The Ignorant Angler

It's deliciously cool in the pre-dawn of this summer morning.  I sip coffee and hastily pack a cooler for the day.  Last night I'd packed an inflatable pontoon boat into the back of my little car along with some fishing gear.
Hebgen.  After more than four decades I was finally getting around to wetting a line. I'd rolled the thought of fishing it around in my mind for a long time. Like the Henry's Fork or upper Madison, it was another backyard piece of water that I'd neglected for too long.
I'd heard about them, seen videos.  Fish cruising, vacuuming their dinner from the lake surface.
Gulpers.
How hard could it be to catch a few?  It was time to find out.
I hit the road early.  Driving along the Gallatin, then through the northwest part of Yellowstone on the road to West.  There was a bit of fog, the temperature dipped to thirty-six along a low-lying stretch of highway.
Out of the park and north of West Yellowstone, I turned onto gravel.
It was warm by eight,…

At last we've entered the days of seasonal tease.  Spring, with all it's daily vagaries.  One day stunningly beautiful, sixty degrees, warm to the face.  The next elicits a response of…"Are you kidding?"  Snow, blow, temperatures plummeting into the teens.  Yes, spring in Montana.  Wonderful.


The last stretch off from work was fruitful from the standpoint of getting out and poking around.  I went five for seven as regards days fished to days off.  Not a bad average for someone swinging a bat or wielding a fly rod. 
The pontoon emerged from it's bag in the garage and made it's maiden voyage of the year.  I was relieved to find that it still held air and had not acquired any new leaks.  An overcast day, punctuated with the occasional squall, made for pleasant floating conditions.  Midges? Yes!  Gobs.  Clusters. Truly something to behold.  Trout enthusiastically sipped the floating masses of bugs.  A short cast to a recent rise with a midge pupa was often rewar…