On The Madison I discovered streamer fishing.  My buddy Pete, from Helena, and I were fishing from the Flathead to the Beaverhead in an AMC Gremlin.  Our rods were attached to a ski rack and between Rock Creek and the Little Blackfoot we dragged a rod tip.  No damage-you gotta love fiberglass.  Upstream from Ennis the locals were fishing live sculpins and literally every cast was a hook-up.  Their average fish was larger than any fly-caught trout we had seen in two weeks.  It did not take a genius to see that we were seriously lacking in big Muddlers.  From then on we started catching big fish.  Many hook-jawed monsters destroyed our cheap leaders.  That was in 1972, and those small flies and techniques went to New Zealand with me as a 19-year old in 1973: more big browns.
< previous - next >