Montana
The West’s Best Fly Fishing Isn’t in Montana Anymore
Colorado holds a special place in my heart – it’s where I learned to fly fish and really caught the bug, so I try to get back whenever I can.
Recently, the opportunity came up to spend a few days exploring trout water in a part of the state that was new to me, and I jumped.
The Gunnison Valley, tucked between the San Juan and West Elk Mountains on Colorado’s Western Slope, is best known for two destination mountain towns – Gunnison and Crested Butte.
Both towns are great in their own right, but there’s a whole lot more to the valley worth experiencing.
My home base was Almont, a small town located between Gunnison and Crested Butte, where the East and Taylor Rivers meet to form the Gunnison. I stayed in a cabin on the banks of the Taylor, and it was the ideal jumping-off point to explore the whole valley.
The best known trout fishery in the Gunnison Valley is – you guessed it – the Gunnison River. It can be thought of in two main stretches: the upper river, winding through ranchland from Almont to Blue Mesa Reservoir, and the lower river below the dam, cutting through the rugged Gunnison Gorge and Black Canyon.
I spent a day fishing each, and the two stretches couldn’t look more different. On the Upper Gunnison, I fished long, slow-moving runs in wide open meadows filled with gold-leafed aspen trees. In the Black Canyon, the walls close in, the flows pick up, and everything feels much smaller. Two very different environments – both with excellent trout fishing.
I split another day between the Taylor River and one of its tributaries. Fed by releases from Taylor Park Dam, the Taylor runs cold and clear year-round – making it a great option for winter fishing.
That said, it’s technical fishing – and after a morning of dredging small nymphs, I decided to go up higher to find less sophisticated fish.
That afternoon, I was fishing a single dry fly on Spring Creek above Almont. The fish weren’t big – but after a few hours of constantly switching flies, depth, and weight, a handful of six- inch trout willing to come up and crush a hopper was a welcome change.
The Gunnison Valley is full of open space and public water, but it’s got a lively cultural side too. On my last day – after a few post-fishing beers at the Eldo – I caught a movie premiere at the Center for the Arts in Crested Butte.
It was the world premiere of Matchstick Productions’ new ski film. My mental shift from fishing to ski season usually starts in November, but this definitely jump-started it.
I was relieved to see that I wasn’t the only viewer who clearly had just come off the water. As you might expect, there’s a good deal of overlap between skiers and fly anglers in Crested Butte, and in the Gunnison Valley as a whole.
It’s a special community fueled by a passion for the outdoors, and I’ve a;ready started planning a return trip.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at March 2, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from March 2 drawing
02-17-18-38-62, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from March 2 drawing
03-08-17-24-34, Star Ball: 06, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from March 2 drawing
06-12-19-29, Bonus: 11
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from March 2 drawing
21-28-58-65-67, Powerball: 25
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 2 drawing
28-41-42-50-55, Bonus: 02
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Everyone makes mistakes, even experienced professionals; a good reminder for the rest of us to learn from those mistakes. The motion in State v. Stroup starts off well in its initial pages (no case law hallucinations), but is then followed by several pages of two other motions, which I don’t think the lawyer was planning to file, and which appear to have been AI-generated: It begins with the “Below is concise motion language you can drop into …” language quoted above.
Griffen Smith (Missoulian) reported on the story, and included the prosecutor’s motion to strike that filing, on the grounds that it violates a local rule (3(G)) requiring disclosure of the use of generative AI:
The document does not include a generative artificial intelligence disclosure as required. However, page 7 begins as follows: “Below is concise motion language you can drop into a ‘Motion to Admit Mental-Disease Evidence and for Related Instructions’ keyed to 45-6-204, 45-6-201, and 4614-102. Adjust headings/captions to your local practice.” Page 10 states “Below is a full motion you can paste into your pleading, then adjust names, dates, and styles to fit local practice.” These pages also include several apparent hyperlinks to “ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws,” “ppl-ai-fileupload.s3.amazonaws+1,” and others. The document includes what appears to be an attempt at a second case caption on page 12. It is not plausible on its face that any source other than generative AI would have created such language for a filed version of a brief….
There’s more in that filing, but here’s one passage:
While generative AI can be a useful tool for some purposes and may have greater application in the future, when used improperly, and without meaningful review, it can ultimately damage both the perception and the reality of the profession. One assumes that Mr. Stroup has had, or will at some point have, an opportunity to review the filing made on his behalf. What impression could a review of pgs. 12-19 leave upon a defendant who struggles with paranoia and delusional thinking? While AI could theoretically one day become a replacement for portions of staff of experienced attorneys, it is readily apparent that this day has not yet arrived.
The Missoulan article includes this response:
In a Wednesday interview, Office of Public Defender Division Administrator Brian Smith told the Missoulian the AI-generated language was inadvertently included in an unrelated filing. And he criticized the county attorney’s office for filing a “four-page diatribe about the dangers of AI” instead of working with the defense to correct her mistake.
“That’s not helping the client or the case,” Smith said, “and all you are doing is trying to throw a professional colleague under the bus.”
As I mentioned, the lawyer involved seems quite experienced, and ran for the Montana Public Service Commission in 2020 (getting nearly 48% of the vote) and for the House of Representatives in Montana’s first district in 2022 (getting over 46% of the vote) and in 2024 (getting over 44%). “Его пример другим наука,” Pushkin wrote in Eugene Onegin—”May his example profit others,” in the Falen translation.
Thanks to Matthew Monforton for the pointer.
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