Two States & Ten Rivers

The plan was to fish any blue line on our map that looked worthy to toss a line in. Wyoming and Montana were the destinations, and it seemed there were more blue lines than actual roads. This was a good thing. It was time to get off the beaten path. My sisters wedding was two days out, and we had plenty of time to hit the water.

Wyoming:

Our first blue line was a river that my dad truly cherished. His father had taken him there as a youngster, and he had not been back in many years. Before our venture up the canyon we stopped at a local hunting and fishing outfitter store for our Wyoming fishing licenses. The man at the counter gladly welcomed us and supported a true handlebar mustache. We got into the topic of wolves and Yellowstone National Park. We learned that the wolves were brought into the park from Canada. They were bigger, and much more aggressive than the traditional Yellowstone wolf. Who in their right mind would think introducing a Canadian wolf would be a good thing? Regardless, they are now a big problem, and it will be interesting to see how the park service handles the situation.  The store worker, being a local rancher himself,was not very enthused about the wolves and the destruction they have had on his and other local ranchers livestock. The wolves have been killing animals and just recently the state of Wyoming have let ranchers shoot the animals if on their property. Our short time in Wyoming confirmed that many people are upset and are seeking explanation.

Driving on a dirt road alongside the river reminded me a little of the Animas in Colorado. It was big water surrounded by a beautiful forest. The one thing missing was the huge towering peaks that looked over the Animas. Still, it was beautiful and brought back memories of running the Animas a couple months ago. We would not fish the main branch of river until later on. First, we were hitting the tributary where my dad grew up fishing.

Snake river fine spotted cutthroat trout were the target species. Mountain whitefish also lived here, but we didn't see nor catch any. When I think cutthroat trout I think dry flies. And dry flies were the hot menu item. These fish were beautiful, and just may of been the first time I recall catching this species of cutthroat.

We had our fun on this little stream but now we were ready for bigger water. We drove a short distance downstream and made a left and drove up the dirt road alongside the river. The river was big and wide, but like most rivers, it branched off in a few spots which split the river in two, sometimes three's. This was our target water. Getting to the right spot had us driving past numerous campers and other fisherman until we finally found a spot to pull over.  The river was split here and we would take the closest stem.

With dry flies still rigged we hurried to the water and began tossing big foam bugs down foam lies. I went to a spot that had a small tributary stream running in and let my big bug splat the surface hard. A fine spotted cutthroat sipped up the bug and slashed at the surface revealing it's crimson jaw.

As darkness fell upon us and after a full day of catching cutthroat on dries, we opted to leave and make the drive back to Alpine. Amy, my dad's good friend invited us to stay the night in her home.  Her house was a ways off the beaten path and was nestled up against the mountains. It turned out to be a great place to crash.

Due to the extreme lateness of this blog post, I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

The highlight of the trip was this beautiful Yellowstone cutthroat I caught. I waded across the river and spotted a break in the opposite bank that looked like a fishy spot. I tossed my hopper right above and as it went into the break this fish came out and nailed it. The fish put up a good fight and I landed him by myself in my net which was a little tough due to the high water, but I managed. It was a fish and moment I'll never forget.

Cabin views

The boys

Where my grandpa used to take my dad fishing

During my stay at my sisters in Livingston, my dad and I snuck away one morning to a stream he discovered a while back. We arrived to the stream and light rain was falling with low lying clouds. Downed logs from a fire a while back made for tough, yet fun fishing conditions. The Yellowstone cutts favored the fallen trees but a well placed beetle pattern often sparked their interest. The beetle pattern I tied had a fluorescent green hot spot which helped me differentiate between fly and the many raindrops hitting the water. 

Misty wet morning

Fun cabins at Pine Creek Lodge 

Beautiful sisters wedding

DeYoung!