Getting Ready

March 8, 2015.  I could have fished all winter in Durango with the weather we’ve had, except the “W” word got in the way, as my husband always says…i.e. work. With a new [...]

Nothing Tart about the Bitterroot

October 2, 2014. Unlike most of the big Montana Rivers, the Bitterroot only flows about 75 miles before emptying into the Clark Fork River. The Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge is located on [...]

Back at Cheesman

April 1, 2014. I really needed a day on the river.  I wanted to hear the whistle of the wind, feel the warmth of the sun as I sat on a boulder, see the red-tailed hawks and flickers and get [...]

Blue Skies at the Blue

March 10, 2014. With the 10-Mile Mountain range as a backdrop, I climbed large snow drifts to get access to the Blue River just below the dam in Dillon. The difference in the river’s flow [...]

Looking Forward

The Smith River in Montana was the 38th river on my itinerary. Had I been able to float this river, it would have been like a grand finale a few months early because it was a five-day river trip [...]

Nice Backdrop

Jerry Lehtinen left the corporate world about three years ago after a career in global packaging. Although an angler for over 30 years, he decided to follow his passion for fly fishing and make [...]

Windy River

  + Beautiful Day on the Big Thompson Δ Wind Gusts up to 35 MPH

Number 51

I squeezed in my 51st river between a lot of windy, cold weather and the holidays. On the day I made the 2-hour drive from Denver to Estes Park the skies were a rich Colorado blue, but the blue [...]

The Bigger Picture

December 18, 2014. The temperature was -20 at the Durango airport two nights before I planned my trip down to the San Juan River. I had fished in minus temperatures in January when I first [...]

River of Lost Souls

Those of us living in the Rocky Mountains have been surprised by the early onslaught of winter. We had -20 at the Durango airport this week. The coldest weather in which I fished this year was at [...]