Saw this dude on the screen door a couple days ago and snapped a quick and very amateurish image with my aging phone. Clarity in the photo doesn’t matter as much as the clarity this gave me in my head—time to organize flies and get ready for the season.
It’s been a mild winter in Montana and I believe we’ll be seeing our hatches early this year. The rumor mill already is calling big midge hatches and Baetis and a few skwala stoneflies, too. A couple more weeks and things should be rolling for skwalas and March browns.
It was 57 in Missoula last Friday and I opened up the garage doors and let the light bleed in. What I encountered was three months of neglect and Gorilla racks piled with fishing gear. And no sense to the loose flies resting in various states of repair. Some weren’t even cleaned of old tippet and others were piled in bulk, wound into monofilament wreckage like rat nests. I have a job to do this week after work, and it’s going to take some time. But, by Friday, when temperatures are supposed to hit 60-plus degrees, I’m going to be ready for the first float of the year.
My suggestion? Time for all of you to do the same. Go time is now! —GT