There & Back

Back from a whirlwind trip to ManTana and I've got to say, it feels good. There's nothing quite like the Mountain West but the fact is that while I haven't yet figured out how to make them eat a dry fly, our trout are bigger.

The trip was a nice balance of business and pleasure that included the full spectrum of spring in Montana, from 60's and sunny to teens and a full-on blizzard. 

The latter happened to coincide with my only day of fishing on The Missouri, and it made for a really, really cold but pretty damn good day. Skwala's had fish looking up for foam early on and blanket BWO's brought up the sippers towards the end before shivering and windburn got the better of us. In between the nymphing was silly, providing a nice cross-section of fishing on arguably the most prolific trout fishery in the lower 48. A big thanks to the guys at Headhunters Fly Shop, who've got the entire program dialed.

Also, a special shout-out and congratulations go to our friends Tim and Joanne Linehan and also to El Pescador Lodge (you may recognize the names from previous posts). Tim was named the Orvis Endorsed Guide Of The Year, and El Pescador was named International Destination Of The Year. Having visited and worked with both programs, I can tell you that the awards were well deserved!

I managed to score some nice swag throughout the week, including a fresh pair of Costa 580G's (bad news for local carp populations). Now if I could only find a place to put all of it...

Speaking of swag, got word that the new Dudewater gear is on the production line as we speak and should be in hand in very soon! Stay tuned for samples.

Also got a sneak-peak at some of the new gear coming down the Orvis pipeline, and a lot of us were chomping at the bit to get our hands on the samples. The next year or two are going to produce some really exciting stuff.

Hopped off the plane Monday with daylight to spare so I hurried home, scooped up the pooch and fled to the carp flats. Things are heating up in a big way over there and I'm convinced it won't be long until I stick one on a floater. Not exactly in the same league as steelhead on top, but it will have to get me through the summer.

Tuesday I made a valiant effort to accomplish my other mission but came up short. That is, if you consider double-digit grabs on a swung fly 'coming up short.' #firstworldproblems