Trout Stalkers

We woke up this morning with antelope grazing in our back yard. And in our front yard was a spectacular view of mountains and the valley.
After a quick breakfast we headed into town to meet up with our guides from Montana Trout Stalkers, Joe and Charlie. TR and I were in a boat with Joe while David and Luke were in a boat with Charlie. Charlie gave Luke a quick lesson in fly fishing and then we were off. We floated about 12 or 13 miles down the Madison. The views were amazing. One section of cliffs, called the Palisades, is where native Americans herded buffalo off the cliff. We fished nymphs and streamers, typically trailed by a small bug such as a lady bug or Copper John. The weather was ideal - 70s and 80s and sunshine all the way. Not bad for October in Montana! We ended up catching 11 trout per boat (David: 4; Luke: 7; TR: 5; Chris: 6), plus a handful of Mountain Whitefish. David had the big fish of the day at about 18 inches.

After a long day of fishing (around 8 or 9 hours) we headed into town to check out the dinner spots. We settled on the Roadmaster Grill at the Claim Jumper Saloon. We saw some of the local cowboys and chowed down on some good eatin'. Once we got back to the cabin we turned on the baseball playoffs and started playing poker. I must say I was pretty dang good (or I could be bluffing).

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