Yellowstone National Park

Lamar River cutthroat

Lamar River

Lamar Valley

Slough Creek cutthroat trout

Slough Creek cutthroat trout

Slough Creek cutthroat trout

Slough Creek cutthroat trout

Lamar River cutthroat

Bufflehead family on Slough Creek

More Slough Creek

Slough Creek

Slough Creek is probably my favorite place to fish.  It's sight-fishing with dry flies for native cutthroats.  How can you beat that?  Oh, and some of them are rather large.

We didn't run into an epic grasshopper day like last time, but we did catch quite a few nice fish.  The camerawoman even got into the action.  After some frustrating misses and small fish, she finally caught a really nice fish.  And then another.  I think the pictures tell the whole story.

Yellowstone River

The Yellowstone River inside the park has a certain allure to it.  Historically, it was one of THE places to fish.  Unfortunately, due to a Lake Trout invasion (for more info and to donate to the cause, click here) and whirling disease the run of fish from Yellowstone Lake is not what it used to be.  However, there are still a few large trout that run up the river to spawn and hang around to feed before moving back into the lake.  These fish are survivors who have overcome long odds and the harsh realities of nature (as well as the man-made curve balls).

Thanks to Britt's spotting and ML's spot picking, I got an opportunity to cast to one of these trout.  At first she was cruising around and ignoring any offerings.  (Prompting someone, who will remain anonymous, to refer to the fish as a "jerk.")  As the daylight faded, this fish took up a feeding position at the edge of the current. I placed a cast to drift my fly at the edge of the current and it was fish on.  A few minutes later and the largest cutthroat of my life was in the net.  What a beautiful fish.  Clearly an old hand who had seen many tough Yellowstone winters.  (After seeing how pretty the fish was, she was no longer considered a jerk.)  As I let her go, I hoped she will be back a few more years.  Hopefully, several of her offspring will return in the future.  Maybe then there will be more cutthroat in the lake and river.

Grey's and Blackfoot Rivers

We just got back from a trip through fishing paradise with Britt and my parents.  I put 2,341 miles on the rental van (perfect for 4 people, fishing and camping gear, but lacking in a tailgate for changing waders) and spent over 53 hours driving.  It was worth every hour driving as we had a great trip.

The first fishing destination was the Blackfoot River in Idaho.  It was much lower and warmer than last September.  Trout were not in the same spots.  I tried but did not catch a fish.  I only saw a couple trout and a lot of suckers.  I'm guessing this will not be a banner year for the river, but I'd be happy to give it another shot when it has more water.  (I also failed to reconnect with my dog friend I met there last year.  I'm sure he's happy somewhere, hopefully getting spoiled.)

The next destination was the Grey's River in Wyoming.  It's a very pretty river, but very popular.   There were campers up and down the river.  It was good to get out on the water and catch some fish on dry flies.  The fish were not big but they were fun to catch.  I took pictures of one of the fine spotted cutthroats I caught, but it's a little blurry.  The pictures from later in the trip are better and I'll get those up later this week.

Saturday Hike

Deschutes

The other side of the Cascades is a different world.  We left behind the green Willamette valley in order to camp and fish along the Deschutes for the weekend.  The river has a certain rugged beauty to it.  For one thing, there is a lot more brown and a lot less green.  It is easy to find where the river is since it is surrounded by a strip of green.  The area has  different feel to it.  It feels more "Western."

The river was certainly pumping out a lot of caddis.  Every time I bumped into a bush a swarm of caddis would fly out.  These caddis apparently provide a good meal to the fish (and other insects, as I saw more spiders in 2 days than I have in the past year).  The fishing Friday was good for lots of smaller fish.  Saturday did not provide the steady action of the previous day, but had an exciting ending.  As the shadows grew long, the fish became active.  Rising consistently to the hatching caddis.  I managed a couple smaller fish (including my first pikeminnow) when my fly disappeared in a boil.  My reel sung as I began to see parts of my fly line I hadn't seen in a long time.  I managed to gain some ground when the fish made another long run.  I somehow manage to avoid any snags and he didn't head into the main current.  I managed to turn him around and started to regain some of my line.  I felt his head shake and then there was no resistance.  Later, I got some redemption landing a nice, fat fish.  There were still fish rising, but it was getting late and this seemed like a perfect way to end the day.