tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58376111151554735572026-03-06T16:59:33.654-07:00<b>Dirt roads, Big Sky <br> sexy water, beautiful fish</b>Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.comBlogger252125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-19646347860599389362021-07-26T21:25:00.008-06:002025-06-18T16:13:31.078-06:00

I hate my feet and they hate me. Our dysfunctional relationship was never more apparent than our recent backcountry cutthroat pilgrimage in Yellowstone National Park. I mangled them and they let me know how they felt about that.&nbsp;But my feet and I made enough peace to experience some of the best dry-fly cutthroat trout fishing a human can have at Yellowstone 's Mosquito Headquarters: Heart

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-52284037928883705962021-01-21T15:51:00.001-07:002021-01-21T15:51:31.033-07:00

&nbsp;In the grand pantheon of the angling obsessed, I’ve liked to think that I’m among the fishy. I grew up out-angling my peers, I owned books, had magazines subscriptions, fish-emblazoned clothing,&nbsp; and regularly fished alone. I decided I wanted to be a fishing writer at age 13 and I wanted to do all the kinds of fishing for all the species in the world. I even had a Babe Winkelman poster

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-36439373641072392112020-09-06T13:39:00.009-06:002021-06-01T09:52:47.211-06:00

I was really feeling down the other day, so when a friend asked if I wanted to wake up at 5am to go fishing in Yellowstone National Park, I figured it couldn't hurt.Around 6am that morning, while Brady was grabbing a sandwich for lunch, I read an e-mail that said that a road in Yellowstone had closed due to a fuel spill. I asked Brady if that would affect our day, and he said, "Yeah, that's the

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-40328211099954808322020-08-09T14:53:00.004-06:002021-01-21T15:55:06.211-07:00

Maturing in your late 20s while discovering fly fishing in Montana makes for some incredible days and better memories. Every hatch is new, exploring desolate fisheries, so many high fives, grip-and-grins, views, reminiscences ... But over time, the excitement can actually start to wane. Careers take precedent, kids need nurturing, and life "happens." The roaring inferno dwindles to a glowing

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-58016534932552750162020-06-14T19:30:00.000-06:002020-06-14T19:30:12.007-06:00

Go home 2020, you're drunk. But amidst the illness, anxiety, unemployment, and unrest, there exists opportunities for us to recapture some small goodnesses. To take some time to breathe and have an excuse to simplify. I've found myself nerding out on my dust-covered entomology books, reading about the nuances of pale morning duns, and how they swim and hatch and what eastern mayflies they're

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-80877787631548692782020-02-17T09:32:00.001-07:002020-02-17T09:32:58.580-07:00

I’d forgotten how scary the sound of ice settling is, and how slippery a frozen lake is. That little ice shanty over there has to weigh more than me, right? It'd go down first? Phew... I grew up in Minnesota, but haven't fished "the hardwater" for probably 20 years.&nbsp; I recently took a road trip to Cooney Reservoir south of Columbus, Montana. Cooney is known as an excellent walleye

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-34576058911867429272019-09-26T09:36:00.000-06:002019-09-26T09:36:47.811-06:00

I parked next to a bridge over a spring creek yesterday where I had spotted fish in the past, but I didn't see any. Until I did - it must have been 20 inches and was definitely fat.&nbsp;It was sipping near a cutbank almost directly under the bridge. So I literally sprinted back to my car, wadered up, strung up the rod with a medium purple hopper, and jostled down the opposite bank (the knee-deep

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-60579644142031066962019-09-22T05:31:00.001-06:002020-09-09T21:25:29.728-06:00

It's the time of year when the trout decide if they want hoppers or streamers. I had to decide if I wanted to wet wade or wear waders. My body then had to decide if it wanted to acclimate or go hyperthermic. Ben had to decide if he wanted to approach a trout with a baetis nymph or a hopper. We collectively had to decide if we wanted to stay. Then we had to decide which beer. Meanwhile elk bugled,

