Cold Smoke

I kicked the Tacoma in 4-wheel drive as soon as I left the driveway. I was running a little late because I decided to gear up in the garage so I wasn't wasting time when I arrived at the stream.  It was a Cold Smoke kinda snow, visibility was down to 1/4 mile but that doesn't stop the Bozeman crowd from doing what they want to do. Having grown up on the East Coast and dealing with town shutdowns after a few inches, it took me some time to adjust to the Montana way of things in the Winter.  It really doesn't matter how much snow you get, or how cold it gets....life goes on as it would on a sunny summer day.

I saw a few accidents between Durston and Kagy but kept on trucking toward the foothills. As I made the turn up into the canyon only a few tire tracks were visible in the 6-7 inches of fresh Cold Smoke, some backcountry skiers looking for bottomless pow. About 2 miles into the canyon I felt like I was truly alone in the wilderness. Not many people make it up this far mid-week. I had to slow down a bit at mile marker 5, "Long Winter" by Ziggy Marley was ripping on the IPOD and I got a little carried away. I found a flat spot that my truck wouldn't get stuck in got to work.

I know winter is in full force because there is 3 feet of snow along the banks. I methodically post holed a few 100 yards to the stream. The wind was howling down in the valley, but the confines of the canyon held the gusts at bay just enough for my Tight Line tactics to work effectively.

The trout's behavior these days is very lethargic. They don't want to expend any energy in the faster water. The first 25 yards of this section was all shallow riffles so I opted to walk in the stream until I found a deeper hole. I got to bottom of one deep hole and took in the sweet sounds and smell of a winter storm. There were no birds, no vehicle traffic and no other fisherman. Just the rushing water and silent drops of snowflakes.

The fish tend to be podded up this time of year, so when I hooked up on my first cast I knew a few more were going to come to hand. The small stone fly at the end of my line got mangled by multiple trout at the bottom of that hole. Takes were very subtle but the fights were fierce. Food is scarce these days so a well presented pattern is usually all it takes to hook up.

I probably only manged to cover 4-5 good holes in a mile of water, but that's all I needed to do because of how stacked up those fish are right now. The temperature was plummeting pretty good towards the end, my flies started to get ice on them, and at that point I knew it was quiting time.

I post holed again to get to the road and walked back to my truck in the stillness of winter, feeling alone on that desolate mountain. I at times during the day wondered if any of these fish see a fly for the next few months...I highly doubt it.  There was 3 inches of snow on my truck when I got back....yes this truly was a Cold Smoke storm....