Smoking them out on the Big Hole

Today was a very different day. This morning the valley was filled with smoke from the lightning strikes yesterday, and subsequent fires that started in the afternoon. Southwest Montana is on fire. The visibility was very low and the stench was powerful. In the past I have seen smoke help the fishing when the weather has been hot and sunny, but not today. I had two great anglers, Palmer and John, and we fished every dry fly I had in my box. The trico worked early but tailed off with the wind around 11 am. From then on it was extremely difficult to get a fish up. Some of my secret spots produced fish, but not as well as they usually do. Later in the day, as we entered the canyon stretch the fishing picked up and we whacked a few nice browns on a green lightning bug to start; then moved on to the caddis and hoppers to finish the day off. The water was low, but the Sotar was not scared and we bumped and scraped our way through a very tough day with a few nice fish and an intact boat.

I am going to take tomorrow off and have a few beers. I might fish, I might not, but what I