Nature Pictures Added June 12th, 2019

Upper Mesa Falls

Upper Mesa Falls

Lower Mesa Falls

I was fairly astonished to see a river so wide that could be waded all the way across.

Typical view of the upper part of the famous Harriman Ranch section of the Henry's Fork.

The sky darkened along the banks of the Henry's Fork by clouds of morning Trico spinners.

Thick clouds of mating caddisflies along the banks of the Henry's Fork.

A short (about 12") but football-fat, hard-fighting Henry's Fork rainbow. This was probably the best fish I caught in a morning of Trico fishing, although I hooked a nicer one--maybe 17"--and couldn't keep it out of the ubiquitous mats of vegetation on a 7X Trico tippet.

Huge raft of mergansers cruising the Henry's Fork.

A 15 3/4" Brook Trout, my personal best. I saw this fish chase a smaller one out of the depths of a deep pool, but without a great view I thought it was just a good-sized rainbow. I worked the pool for 15-20 minutes trying to catch that "rainbow" and was thrilled when, after a few minutes of strong fighting, it came close enough for me to see the giant brook trout on the end of my line.

Upper Mesa Falls on the Henry's Fork of the Snake River

Lower end of the storried Harriman Ranch section of the Henry's

The famous Madison River

This little brown saved me from officially skunking on my first trip to the Madison, which saw several larger fish swipe at streamers or big dry flies but no hookups in the midday sun.

The fish I encountered in this creek were smaller than those in some other Montana waters.

This cow moose watched me from a slough upstream while I fished a good pool on Rock Creek.

Rock Creek near Missoula

This 14.5-inch, beautifully crossed cutbow put up one of the best fights I've ever had from a fish anywhere near that size and was one of the most memorable of my 2018 Montana trip, despite not being in the top ten for length. I had to chase it a good distance downstream and thread my rod through some brush to bring it to hand.

Overflow from a beaver pond cuts a fresh channel through this meadow along Rock Creek.