Smalley's first big fish of the year

Back in the late ‘70s, after a day of skiing Big Mountain, we often stopped at The Place in Whitefish for broasted chicken or burgers.

And the “All-You-Can-Eat” spaghetti on Thursday night was good enough to run all the way over from Columbia Falls when we were training for marathons.

The site of the former The Place has been occupied by a succession of businesses, most recently the Tap House.

The large sign above the door to the kitchen said, “If you’re too busy to go fishing, you’re too busy!”

Well, more than once those words have resonated in my noggin, including, once again, this spring when I hear anglers telling each other recent stories about trips to the Middle Fork and the Mo and the Rez.

Last Saturday while my 18-month old grandson attended the birthday party of one of his little buddies in Missoula, I scurried off to Rock Creek.

The weather was a combination of sunny skies, dark clouds, rain, snow, graupel, and high winds, all alternating in the same 20 minutes.

In my haste of packing at home, I’d brought only one small fly box, containing some Skwala dries, small beadhead Prince Nymphs and a few barbell-eyed sparkle streamers with rubber legs.

When I got to a favored run, the sun was shining and I could see smaller trout rising for dry flies near the far bank.

Looking closer, I could see a few dark stonefly adults (Skwalas) floating on the surface, so I loaded a dry weight-forward line with a long leader and tied on an adult Skwala pattern I found last winter on a Missoula fly shop website.

As I put my first wading boot into the water, I saw two, then another brown trout, each at least 18 inches long, take Skwalas off the surface, less than halfway across the stream!

I turned slowly, aimed my false-casts downstream, then let the fly hit the water about 6 feet above the previous rises.

The fly disappeared, I saw a golden swirl underwater and my line tightened!

First fish of the year.

Yes, I have been too busy!

Jerry Smalley’s Fishful Thinking column appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.