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-78239689862343104672019-08-11T13:43:00.000-06:002019-08-11T13:43:59.821-06:00

Every hopper season is a special snowflake, but this year's is going down as one to remember. From the North Platte to the Upper Madison, the reports are historically good. A fishing-guide friend told me that the hopper fishing on the Upper Madison is the best he's seen in the nine years he's guided it. Which is exciting as the Upper Madison isn't typically one of the best hopper rivers, in my

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-87717156823438806992019-06-08T09:22:00.001-06:002020-12-01T14:10:34.159-07:00

I'd heard Casper called things like "Wyoming's butthole," but I thought it was lovely. I and a media crew were recently dispatched to Casper and the North Platte River to fish and spread the good news. Beyond me, it was the wonderful&nbsp;Tia Troy, our gracious liaison and wrangler, Mike Sepelak (you might know his blog), and Kent Danjanovich&nbsp;who does Sportsman's Warehouse's in-store

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-68079010272015820282019-03-08T11:28:00.000-07:002019-03-08T11:28:18.539-07:00

It was my birthday on Thursday so a friend reached out to see if I wanted to play hooky and go fishing. My first reaction was excitement to spend river time with a friend who I don't get out with much anymore. My second reaction was doubt that we'd be able to find fishable water on a week that barely got above zero, including a day that hit -46 degrees. My third reaction was dread - is this even

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-52776076026763906092019-01-20T09:42:00.001-07:002019-03-06T14:02:46.160-07:00

*UPDATE 2/23: Nevermind.&nbsp; If you think my co-worker Larry is crazy for beginning his mountain-lake exercise regimen in January this year, you might miss this boat this summer. As predicted by some weather outlets, El Nino has given the Northern Rockies a warm, dry winter. While we are enjoying the mild weather, it has negative implications for our fishing summer. Here in southwestern

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-21376525443163426022018-07-09T17:33:00.001-06:002018-07-09T17:33:01.379-06:00

For a couple of summers solid, I completely focused on fishing mountain lakes. But in the summers since, life's other obligations and summertime joys have been our foci. But last weekend we made it up to a couple of lakes in the distant Beaverhead Mountains near Salmon, Idaho. We booked the a forest service cabin and had a few days to poke around. Two of the lakes were Cowbone and Darkhorse

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-34081441901486296732018-06-11T13:39:00.001-06:002018-06-11T13:39:14.149-06:00

So the truck camper didn't work out for us. It just wasn't quite what we'd hoped it would be slash couldn't take us as high up the Jeep trails as we'd hoped. We sold it a few months ago, and while we plan to get a camper again in the future (a pull-behind), we've dedicated this summer's adventures to staying in cabins. We have four trips planned: one to the Bloody Dick Cabin in

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-88942016791374361552018-04-22T10:06:00.001-06:002018-04-22T10:06:15.459-06:00

Our brother Boges We said goodbye to Boges three weeks ago. He was pushing 14 years and had developed kidney disease and bladder cancer. I learned about a month after adopting him that he "wasn't great" with other dogs. He tore into a friends' dog and they became ARCH nemeses, and I learned that I couldn't trust him with many other dogs. So I had a decision to make: Do I want to keep

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-56499829513595046832017-10-12T07:42:00.001-06:002017-10-12T10:27:26.858-06:00

I don't care for sunscreen or bug spray, so I like long sleeves even in summer. But sleeves are too warm for many high-summer high-noon high-elevation days. So this summer, I tried out a breathable long-sleeved shirt: Duckworth's Vapor Hoody. It's a paper-thin wool-blend hooded top that fits and feels like a cotton tee, but is wicking and breathable. The breeze virtually blows right through

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-32106952973815936992017-10-04T14:40:00.003-06:002017-10-04T15:01:31.109-06:00

