatin to West Yellowstone up over to Jefffers and back to Bozeman.

That about covers it, lots of driving stopping, fishing and driving. The Gallatin was fast and the rocks were slick. West Yellowstone was interesting and I finally caught one on the Madison in Jeffers. (I had a nice little brown, about 8 inches but he was a good fighter and had nice color. I then hooked a dinker on a dry but it was what I like to call an LDR (Long Distance Release). Kyle then had the great idea to walk down stream through the brush, and mosquitoes - large as birds and love the taste of Deet... All for no fish, bit we saw a deer cross the rivers, that was cool. And on the way back to Bozeman, we actually had to figure out what day it was. We did something right.

8/2 Travel Day

OK we slipped into the river at Spain Bridge on the Gallatin, and there was one more fish, and it was mine. I avoided being skunked on the Gallatin, then it was back to reality on an oversold flight, that was late and way too hot. But it was home to my wife and family.

All in all I had a great relaxing time and Kyle is a great friend but I wished I could have shared the sights with my wife.

Peace out!