Here’s My Most Memorable Montana Fishing Story

Recently, a coworker asked me to tell him about my favorite fishing story in Montana. Honestly, I have a lot of great Montana fishing stories, and for me, it's hard to pick a favorite.

I grew up in Idaho, and have done a lot of fishing throughout my life. There's just something about being on the water that feeds my soul and makes me feel truly alive. In Idaho, I did a lot of trout fishing and when I first moved to Montana, I was excited to fish all of the rivers and lakes in southwestern Montana.

After thinking about it for a while, I finally thought of my favorite Montana fish story.

A couple of years ago, my friend Stephen called me to ask if I wanted to go to Canyon Ferry to do some walleye fishing. They had an extra spot on the boat, and I instantly accepted the invite. Up until then, I had never fished for walleye before, due to a lack of places to fish for them where I grew up in southern Idaho.

One thing that can ruin a good day of fishing at Canyon Ferry is the wind, especially if you're out on a boat. Fortunately, we lucked out and didn't have to deal with much wind that day. Conditions were pretty perfect when we got on the water. Not a cloud in sight, and nothing but sunshine.

Fishing for walleye is quite a bit different than fishing for trout in the sense that you don't really have to set the hook. In fact, it's a good way to lose a fish. It took me a while to get used to.

Fishing was pretty slow that day, and we only caught one walleye. It happened to be the one that I caught and it was my first walleye. It wasn't much to write home about, and it wasn't that big, but it was my first walleye.

Another part of that trip that was particularly memorable was the fact the nobody brought sunscreen, and I got one of the worst sunburns of my life. I was bright red from head to toe and it hurt to move anything for almost a week. Aside from that, it was an awesome trip. A great fish story isn't always about the number of fish you catch, sometime it's more about the great memories you make.