Northwest Fishing Magazine September 2025 Volume 5 Issue 1 - Flipbook - Page 13
On its final jump, it spat out
the hook and swam back
to safety, having bested
me. All I could do was
smile and chalk it up to a
well-executed play by my
opponent.
The second day was a
completely different
experience. Like going from
a dome in Dallas to the
frozen tundra in Green Bay,
it was sunny, comfortable,
and a day where you’d be
just as happy doing yard
work outside as you’d be
fishing. Well, maybe not
quite as happy as fishing,
but you get the idea. My
coach, Hunter, wanted to
change strategies and get
into some technical fly
fishing. He tied on some
streamers for us, and
away we went. Varying
my retrieval, we hoped
to get into the larger fish
you’d expect from using
streamers compared
to nymphs. Within my
first three or four casts, I
hooked into a solid fish.
Unfortunately, the battle
was short-lived, and I never
saw it surface. But I think
it had the potential to be
that 20+ inch fish that had
eluded us.
Not to be outdone, we kept
floating down the river. A
multi-play, methodical drive
marching down the field,
catching the same solidsized fish as the day before.
Towards the end of our
float, we reached a slower
pool of water that Hunter
said had historically held
some big fish. A guide’s
knowledge and experience
came to my benefit.
Like my first missed fish,
within only a few casts in
this new water, I hooked
the fish and was locked into
a one-on-one battle. Some
pulling, some steering,
and some muscle later, we
landed what was close to
a 20-inch fish. Impressive
enough in size and more
than formidable as an
opponent, it led me to
reflect on the past few days
of fishing and the fables
that come with it. Monsters
of the Madison indeed!
RAINBOW VALLEY LODGE
4781 US Highway 287 North
Post Office Box 26
Ennis, Montana 59729
Call toll-free 800-452-8254
Locally 406-682-4264
