Hopper Madness

Slough Creek is a special place. There are not many creeks where you can watch large, native cutthroats cruise around in search of food. In fact, Slough Creek is the only creek like this that I've seen. The trout act like they are in a lake as there is little current in many places. The morning started off slowly with only one fish in the first couple hours. In was particularly still section large cutts were cruising picking off spruce moths from the surface. We thought we had the right fly, but there was one problem...our flies wouldn't flutter and flap their wings. The only bugs we saw get eaten were flapping their wings and try as we might we couldn't replicate this.

As the sun warmed the meadow up and the wind started blowing we notice grasshoppers begin to fall into the water. This sent the fish into a frenzy. Not a striper attack everything craze mind you, but a Slough Creek cutthroat craze. The fish would still slowly rise, inspect and then slowly take the grasshoppers, but they began to lose some of their caution as they got greedy. This was good for us and led to several nice trout brought to hand. Britt caught a nice 16" fish, PJ caught several nice fish and had a couple very large fish just elude him and I managed to catch some nice fish. The order of the day was still to have more fish look at the fly and maybe nudge it before moving on. The other problem we encountered was a lack of patience. When an 18" trout slowly swims up to your fly and opens his mouth it is hard to remember to wait to set the hook. The British fisherman who fish stillwater say "God Save the Queen" in their mind before setting the hook. This same theory can be applied to Slough Creek. I try to wait for the fish's head to turn down. Unfortunately, this thought eluded me on the nicest fish I had rise all day, but it's a lot easier to take this when you know just around the bend there are trout just as big to cast to.

Lamar River

If I had to choose a small area where I had to do the rest of my fishing, I would probably pick an area that included the Lamar River and Slough Creek. To me those rivers are just the perfect size. You can easily cast across them, but they aren't little trickles. It doesn't hurt that they harbor many Yellowstone Cutthroat that are looking up for their dinner. We had to search for fish, but when we found them often an Adams was all that was needed to rise several nice fish. The fish are beautiful and you could argue the scenery is even better.

After hiking back from an afternoon/evening fishing the Lamar we were met by a crowd of wildlife watchers who asked if we had seen the bear. We weren't sure what they were talking about as we had seen nothing other than a couple of bison on the other side of the river. They explained that they were heading up the road following a bear that they spotted on the other side of the river heading upstream. This was news to us. It's a little unnerving to know that we were so close (not sure if it really was that close or not) and have no idea that such an impressive animal is around. It was a relief to not have run into this Grizzly, but I would have liked to have seen it.

Yellowstone River

Yes, that is a bison on Fishing Bridge.

On the first day in Yellowstone we decided to check out Hayden Valley and the Yellowstone River. I knew it was lat for fishing the river and returns from the lake have been low, but that wasn't enough to keep me away. As evening came to the valley I spotted a few large cutts rising. After many unsuccessful casts with assorted dry flies, I realized I was just seeing large tails, but the fish weren't breaking the surface. I put on a wet fly and shortly after that I felt a strong pull. After some thrashing around just a few feet from me this large decided to make a break for it in the fast water. I know most people consider cutthroat to be weak fighters, but I think they use the current to their advantage much better than other trout. After a long bolt downstream I was able to start making some ground. I had deep water to my left and fast water to my right. I decided I was stuck there for better or worse. Pulling a big fish upstream is not exactly what I choose to do, but sometimes there aren't other good options. I was able to get him up to the point where I could see the leader and then the line went limp. The fly had pulled out. I fished for a while longer with no more takes and decided to pack up.

Grand Teton Bison

Grand Teton National Park and the Snake River

After my failure to catch a Snake River Finespotted Cutthroat last year, I thought I'd give it another shot before entering Yellowstone. With a full day to accomplish the task, I figured I'd be able to pull this off. After a slow start, I realized the fish wanted bigger flies. The size 12 attractor patterns weren't doing it, but a size 8 fly would bring them up. I was able to catch several pretty little cutthroats, but not the big fish I was hoping for. I decided to drop a nymph off my dry fly and see if this would change my fortunes. I soon had a take from nice fish, but couldn't get a good hookset. It was creeping toward lunch time and I thought I'd blown my shot at a good fish when I thought I heard a big rock thrown into the water. I figured it was one of the rafters who had stopped for lunch nearby, but I didn't see any. I went to investigate and through in a cast where I heard the disturbance. As small cutthroat rose for the dry, but suddenly turned away. A large golden fish came out of nowhere and I saw him viciously attack my nymph. As soon as I set the hook this massive trout leaped. I was shocked to see it was a Brown Trout at the end of my line. This was the largest trout I'd ever seen other than in pictures. I was able to tire this large fish after several strong runs. In the heavy Snake River current I was unable to find any soft places for a clean landing. I knew I would only get one chance. I brought the fish over and scooped my net under him. At that moment I realized just how big he was. As I brought the net up, he made one last flop. I had him right there in my net, but my net wasn't big enough. My reward for using a catch and release net was to see the biggest trout I've ever had at the end of my line easily flop out as I was bringing him up to take the hook out. I'm not sure how this counts in the realm of catching. Was it a catch. I didn't have a camera on me, so I wasn't going to take a picture anyway. I'm not sure. It was exciting nonetheless. I just wish I'd been able to get the hook out and give him a proper release. More than anything though, I wish it had been a big cutthroat, but it's always nice to fool a big, wily Brown Trout.

Tetons and Yellowstone

More to follow soon...