No Grizzly, but plenty of Brookies

 Brook Trout.

So often, when you go fishing, the subsequent two questions asked by friends are 1.) How many did you catch, 2.) how big were they.

To be honest, I'm that guy. I love to land rainbows and browns in the net. I love it when they are 18 to 24 inches. I'll even call it a success when you get a 12-incher, especially in North Carolina.

Last week, my son Lewis and I went to Helena, Montana to drift the Missouri from Craig, Montana to the Mid Canyon past the confluence of the Dearborn River. We landed a total of about 12 fish averaging 12-14 inches. Not an epic day, but was pure satisfaction. What I didn't know was the following days where going to be even a better experience with small fish.

Let me explain.

My close friend, Dan Pate, offered me his Polaris General side by side to go the a Diehl Ranch in Winston Montana. The ranch owner was gracious enough to give us access to a small creek coming out of the Elkhorn Mountain Range. This mountain range is southwestern Montana,  part of the Rocky Mountains and contains approximately 300,000 acres. It is an inactive volcanic mountain range with the highest point being Crow Peak at 9,414 ft, right next to Elkhorn Peak. The mountain range is surrounded by the capital city of Helena, one of my favorite towns, Townsend, Whitehall and Winston; Home of the Big Bull Restaurant. 

We parked the side by side next to the creek, a steep drive to the bank. During runoff, this creek can be very wide and fast, but being mid-september, the creek was 10-12 feet wide in the broadest areas. Logs brought down by the snow capped runoff lined the creek. Rocks to numerous you couldn't count. Most of the creek was shallow only inches deep. But about every turn, you would find pockets of deeper moving water. My son Lewis who I taught to fly fish many years ago showed me that he was no longer the student, but the teacher; showing me how to rig the right dry fly and dropper (nymph). We were in the back country, so wildlife abounded. I asked Dan to provide for me bear spray as this was Grizzly country, so he provided me a chest holstered Ruger 44 magnum. This gave me some security, but Lewis would yell "Hey Bear" around every turn to scare away any potential visitors. 

Lewis "high sticked" his rig because the cover along the creek wouldn't provide the vision that most people have about fly fishing. High sticking is where you sneak up to the area you want to fish, drop the set and let the dry fly be your set indicator (like a bobber). 

We were going after the coveted fish, the North American Brook Trout. The "brookie" was introduced to Montana from the east in 1889. They desire small, cold headwater streams.  It wasn't long before Lewis caught the first one. The colorful dots on its side is what distinguishes it from the popular rainbow and frisky brown trout.

No, they weren't big, but we were as excited about catching them as we were the larger rainbows the previous day.  Lewis landed a nice rainbow that day, but the overriding catch of the day was brookies. 

Fishing is one of my favorite sports. When you have a guide like Lewis, it makes it that much more fun. When you catch the elusive, colorful small stream brookie.....well....I guess it doesn't get any better than that.