A couple of years ago I met a fisheries biologist who told me about an Idaho trout stream holding scads of bull trout, including some 30 inch fish. He also told me that the west-slope cutthroat in the river averaged about 15 inches long. Even in western terms, those are some big trout.

So this July I phoned a friend, Jeff Wogoman, who lives in Jackson, Wyo., and set up an expedition to the stream. We met at my home in Ennis, Mont., then headed west, arriving at the trailhead around midnight. We threw our sleeping bags onto the ground next to the truck and spent the rest of the night under the stars.

In the morning we shouldered our packs and started up a crude trail, headed for the confluence of two streams four or five miles deep in the mountains. It seemed a likely spot to find some bull trout, and we wanted to get out into the backcountry, away from the crowds that descend on our home waters this time of year (I live on the Madison River).

Click through the slides at left to see we found.