Biscuits and Gravy

**mems** · 07-26-2012, 03:30 PM

My favorite breakfast to fuel up for a day of trout fishing is biscuits and gravy.

Ofcourse Luke is a growing boy and he ordered a side of pancakes, the size of a "hubcap".

We were in Montana's Bitterroot valley to do some fishing. Luke wanted this trip for his high school graduation present. We got to fish for two weeks and had a blast.

The first challenge after deciding where to fish was to slip into your waders and boots.

You would walk through the brush to the stream, and the first step was always one of excitment and caution as you had to adjust to the slippery rocks and the current of the stream. I liked the cool feel of the water against my legs. The numbing cold told me I was ready to fish.

It takes some skill to read the water and to know and recognize the feeding lanes. This is Rock Creek and it is one of my favorite streams to fish in the area. It has a variety of trout species and is closed to floating after the salmon fly hatch. I talked with the owner of Fisherman's Mercantile fly shop and she said wade fishing is a lost art. Most guys just float and let the boat do all the work. They need skill to wade a creek like Rock Creek.

I got this nice westslope cutt on the upper section of Rock Creek. Patience also pays off, it took ten casts to get the perfect drift to fool this guy.

Rock Creek has some stunning vistas and is the ideal wading stream.

One difficult choice was deciding what size rod and reel set up to use. Luckily I am a rep for TFO and I had many different rods and reels to select from. This is the new BVK 4wt rod and reel. It was a great setup for medium streams like Rock Creek.

The new 1/2wt TFO rod was a blast on the smaller feeder creeks. It made a 12 inch fish seem like an ahi headed down stream.

One rod both Luke and I took pleasure and pride in fishing was this 4wt bamboo rod built by Adam Trahan and Mike Shay to remember my father with. When we fished this rod it was like having my old man back on the stream with me.

Luke fought this cuttie like a champ on the bamboo.

We hiked up to an alpine lake one day and had a nice picnic and fished for cutties cruizing the shore.

Got this nice one on the BVK 5wt great for roll casting backed up against timber.

The fire weed flowers were beautiful. It was very peaceful at this lake.
Part 1

**Darian** · 07-26-2012, 08:58 PM

WOW!!! That's a beautiful place and the fish are really colorful. What a great vacation. I gotta start heading up that way soon. BTW, that's a great pic of you Luke together.