A Good Day For Fishing - Bitterroot River, Hamilton, Montana

(Look close for the two fisher-persons, a bit left of the bend on the grassy right bank...)

"He told us about Christ's disciples being fisherman, and we were left to assume...that all great fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fisherman and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman."   -Norman Maclean (1902-1990), in A River Runs Through It

Clark Fork River Sabbath - Missoula, Montana

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."  

- John Buchan (1875-1940)

Come Along - Missoula, Montana

Sometimes I overhear the music of everyday words drifting in from worlds foreign to me : come-along, cat's paw, shingle froe, adze; copper John, Matuka muddler, bunny midge, rusty spinner. Their rhythms, on a native speaker's tongue, lazily swirl and quaver; it's a little mesmerizing, and worth simply enjoying the language for its own sound. 

Too often we want to understand, to confirm exact definitions, to parse meaning from the alternating minutiae and overwhelming in our lives. That's all fine and good, but sometimes we just need to give ourselves permission to simply be, to experience this 'now' for its own merit, even if we must mine deep to find it. 

Water Under the Bridge

In his lovely collection of Montana photos & essays, “I’ve Never Met an Idiot on the River, Reflections on Family, Photography, and Fly-Fishing“, Henry Winkler shares his fascination for reflections as a photography subject. I understand the appeal; often, a reflection brings close the best elements of the day - blue sky, wistful clouds, snow.