Mat McHugh from Fly Odyssey made his first trip out to Montana earlier this year. To say he fell in love with the fishing, the scenery and the people is an understatement!
Montana is a place that you read about so often in angling literature. Through the words of writers like Geirach, Lesson, Babb and McGuane I have been creating pictures in my mind of log jams, beaver dams, meandering meadow streams and vast freestone rivers ever since I took up fly fishing. River names are etched into my mind: Bitteroot, Firehole, Blackfoot and Bighole. Seriously are there any more evocative river names in the world? For some reason they scream at me to come and fish them.
Despite all my time spent reading about Montana and its rivers and its fish I had never visited. This year I was lucky enough to finally get to Montana. And when you arrive you really feel like you have landed in a part of the world where fly fishing rules. I mean where else in the world can you land and the jetbridge has a SIMMS logo on the side. Or as you clear customs the complete stranger behind you wants to tell you what hatches are coming off, where and when.
The people, the scenery and the fish lived up to everything I had read about them. I got to fish the log jam in my mind on the west fork of Rock Creek and I ticked off one of those famous names experiencing the Firehole on a windy Yellowstone day. The thing about Montana is that in our week long stay we barely scratched the surface. I will keep reading to satisfy the urge until my next visit and hopefully the photos give some idea of the beauty of the place.
Mat sent us more photos and we thought it would be rude not to share them so enjoy!
Mat McHugh operates Fly Odyssey who specialises in fly fishing holidays around the world