april 13th was an interesting one for us. i was hell-bent on heading out to my favorite spot on bear paw reservoir, south of havre, montana, but when we got there we discovered it was still iced over except for the very end where beaver creek ran in. we tried there a bit without luck, then decided to head back up the road about 5 miles to beaver creek reservoir, which traditionally has a bigger variety of fish that are bigger in size, but is not as scenic.

when we got there, it was pretty crowded, but we found a spot near the sout corner of the dam. #2 son, mike, had bought a new blue fox spinner and i knew he would do well, but i was surprised at how well; within a half hour, he had caught his limit of fine rainbow trout, all between 15 and 20 inches. it took me a bit longer as i was fishing with bait (marshmallows and nightcrawlers) but eventually we brought in a good catch. since we were the only two with fishing licenses, the others were ready to finally go. my youngest son, roger, unfortunately caught no fish, though he tried. he needs to learn to keep his line in the water if he wants to catch anything.

the surprise of the day was one strike that nearly broke my rod, which is a medium/light zebco rod. something fought like hell to get away and unfortunately finally shook the hook, but whatever it was, it was bit. in that lake, it could have been anything from rainbow trout to brown trout to perch, walleye, smallmouth or even northern pike, but i am pretty sure it was a rainbow as i can't imagine any ofther "big" fish striking on a marshmallow/worm rig. whatver it was, it was huge, did i mention that?