Time flies when you’re having fun.
New job that is a pretty great demand on my time, the depths of winter, and a new engagement all combine to make the days fly by. Next thing you know the first week of February is gone and the possibility of late winter midges with skwalas and early BWOs not too far behind them fills the mind.
Fishing has taken a backseat these days, as it often does in the middle of winter. From a trout angler’s perspective, late January and early February are about as bleak as it gets. It’s cold, icy, snowy and just not much going on from the insect point of view. Time to hunker down, tie flies, and dream of better weather.
Shane and a new fishing friend, Caldwell, and I took a break a while back from the office, wedding planning (for me anyway) and the hustle and bustle of Bozeman for an afternoon on the Madison. We knew the fishing wasn’t going to be great, but Caldwell had just arrived from Seattle the night before, and what better way to settle into a new place than by going fishing? Unpacking can wait.
I had held grand plans of an elaborate proposal to Kaitlyn on Varney Bridge itself, complete with the ring hidden in a fly box and Shane in the bushes across the river to take pictures with the Madison Range in the background, and since I had just popped the question to her the night before, it seemed like the only appropriate place we could go. Nothing was lining up right for my plan for Kaitlyn, so knowing I simply couldn’t wait anymore I surprised her in the kitchen as we were making homemade pizza. Maybe not as elaborate as asking her to marry me on one of the most notable bridges in western trout fishing, but still just as memorable.
The sun was out, and only one other car filled the normally bustling parking lot. Working for a creative company grants us access to a lot of pretty cool camera gear, so loaded down with cameras, lenses and swing rods, we hit the water. Four hours later, we had taken a bunch of pictures and hadn’t even seen so much as a flash after our flies. Switching to deep nymphing didn’t do us much good either. That’s late January for you.
The fishing will get better. The snow will melt and spring will be here. The bugs will return and with them hungry trout eager to feed. That’s the thought this time of year. It only gets better from here on out.
