Yellowstone - September 2010

This year I was accompanied by Boyd and Kory for a later then normal fly fishing trip to Yellowstone.   September this year was hotter than normal, the rivers were running low and slow.  That killed off most of the big holes, gravel, sand bars we fish.

We ended up fly fishing the Yellowstone River most of the trip, we hiked in to a few other spots to try our success.  The smaller rivers and low water levels produce fewer fish then were use too.  The NP website had major bear warnings for the areas we fish.  We had no problems with the bears this year.  Enjoy the photo tour.

 Kory - Streamer fish

 Ladd - Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout

 

Kory - Drifting a fly

 LBC and Kory

 Lunch on the river

 Yellowstone BEAR WARNING

 Breather - On the edge of the Yellowstone River

 Closeup on the Yellowstone

 LBC - Yellowstone Cutthroat

 Kory with another Yellowstone cut

 River Otters - Then next mile of river we fished was dead, I wonder why?

Common merganser family - Boyd trying to fish

 Boyd fishing the mighty Yellowstone River

 Ladd with another one on

 Kory - Checking out our next stretch of river

 Evening river shots

 Evening river shots - Last day, Fly Fishing Yellowstone

Yellowstone and Blacksmith Fork Canyon

Kory and I made it up to the park with the familys earlier in the month, this was a sight seeing trip more than anything.  We did manage to fish the north east corner of the park this year, we didn't land many fish and the two big ones we should have are swimming around with my copper john and Kory's elk hair caddis.  We took a quick drive up Blacksmith Fork Canyon for some fly fishing this past Saturday.  Lots of little browns, made for a fun morning.

Blacksmith Fork - Cache Valley

Kory fishing Blacksmith Fork

American Elk - Patriotic

Gallatin Creek - Trail head

Fly Fishing Yellowstone

Gallatin Creek

Old foot bridge

Clepsydra Geyser - Yellowstone

Mammoth - Pot Gut

Northern Utah Backcountry

After years of talking about it Kory and I finally hiked into this small backcountry river in Northern Utah. The hike starts off fairly steep through some bare cactus covered hill sides, both Wiley and Max found out fast what cactus is. Crossing over one of the ridgelines Max buried some prickly pear cactus deep into his paw. After a few stops to clean out the dog’s paws we dropped off the ridgelines to stay out of the cactus. Our hike in took just under an hour and a half to get in, for April weather we sure lucked out, we had to ditch our light jackets fast and start applying sun screen.

Right off Kory caught the biggest Bonneville Cutthroat Trout of the day, after that the fish didn’t get any bigger. As we started fishing up stream we noticed a few bugs skimming across the water, with in another 30 minutes two small hatches kicked off. This was one heck of a Saturday to get away, we both pulled out 12 Cut’s on this trip. In a way we lucked out, after this Saturday with mid 60’s weather we didn’t see much more of them for another two months. Northern Utah has had one of the wetter springs that I can ever remember.

 
 

New Years Eve on the River

With a slow workday today and temps above 2 degrees I thought I would take Max fishing down on the farm. The action started off fast, three brown's with-in 5 minutes. As Max and I moved on up stream the old boy decided to clear the river out for me, he jumped 7 mallards on the next hole. For the next five minutes he swam up current looking for more ducks, those darn labs just don't listen much when it comes to water. I decided it would be best to skip the next three fishing holes to find water Max hadn't disturbed. The next hole was uneventful, but the next hole would provide more action, not the action I wanted. After cutting up around the next bend I was cutting through a few groupings of dog woods and stepped out on what I thought was snow and rocks to find thin ice....oh yeah baby. I dropped right through a under cut, next thing I know is my thighs and feet are getting really cold. I think I sat there for 5 seconds before I knew what was happening. I grabbed a hand full of dog woods and pulled myself up out and ran for a log to sit on. I have never felt that kind of cold in my life! I then proceeded to pull off my waders and drain out 20 gallons of water. It was warmer having nothing on and the wind blowing across my bare feet then it was being in those waders. After ringing out all the water I headed back to the barn yard for warmer weather. Boy oh boy did the truck heater feel good!!!

















While I'm posting I better put a photo of the little treat I got under the Christmas tree this year. Erica hooked me up with this little beauty (Orvis Battenkill Mid Arbor).

Autumn in Utah

Summer ends, Autumn settles in and you won’t find a pole in my hand. My fishing buddies might think I’m a fool, and I just might be but it’s that time of year where my Browning A-bolt 270 comes out of the safe. That’s right, hunting season is here and almost gone. Soon my trusty 270 will go back to hiding till next year. Come November you can finding me chasing big fat Brown Trout in the Little Bear River mixed with some upland game hunting. Here are a few photos from the past two months.

