After a long wait, the M&M will open again in Butte this Friday!

According to the MTStandard, the M&M will reopen this Friday in time for the Christmas Stroll. Come see Butte all decked out for the holidays and take a break and get a drink in the historic M&M Cigar Store!


Lots of events going on, not enough fishing!  It's also the end of the semester and it has been freezing freakin cold out. There's a lot of pink on the tying desk (dining room table) as I prepare for a winter full of nymphing for the big guys.  

Restore Our Creek Fundraiser at Headframe Spirits

Next Tuesday, December 1,  the Restore Our Creek Coalition will host a fundraiser from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Headframe Spirits, 21 S. Montana St. in Butte, America

"Coalition members will provide information and discuss the need for removal of contaminated waste from Silver Bow Creek.

The coalition includes Project Green, Butte Citizens Technical Environmental Committee, Butte Natural Resource Damage Restoration Council, Trout Unlimited, Citizens for Labor and Environmental Justice, and other concerned individuals and groups." -MTStandard

This is a great reason to have some great cocktails for a great cause!!  See you there.

Bitterroot Water Forum Holiday Party

It's my time!

Early winter on the Bitterroot

I love to fish in the winter.  There is just something about it that makes it more mysterious or something.  I always catch the biggest fish in the winter which may be part of it.  Also, there is no one around, no tubers, no dudes, no noise.  I certainly love the spring and fall but winter holds a special place in my heart. Summer can go suck it!

 

Most people spend the winter tying flies or skiing and I do enjoy that too.  However, if it gets above 32 deg F, I'll be damned if you don't find me mining a winter run for some silver and gold.  In the Butte area we have a solid couple of winter options to choose from.  We've got the newly restored tailwater section of the Upper Clark Fork below the Warm Springs Ponds, the Beaverhead is a wintertime must, the Ruby will be on the radar big-time this year, and the mighty MO is an hour and a half away.  That's just a start really...

  

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Researchers discover the cause of whirling disease is a "micro jellyfish"

Photo from: http://science.peru.edu/ 

Researchers from the Univeristy of Kansas have determined that the Myxozoa that causes whirling disease in Salmonidae are included in the jellyfish phylum (Cnidaria).  They are composed of just a few cells and have "one of the smallest animal genomes ever reported: about 20 million base pairs only."

Read more about it here.

Montana Tech Restoration Ecology Seminar presents: Dr. Cara Nelson of the University of Montana

Dr. Cara Nelson is the Associate Professor of Restoration Ecology and the Undergraduate Program Director for Ecological Restoration.  She is also the Vice Chair (former Chair) of the Society for Ecological Restoration, an international nonprofit committed to promoting "ecological restoration as a means of sustaining the diversity of life on Earth and reestablishing an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture."

She is also one of my mentors, previous boss, and great friend.

Her talk is titled "Setting Appropriate Goals for Restoration."  The seminar is on the Montana Tech Campus in Butte, Montana in the Chemistry and Biology Building (room 102) today November 18, 2015, @ 4 pm.