Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Single Haul: First Tied Fly
A Griffin's Gnat with some help from Stephen at Backwoods. Thanks for the lesson and I look forward to giving it a shot on the water. Click to Continue the Story......
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Friday, November 13, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Coming In Hot!
Big ups to Stu on the fifth day of the 2009 trip to Montana. He worked the oars better than a gondolier, was ready with the net for the bows he positioned us on, and had an indescribable Ricky Bobby style when parking the drift boat along a bank.
-Parker
Click to Continue the Story......Thursday, October 8, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
arTrout of Madison County
Saw some art and trout while walking about Virginia City and Ennis during day three and four of the recent trip to Montana. A benefit project called FISH OUT OF WATER was been set up in Madison County and made for some interesting fishy photos. We came across three out of the twelve: Carrying the Legacy, Spirit Swimmer, and Madison Memories...
Monday, August 31, 2009
Montana 2009 - Day 3
Most of day three in Montana was spent going back to the future like Marty McFly in the third installment of the classic movie trilogy involving a suped up, one of a kind sports car. But instead of escaping the Old West's rugged Cowboys and Native Americans in a DeLorean, we were enjoying some old mining towns of the late 1800s in a Nissan Armada that did not have to reach 88 mph...it also sat four folks comfortably and flux capacitor was not required.
The road trip down to Ennis took us through some of Montana's oldest towns that reached their heights in the gold rush days gone way by. The first stop was the St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Laurin....
Followed by a stroll up and down some rustic two-by wooden plank style sidewalks in Nevada and Virginia City.
As the rural country landscape drive ended and cell phone service returned, we came out of one of nature's valley and came face to face with another. The Madison River Valley and the town of Ennis somewhere down there...
As nice as it was to be back in the future in Ennis, it was interesting to learn about the small towns we passed through on our country tour drive. They are historic landmarks that help paint a picture of the tough conditions that once were when brave souls ventured westward as the United States grew years after the Louisiana Purchase in the nineteenth century. Roads were; hoof beaten trails, rivers flowing between cities, and railways for a quicker means of transportation. As much of the world think things needs to change, it is always a pleasure to visit places where humble roots hold strong and good folks keep important history alive. It helps shed a bright light on the determined greatness of America and gives a guy like me a chance to fly fish some incredible water in incredible countryside today.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Montana 2009 - Day 2
There is something just flat out awesome when the bite is "on" while you are fishing one of your favorite rivers. It is extremely hard to explain all the fishy factors that turn the bite "on" as it seems most of those fishy factors you have little control over. But when it's "on" like it was during the second day of our Montana Trip, confidence with a fly rod in your hand abounds as it feels like you can do no wrong with the little hook dressed up as a trout's favorite insect and you cannot stop the smile on your face.
Mom and Dad teamed up with Todd for their adventure down the Missouri River...
And as they continued down the river...
As for Liz and I, we got into our fair share of fish with Coach K-style leadership from Mitch K. There were a lot of firsts on our adventure but the most exciting first for me was watching Liz hook into a trout and landing herself a nice rainbow...
It was our first time to share a drift boat on the Missouri and her fly fishing skills really developed throughout the day where she knew what she had to do to trick trout and land'em!
Another first for me was a dry fly take from a brown trout feeding along the bank of the river and fighting him into Mitch's net.
The entire trip down the Missouri was a blast and with the warm summer temperatures of Montana, the cool waters of the river, and trout cooperating the way they should this bunch of fly fishing friends could not have been happier...
We were even fortunate enough to land some of the coolest looking brown trout I had ever seen on hopper patterns that made me chuckle to myself the more I realized on what had happened when I replayed the show stopping takes in my head.
The exciting day was long and much appreciated for all the work Todd and Mitch put in for us as we fished the Missouri for the first time as a family. Liz was so jazzed she looked like she was ready to take on the world with a fly rod as she walked up from the take out point.
And the smiling fly fishing team of family and friends knew it was quite a day with all the heart racing takes, epic fights with muscle bound wild trout that beat us in some of the rounds, and the very much appreciated feast lurking Rainbows & Browns that were willing to turn their bite "on" so they could play our game as we brought them to the confines of a net and a sweet release.
River being the MO that is!
Thanks Todd, Mitch, and PRO for the incredible time on the water during the second day of the Montana trip. It will always be a day of memories tough to beat.




