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The second morning in the mountains we hiked into the lagoon where we left the boat and float tubs from the previous night. The lake was quiet and shrouded in fog, as the sun rose over the mountains. The heavy cloud cover in the sky put a chill in the air. We rigged up and pushed through the path we created in the reeds. Pipo and I headed to the far side of the lake, where numerous fallen trees lined the shore. The water was so clear it was easy to see down eight to ten feet. Tree limbs and thick weed beds looked like …

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A few days after the New Year, Alex and I boarded a plane bound for Chile. The plan was to meet up with Max, who was visiting family over the holidays, and drive into the mountains to fish some lagoons (lakes). Our guide, Pipo, who fished with Max and Alex the previous year, picked us up in Osorno. We bought the supplies, gas, and packed our gear, while he offered us transportation, the use of boats and float tubes, and shared his secret spots for an extremely reasonable fee. The boat and truck were loaded to full capacity, and we drove for hours off paved …

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The past two months I’ve hiked the Gunpowder (almost) top to bottom looking for spawning activity to film. I watched as redds began to appear nearly overnight along different sections of river. On a few occasions I was fortunate to witness numerous browns in the process of spawning. I watched two big trout pair up on a redd and spawn, before vacating the area days later. One day I filmed as many as eight to ten browns competitively jockey for position next to a female, and bump her to drop eggs. I also filmed some large browns that moved from their hiding spots to spawn …

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I fished a few creeks in Montana and quickly felt at home on the smaller water. Flows were low everywhere, an ideal time to gain access to the better holding lies. The first day I arrived, I was barely off the plane for 2 hours and we were rigging up on a small creek. This creek held mainly cutthroats and rainbows, which were quite aggressive. We hiked along a precarious ridge overlooking this small tributary of a much larger river. I fished up from the confluence, and quickly found some hungry cutthroats. The fish were six to eleven inch West Slope Cutthroats. In the deep …

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The last float of my trip came after a few days wade fishing on my own. Matt and I drove a short distance from his house to the Bitterroot River. The weather had changed, and air temps dropped ten degrees from the previous days. The wind blew hard, pushing clouds across the sun, casting us into ten minute intervals of cold or warmth. The trees along the river were a bright yellow against the gray mountains, and the river, as silver as a mirror. This section of river had good numbers of big browns, and I felt confident fishing one particular streamer pattern. We both …

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On the second float of the trip we decided to hit a section of the Blackfoot River. This section of the Blackfoot river was remote, and hard to reach on foot. Matt and I crept along on uneven back roads, before dropping the raft in by 9:00 am. The river was relatively low and clear, which was a major change from the float on the Clark Fork. The clear water wasn’t always good, since it was easy to fall into “aquarium watcher” mode, as I often did. The rocky bottom was interrupted by dark swaying forms that held until the last second, and spooked as …

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