Now that it's over, I can see clearly how good our little "sabbatical" was. For the past three months, we've been on our version of the great Northern Rockies road trip. Three months away from work, camping and fishing, packing and unpacking, pooping in the truck bed (in the camper), hike after hike to mountain lakes, floating to unfished sections on seldom fished rivers, solar panels keeping

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-58627575001237447252017-10-03T09:00:00.002-06:002017-10-03T09:00:12.632-06:00

Step 1: Travel to the American Prairie Reserve and find some bison to watch. Step 2: Tune your radio to 88.1 out of Fort Belknap which regularly plays tribal drum and chant rhythms throughout the day (this music incidentally is completely badass; I'm totally into for all the wrong reasons). Step 3: Tell yourself that Lewis and Clark haven't yet been here. You'll believe it. If your bones

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-6608439484968926992017-08-02T14:20:00.003-06:002017-08-13T09:24:28.336-06:00

A soft breeze sweeps through our detached Lance truck camper as it sits alone on the quiet yellow prairie about 45 miles south of Malta, Montana. "Aayy-meee-eee, what'cho wanna doo-oooo..." serenades my dog and me via a far-off AM radio station as I type directions to the Shonkin Sag's Lost Lake into my iPhone, which gets a miraculous LTE signal. Aside from the pond that I've already fished

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-49608431873767681442017-07-11T07:25:00.000-06:002017-07-11T09:39:10.985-06:00

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. - Ferris Bueller Liz and I have decided to accept some advice and take something of a temporary, mid-life retirement while we have the energy, patience, ability, and money. Mm hmm, we've done the "sabbatical." For three months, we'll be neo-gypsies living between the trees, riverbanks and

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-76255503785629668182017-06-07T10:32:00.001-06:002017-06-07T10:32:40.092-06:00

Current ice-out level: I don't think it's crazy to think that you could get to about 8,500 feet in the mountains around Southwest Montana right now. Of course it depends on many factors and is always a crapshoot, but Liz and I easily got to 7,800 feet a week and a half ago. This is not actually too far ahead of what I guessed to be a "normal" schedule in the book, when I surmised that

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-6171276024588970002017-05-28T15:31:00.001-06:002017-06-02T07:30:07.201-06:00

I can't really blame you if you thought I was full of shit - it is early. But you can start getting to some lower elevation mountain lakes in May. Some folks are convinced that this idea is pure horse pucky, like the fly-shop guy in Twin Bridges. "Where did you say you're going?" he asked yesterday morning (May 27). "A lake in the Pioneers at about 7,800 feet," I replied. "You ain't gonna get

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-21421462476247884372017-02-04T08:15:00.000-07:002017-02-06T07:28:33.249-07:00

UPDATE: It looks like Option 4 is the winner, with 35 percent of the vote! Thanks to all for voting! We need some help - we're seeking input on which cover we should use for my upcoming book! Our general criteria is to use an action shot and to have it be representative of the area covered. Vote in the poll on the right-hand side. Thanks for playing! &nbsp;Option 1:&nbsp; Option 2:&

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-31801211827644072022017-01-18T09:03:00.003-07:002017-01-20T23:10:37.631-07:00

If you've lived or fished in Montana for any period of time, maybe you've heard of the fishing tradition known as "road beer." It refers to passengers drinking a beer in the car or truck on the ride home. I'm not advocating it, not saying I've done it, and definitely not condoning the driver participating. But it's a thing that happens and it's probably not the most destructive behavior ever.

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837611115155473557.post-28065857476018980602016-12-10T12:33:00.000-07:002016-12-12T14:10:31.648-07:00

Fish on a higher plane. Available May 2017. (I'm writing a book.) Montana's high country is the final frontier of the last best place, which is why Wilderness Adventures Press is bringing out this all-new guide to flyfishing the mountain lakes of southwest Montana. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;These pristine fisheries have incredible fishing, from different strains of wild 5-pound cutthroat to golden

Josh Berganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849850009256348811noreply@blogger.com4