A Whooper On a Hopper

ONE OF MY FAVORITE FISHERMEN texted me this from Montana.  After the applause and congratulations came the inevitable question---on what?  Then came the inevitable answer----a hopper.  A hopper is a beef tenderloin medallion to a big hungry brown hog like that.  More details will dribble in in the weeks and months ahead. One great fish like that keeps you in good spirits during the darkest days of winter.  Getting a photo, then releasing that big boy back into the river and watching him swim into the deep, is almost as thrilling as bringing him in.

Almost nothing more fun in late August and September.  But there's just too much smoke in that dry, thin western air right now for me.