The 4th of July

The Fourth used to be one of my favorite holidays--then I started guiding. Last year I spent it on the Madison with hundreds of other boats trying to bring ducking trout up on golden stones. The fishing sucked and then I ran into one of the biggest assholes I've ever met on the river as an outfitter lit me up trying to say I was fishing his water. The year before that, I was taking out at around noon at Stickney Creek while 50 other boats and fun floaters were trying to put in. I wasn't looking forward to the 4th of July but...

I got to be honest. This Fourth was not only much more peaceful but it was actually one of the better weekends I've spent since I've been guiding out here. The group we're fishing with is a long-time friend and client of Mitch K's. They bring the entire family up for the Fourth to do this trip, which equates to about six boats a day. We convinced them to start early to get out in front of the crowds. Both days so far I've been going down to Cascade and it's been great; no boats and the fish have been happy. We've even had bugs.

Yesterday had to be the most chill day of my career. I got the single--a dude about my age with similar interests and perspectives and we pretty much just sat an BS'd all day. Don't get me wrong, we fished and he put the hurt on them but it certainly didn't seem like work.

Having a single that only likes to throw dries is pretty cool. You can set up two rods; one with a big stone and another with the techy stuff and just switch back and forth for the conditions. We rolled the big stuff through the riffles and crushed them early. When the time came and we saw pods of fish up, with switched and although they were gulping tricos, (yeah, the tricos have started,) if you put a caddis over them they crushed it. Pretty epic and again, no boats.

Keep 'em where they live...