All good things gotta’ come to an end. Ten days of great times and unexpected weather…Saved the best for last…
Entering the parking lot at $3.00 Bridge with a hint of sun for the day…
First ones to arrive !!!
This rough water is loaded with nice Trout…
So are these areas around boulder…
A Rainbow first…
Michael found some small (#22) Baetis is the drift…
…while working this spot…
But it was this Blue Wisp Midge pattern that got him into fish…again…
Then it was the “old guy’s ” turn…
The “SHOP VAC ” version on the left, in size #20…worked it’s magic…
Michael holds the Brown for a close up…
It started to cloud up, get windy and a lot colder so I left Michael to wander around and take some parting shots…
A view down river with the foliage starting to change…
A wide picture of the Madison below Michael…
One last photo of $3.00 Bridge until the next time…
After breaking down our rods, we decided to take a ride up the road to visit Blue Ribbon Flies one last time…this is Hegben Lake on the way there…
This is now the only place…
…that I can find these Sports Tools Nippers. They are my favorite for hook eye cleaning and wind knots…I picked up several because it is the only place that has them in stock – anywhere…
Then we headed back to West Fork Cabins where Michael…
…whipped up a delicious steak dinner and packed up his gear to fly out of Bozeman the next morning…
Monday morning, September 25, we stopped in at the Ennis Pharmacy for a final breakfast…
…and the visited the Tackle Shop one last time…I first came to this shop in 1975 when it was the only fly shop in Ennis and the fly on top of the store was 10X larger…
Like this…
So we stopped at a couple of places in Bozeman before Michael boarded his flight to go back to NYC. I didn’t document that because I get really sad after spending a week or so with my kids and then they have to leave. I did take this picture of coming down the hill into Ennis on the way back from the airport…
Last Virgin Bloody Mary in Montana at the Driftwaters Resort just up the road from where we stayed…
I got up at 3:00 AM on Tuesday September 26 and headed back to Bridgeport, CA in the Eastern Sierras to spend a couple of days fishing in warmer weather and sunshine…
It took a bit longer than the time on the above map because of road repairs and flagmen in Nevada…I saw a lot of this…
Further along, but still in Nevada…
On the other side of this grade is the East Walker River and the cut off road to Rosaschi Ranch…
Finally. at about 5;30 PM this came into view…Bridgeport Reservoir…
Next: A few days on the East Walker River…
PT/TB
I enjoyed following along on your fly fishing trip. I fished some of the same spots in August. I have similar pics on my RiverKeeper Flies website. I love the $3 Bridge area. Whenever I see pictures from there, I always get a warm spot in my heart and a little smile comes across my face.
Looks like you had a great trip in spite of some of the weather.
Thanks John,
It was really just great to go back up there and spend some quality time with my son Michael…that is what it is all about !!!
PT/TB 🙂
Great photographs. Gotta get to Montana sometime.
Tim- I’m with you. I love that area too having grown up across the border in Idaho and dragging my kids back to the home land annually— especially my son on the Madison during the summer. I too get very sad saying goodbye when they have to leave, now that they are all grown up.
Your blog is imminently human and relatable; wrenches my heart in these later years looking back. I have hope to commandeer my future grandchildren and relive every freaking moment even more.
Thanks Rich !!!
I hope that I am able to continue this wonderful journey after the coming struggle with resolution of my kidney tumor…
PT/TB