THE ONE

HE FISH WERE picking at the fly, plucking and nipping at its tail in the slower pools, but slashing at the bug in the swift water with maybe a 40 to 60 percent commitment rate. The trout—rainbows, cutthroats, and the occasional brown beast in this northern Montana creek—had already turned down all of the standard menu choices for this water. They rejected the Cat Puke, a big wedge-headed bank crasher that killed them a week ago. They wanted nothing to do with any