Great Moments With Fire

What is is about fire and fishing that seem to go hand in hand. Is it the wine, the whiskey and the beer making us do crazy things. Or is it just the wildness of being outside, living close to nature, with flammable materail in abundance…and nobody telling us not to build that blaze any higher?

I know what a cooking fire is and I know what a good blaze is and I always opt for the latter. In fact, camping and fishing without a good fire just wouldn’t be camping and fishing to me. I’ve stood for five hours in a sopping rain just south of the Canada border near Eureka, Montana, stoking a fire with wet alder—just to look into those flames. And I’ve practically stood in a fire for several hours with the temperature near zero, when I could have been tucked into a minus-twenty down bag, eyes closed, fast asleep. But a good fire brings out antics that you don’t want to miss, situations and scenes that are at least as memorable as the fishing. Here are few images to dictate that. If you have any sweet fire shots send them my way. We’ll get them posted.

 

That's not a serious blaze but it is a godsend when it's this cold. Seeing this again tells me that mountain goats are safe from me. This was the Madison Range in early October.

The last time someone said to me, "Hey Thomas, this is how you build a fire," they caught a friends new 4-Runner on fire and evacuated a campground. This was more controlled, but still an impressive way to get the fire ready f to thaw those frozen waders.

The judges offered a ten on this one. Hatchet in hand, brew in towe, nice spread eagle, and the spirt is undeniable.

Dude has no hops. Blames lame fire leap on brother holding him down with hatches. Says, "If I'd jumped higher I would have been scalped." Fellow anglers chime, "Dude, you're already scalped. That's what bald means." Angler blames hatchet on burnt shoelaces, too.

Skinny dude shows hops. Moose says, "That 'aint nothing.

Anglers use headlamp to demonstrate their preference in brew.

Anglers bet other anglers he can't run through fire. Angler proves other anglers very, very wrong.

Rookie grabs lighter. Rookie grabs bottle of moonshine. Makes like he's an entertainer in Amsterdam. Hand catches on fire. Lucky throat did not.

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