#%&***$# Wind!

[Al Agnew]

I love that area of Montana, but the question is not whether the wind will blow, but how hard.

On the bright side,maybe the wind will blow some hoppers in the water if they're still around up there...

Yes, the hoppers are still around...when we get a warm sunny day they get active. I haven't had a chance to float and fish with hopper imitations, though. There is a little side channel right below the house with an eight foot cliff. I sneaked down and looked over the edge of the cliff and saw a nice 15 inch rainbow finning in the gentle current. So I caught a hopper and tossed it in just above the fish and it immediately took the hopper. Cool! So I caught several more hoppers and fed the fish. My friend Bruce came back to the house after his gallery show for a last morning of fishing, and I told him about that fish. He put on a hopper imitation and caught it on the first cast. I told him I wasn't going to train any more fish for him!

[ozark trout fisher]

Yes, the hoppers are still around...when we get a warm sunny day they get active. I haven't had a chance to float and fish with hopper imitations, though. There is a little side channel right below the house with an eight foot cliff. I sneaked down and looked over the edge of the cliff and saw a nice 15 inch rainbow finning in the gentle current. So I caught a hopper and tossed it in just above the fish and it immediately took the hopper. Cool! So I caught several more hoppers and fed the fish. My friend Bruce came back to the house after his gallery show for a last morning of fishing, and I told him about that fish. He put on a hopper imitation and caught it on the first cast. I told him I wasn't going to train any more fish for him!

Funny!

When there are lots of hoppers in those rivers up there, those fish go crazy. Everyone talks about the salmonfly hatch-I'd take a good day of hopper fishing above that any day.

[Gary Lange]

That wind is just part of the cycle of life Al. It is Mother Natures way of recycling the air in the valley so folks can breath a breath of fresh Mountain air. Tell me that even after all that happened that you didn't have a great time on the water with a good friend and truly enjoyed the time you spent together and the story it brought to us.