Some days you know the conditions aren’t going to be optimal, but you have to get out anyway. Last Thursday I was sitting at the island in our kitchen tying flies and just got the urge to go fishing. It was 25 degrees in Bozeman, and had been damn cold the previous night. All the local rivers were likely slushy and damn cold, but what the hell, might as well get out.
I packed the gear and headed out to the Lower Madison. That’s about the closest water you can comfortably throw a Spey rod on, and thanks to lots of talk at the shop I had the Spey itch bad. And I had all those swing flies I had to try. If nothing else, gas is cheap now and this country is so damn beautiful to drive in. Even in the middle of winter.
The temp had dropped to 20 by the time I got to the river. The river was slushy, and a brisk breeze added a nice chill to the mix. But still, I was out there…
In 20 minutes all my guides were solid ice and my reel was damn near frozen solid. I pulled my fly out of the water and in a couple minutes it was frozen solid. There was 3 or 4 inches of slush on the bottom of the river, it’ll be iced solid soon at this rate. I took a few pictures, enjoyed the scenery and left. The best part of the trip was the burger in Four Corners. If you haven’t tried Best Burger out there, you really should.
No, that’s not true. The best part of the trip was just getting out there. It’s so easy in the winter (on cold days anyway) to just hole and up and not leave the house. And while that is really nice some days, getting out is better. Even if you only get out for a half hour like I did, it gets you out of the house. That breath of fresh air is so worth it.
