Hey everyone! You know how sometimes you get these days or stretches of time that seem to not count against your final number of days? Like it’s some kind of cosmic divine bonus time that gives life and you feel more rested afterward? Maybe even slightly younger? They don’t happen all that often. But they do happen and it’s wonderful. Sometimes it’s a memory that stays close for a long time and it’s hard to know how to share it. Sometimes it’s all you can think and talk about. And sometimes you want to keep it to yourself in your own mind so it can marinate properly and only then you can tell your people about it. Well, I had a few of those days all in a row back in mid-August when I was fishing the Bighorn in Ft. Smith Montana with my good friend Brad and some new friends. It was beautiful. 3 days and it felt like a week. Not bad.

The Fishing - The fishing was nothing like I had expected. The Bighorn is a tailwater. Meaning it’s fed from an impounded body of water like a lake. This particular lake, which just so happens to be called Bighorn Lake, is a huge and 450 feet deep one. I was used to tailwaters being an artificial feeling body of water where if you’re on foot, you had to keep an eye on the time so that you wouldn’t get washed downstream when the dam release started. I don’t like that kind of fishing typically. I typically like scrambling up an intimate high gradient stream on small fish that I have to hide from. This river fished and felt like a big natural healthy spring creek with super prolific and predictable insect hatches. I’m used to small water though, and this was huge water. But, this was a first for me to really see and understand, the way the water flows it actually has hundreds of small creeks woven into the whole huge body of water. This is something that my friend Tomo Ijuin taught me years ago when we were fishing the Beaverkill River in New York. Past the runs and riffles and large deep pools, there are individual current seams that you fish. But the great thing is that if you watch the fish rising long enough, they will show you the smaller streams within the larger river. Once I learned this, it absolutely captured my attention and imagination. I hope that makes sense. It was awesome. We used the drift boat as a taxi. We’d float for a while watching certain areas for rising fish. Then we’d get out and stalk them on foot. I also learned that I need more practice playing big fish on the reel so I don’t break them off. Theoretically speaking.

I’d just broke off a good fish for the third time and was pouting a little. John re-tied my flies ‘just to make sure, you know’.

The Rods - We had just about every single version of a 5wt rod I’ve ever made. My original Brown Ale 7’10” 5wt, the Tailwater Special 8’2” 4/5wt, the Traveling General Practitioner 7’9” 5wt 5 piece, my 8’ 6wt, and my Parabolic 8’2” 5wt - plus a great showing by my rod building hero Larry Kenney - an 8’3” 5wt and an 8’8” 5wt. We used 406 Fly Lines DT5 and Cortland Peach DT5 on them. They all fished wonderfully and the general preference landed on the 8’ 6wt fished with a Cortland Peach DT5. It was a magical beast.

As with most significant places I’ve fished, I had the immediate inspiration to create a new rod for fishing there. I already have the first prototype in John and Pete’s hands for their evaluation. I think it’s close but we’ll need to make a couple of changes to the taper. And I’ll probably need to go back to test it too. For R&D purposes, of course. As the younguns say, deets are coming soon.

The People - my friend Brad who invited me. My new friends John and Deb Sindland who became instant friends, Pete the owner of the Bighorn Angler, Jerry and his son, the guys we did impromptu casting demos in the evenings with, the friendly smiles, waves and nods from local folks. The younger and older guides exhausted and ready for more. The new clients coming in to experience the wonders of the Bighorn. All of them were hospitable, wonderful, and genuine. It was refreshing to be around and entwined in all that messy personality. Being a hermit is overrated, go be with people.

The Food - Wow. Charlie Parr has a song called Rich Food and Easy Living. He mentions Montana in the song and the only thing that the song, which is a really good one, has to do with what I’m writing is that eating too much rich food and easy living will make you soft. This food was seriously rich. I loved it. The Bighorn Angler lodge kitchen FED. US. WELL. My steak, I cut with my fork. My pancakes had blueberries, I also cut them with a fork and they were equally tasty. The frittata. The salads. The desserts. The coffee was even good!

The Landscape - it’s so open, broad, and clear. You can see forever and it’s beautiful, barren, and broad. I’m still marinating on this thought but when all you see is a storm, it’s a relief to see open skies. These past few years have been growth in the form of storms and this trip was a gift to enjoy.

There were groves of cottonwood trees and redwing blackbirds. Those just so happen to be two of my favorite things.