Bentpole, that makes me feel connected to you by Montana experience. Cool. The last time I took my family up to the lake in the mid to late 90's (can't remember which summer - but we're over due to go again!) we went into that store at Woods Bay. You are rught about so many millionaires and celebratites buying up Montana - very unfortunate! Anyway, while in the store my daughter asked if they see any of the celebs we'd heard moved there in recent years. The cashier said that actor Martin Sheen was in there an hour or so before we were - and didn't seemed very happy about it (skying property costs to blame for that local 'tude in places). Anyway, my daughter would have been excited with a younger rock star I'm sure, but not about Charlie's dad. My young son at the time asked, who's that? ...

Just up the road is the town of Bigfork. We used to fish the main lake right near the road between those 2 little villages. But Bigfork has gone from the quaint little town on Bigfork Bay, inlet of Flat Head Lake, that we enjoyed as kids to an overcrowded tourist trap - with shops similar to Cannon Beach OR or Carmel CA; with a top notch theater group. I still have to go in there to stock up on Eva Gate's awesome Huckleberry products! Oh man! I bet you have fished on up the Swan Valley west of the Bob Marshall Wilderness from there? ... Don't get me started ... too late.

As for that famous monster in Flathead Lake back when I was young, some guys supposedly caught it, and put it on display in Poulsen (south end). We paid to see it. It was a huge sturgeon. I've since then wondered if it was caught out of the lake, or some unscroupulous guys trucked over an over-size sturgeon from the Columbia to charge locals and tourists to see the famous lake monster they had caught.

You probably know of Wild Horse Island out in the SW corner of the lake? It was on the forested SW shoreline across from it that I caught my first fish. At one time there was a sustaining band of wild horses on it - it's a good sized isle. I don't know if they swam over there the previous century or were planted by barge and multiplied from there. My parents friends still live out on Finley Point waterfront on the east side of the lake, near the cherry orchards. God I love that whole NW MT region. My wife has agreed that in about 15 to 20 years or so, after retirement, we get to go live there for awhile; to get her used to the cold, and then move back to live it up and out around Sisters or Manzanita in Oregon. ...

TD, I have only done a small amount of fising in the SW area of MT. Very nice. But not right near Sheridan. But I've sure heard about it and seen the pictures. Are 'Winston Flyrods' still headquartered near Sheridan in Twin Bridges? How would it be to get the flyrod tester job for them on the near by Ruby, Beaverhead, and Big Hole rivers?! Whoever that is has a dream job, a little like Buzz Ramsey does for Luhr Jensen out of Hood River OR. ...

BTW, don't worry about MT promo here. There are plenty of the famous rivers over there to absorb out of state fishers on nice fish. I won't mention any of the good zippers - especially over in NW near the Cabinet Mts. Oooweee. It'll take too long to find them. In fact, like B.C., you could fish a lifetime and never learn all the river and lake spots in those 2 places.