Its a brand new year now and here in Montana it started out with single digit temperatures. That didn't slow certain anglers down. I got an email today about Joe Dilschneider's personal tradition. Joe runs Montana Trout Stalkers over in Ennis, MT as well as doing quite a bit for the Madison River Foundation. Below are his own words and some pics he took of the undertaking.

Happy New Year!

In keeping with about a 10 year tradition, I set out today to catch the first Trout of the year. It has been extremely cold here recently; 14 below zero yesterday. Today it warmed up just a bit, to a few degrees above zero. Undaunted, Jim Morrison, Pepper and I headed up to Raynold’s pass around noon today with the goal of catching just ONE Trout. The wind was howling through the valley creating a significant ground blizzard from Ennis to Palisades with all the recent snow we’ve had. But when we arrived at Raynold’s it was cold, clear and calm!

Although we didn’t slay ‘em and we didn’t catch any real pigs, we did substantially surpass our goal and enjoyed the awesome beauty of deep winter in the Madison Valley!

Here are some pictures…

All the best in 2011~!
JD