Local’s Prerogative

Days off are for fishing.  When you get invited and your schedule ends up working with it, you go.  No matter how tired you are, or how much you have to do at home.  You just go fishing. Sunday night after getting back from the Missouri, I got a text from guide and friend Ty […]

This picture was taken last October, during a great fishing trip with friend Ethan Markie.  It was one of those trips that sticks with you even though the fishing wasn’t all that great.  There is something really special about being the only ones on the water during a raging snow storm.  Not too many things […]

That last hour before dark is often referred to as “The Golden Hour”.  Some days that hour really lives up to its name. Steve and I drug the boat up to Hyalite after work earlier this week.  Lines were cast.  Beers were drank.  Fish were caught.  Stars were gazed.  The fall light put on quite […]

Friend and coworker Brantley is moving down to Florida today.  A lot of his life has been spent under the Big Sky, and one of his favorite places is the Missouri River.  So when it worked out that I could accompany him on his last trip to this water, I was thrilled to go along. […]

It’s the first day you wake up to rain beating against the window and it continues to drizzle all day long.  It’s the first day you realize you should have brought a jacket as there’s a little nip in the air.  It’s taking a deep breath and noticing the crispness in the air.  It’s the […]

When our family first moved to Bozeman, it seemed like Mark and I spent more time on the Gallatin than any other river.  Many good afternoons and evenings were spent exploring the canyon, slipping on mossy rocks and casting flies to small, rising fish.  But as the family all went their separate ways my days […]

What does a fly shop manager and fishing guide do on his first day off in over a month in the middle of a Montana summer?  Laundry?  Grocery shopping?  Relax at home all day?  Nope.  He goes carp fishing.  And luckily, he takes me with him. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, […]

Big Sky Rod Box – How It’s Made in Montana from Big Sky Rod Box on Vimeo.

Small waters have always held a special appeal for me.  They exist in beautiful, uncrowded places, full of wild fish that really aren’t too picky.  I like being able to throw three or four patterns in a small box and not have to worry about matching the hatch exactly.  Everything is downsized, even the fish, […]

As an angler, I delight in finding the places that no one knows about, that aren’t on the radar, and are still a secret even in today’s world.  This could be a small mountain creek, a river that gets overlooked, or a lake that simple doesn’t get talked about.  Searching out and finding those places […]

Montana is full of iconic rivers and iconic places.  All the places that have been in magazines, videos and books for decades.  Places that every fisherman in the world might know and want to visit and fish.  Living here, you would think a fishy person like me would have gone around and fished them all […]

You know you have made the right call moving back to a place when you can just pick up friendships right where you left off, like you haven’t been gone at all.  Earlier this week Ethan and I met up to head to Hyalite Reservoir.  We haven’t hung out since October, but it seemed like […]

When your guide friend texts you one afternoon with the message “You busy tomorrow?”, you know something good is in store. You kind of start smiling involuntarily, and that smile gets even wider when you learn about a 5:00 am departure for the Henry’s Fork in pursuit of salmonflies the following morning. Even though I […]

By the time this posts this morning I will hopefully be on the east side of the Cascades, speeding my way home to Bozeman.  A move is always hectic, stressful, and has that eerie pall of uncertainty looming in the background.  Even moving back to home country… The questions of paying bills, life, love, and […]