Guide Classroom at DePuy's

We had great weather yesterday (from evening storm started and now it's full of gust as of typing now.......). I asked my guide mentor Montana's Master Angler himself Tom Travis to see if we can visit DePuy's Spring Creek for more "learning & observation".

It's a transitional time. Hatch (insect emergence on the surface) and trout rise were sparse. That doesn't mean there was no food source in the creek nor we can't catch fish, especially with Master Angler. It was a Nymph Game with miscellaneous technique and understanding. Here, I am bringing in a nice brown. I go get my hair cut soon.......

Ready........

Stomach pump! This is what I wanted to learn under supervision. I mastered it in a way that nobody gets hurt!

Also, I wanted to try my new gizmo. This is another thing that requires experience (along with lots of failures.....). Hope you get some idea of my intention.

We caught a nice Cutty. We did pumped his stomach and found only digested materials = he was not really in a eating mood. This told us Cuttys are coming into the creek for spawning.

We also saw bunch of suckers are coming into the creek for spawning too. So it's an "Egg Festival" for rainbows!! (we didn't use egg patterns though).

Am I smiling?  No..........reporting a belly snag (it didn't start that way, the first fly popped out from its mouth.....)

OK, I tried my "Underwater Film" again. This is viewable, I hope. I'll be better!!

After fishing, we did food sampling (seining). Then we had another classroom. There always are more to learn to be a better guide. Then there always will be more to learn for the rest of my fishing life. Prime fishing season is coming in my area. It was a very important classroom from my mentor.
(Except for the first one, all photos thanks to Tom)