Elk

Lee and Kory glassing for elk

My back yard

Northern Utah - Fall time

Here are a few from September

Wellsville Mountains

Cooper and DaDa

Dark maple leaf

Fall river

Wind Rivers 2009 - Fly fishing trip

Trip 2009 started early, for some, WAY too early. August in Cache Valley can surely be chilly at 4 a.m. We managed to get some of the sleep out of our eyes and get the goats and packs loaded for the long haul. Our morning boy, Kory, managed to stay on the road and get us through Logan canyon without falling asleep. After a short break and pit stop in Kemmer, Wyoming, we greeted the wind and headed out into the great expanse of nothingness until we crossed the Green River. At that point, everything switched to fish talk--anything from fat Brookies to the all elusive Golden Trout that have eluded us over the past two years.

We had one more stop on the road for fishing licenses; if only Wyoming Fish and Game could get up to speed with their online-fishing license (it doesn’t’ exist)! At our last stop, I think we saw all of Farson, Wyoming, driving around trying to find a store to buy licenses. Farson is one of those towns that, if you blink your eyes, you will drive right by not knowing you've driven by it. Thank goodness for the web on my phone, we were able to pull up to Farson Feed Store. After 20+ minutes we were able to purchase our licenses and grab some sandwiches (they sure didn’t skrimp on toppings and meat), then we were off and on the road again. After another 2 ½ hours, we hit the trail head and were shocked at how much elevation we gained going in this year compared to last year. New trails tend to do that to you! We made camp and found time to do a little fishing near our camp. The first fish we caught were finicky little buggers; they didn’t want anything we offer, but we still caught some!

Kory, Lee, Ladd, Travis, Tim

Pope Agie Wilderness

One of the many stream crossing on the way in

Kory

First Lake Fished

Lee Fishing

Looking north out of camp

The Jensen Boys

Looking east out of camp

Staying warm - -first night at camp

Long exposure

Waiting out the first rain of the day

Jack and Slick found a nice dry spot -- first downpour

Big granite hiding spot -- windy downpour

View from under boulder

Large Brookie diving back into the deep

The only pass on this part of the range

That evening the clouds broke, the temps climbed, and we were off for some fishing. Lee and I had a few un-named lakes we wanted to check out, and only one of them panned out, but in a big way. We caught our first ever CutBows and some fat Snake River Cutthroat Trout. We had two hours of light and made the most of it!

Ladd Darley -- Large cutthroat trout

Lee Darley fishing Pig Lake

Lee Darley --first ever Cutbow Trout

Hybrid Cut-Bow Trout - -Cruising for bugs in the shallows

Ladd Darley - -first ever Cutbow Trout

Fat Wind River Cutbow

Lee - -the fish Wrangler (fishing off a 20' cliff)

Nighttime at Pig Lake

Day 2

How would I describe day two? Would it be the long ars hike we had planned to one of the Wind's highest lakes or would it be the rain? It would have to be the rain! For starters, we didn’t make it far from camp before the first wind guest and rain hit us. We did manage to make it through a saddle in the mountain before the worst of the rain hit. Travis, Tim, and I found a large (house-sized) granite rock to hide under. After awhile, Tim and I both got wet from the water running down the rock we sat on. The winds kicked up so badly it blew the water five feet under the rock and soaked my left side. Finally, it broke again, and we made it to a lake where we caught some the largest Brookies we’d found yet in the Winds. The fishing didn’t last long due to the dark clouds, and the National Weather Services broadcast on the 2-way radio talking about damaging winds and hail to DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTING which made Tim, Travis, and I head back to camp. Kory and Lee waited it out at the lake, and they had to deal with the goats during that downpour. I guess, from what they said, the only dry spot was where they had huddled up by a large granite boulder (the goats wanted that spot too). We made it back to camp in a light drizzle, grabbed some dry clothes, and jumped in the tents. That’s when the REAL rain hit, and boy did it ever hit! However, we were nice and warm while those other two with the goats waited it out over the pass.

Lee - one big old fish

Fat cut --Unnamed Lake

Cutbow cruising Pig Lake

Another large cutthroat trout

Fin

Gommers and their fish

The boys in the snow

Lee - -big, deep lake

Lower Pig Lake

Lunch at Pig Lake

Dinner (Kory's photo)

Kory Wilde - -hooked up on a big one!

Kory Wilde - Nice cutthroat trout

The boys at Pig Lake

B&W photo of Pig Lake

Last night at camp --orange moon

10 p.m. at camp