yellowstone flyfishing 2015

greg setter

greg setter

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As promised in an earlier thread, here are some photos of my trip out west last August. The first picture here is important, because we all leave to go on a trip, and since this was my first two week vacation in over 20 years, I decided that 7:30 was not too early to eat cookies at Philly airport. So while I might look a little grumpy, it is really just the sweetness of the chocolate chips.
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You have to admit, I look pretty cool with the sunglasses hanging around my neck. Anyway, first stop Colorado, where one of my many sisters lives north of Denver, and on the third day she took me on a hike up to a mountain lake. The elevation is about 9200 in the parking lot, and the lake is around 11300. This was the acid test of my hiking fitness, being a flatlander from south Jersey.
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About 15 minutes into this hike, which was all pretty much uphill, I'm huffing and puffing pretty good, and starting to wonder about just what kind of shape I'm in, and my sister turns around and tells me she has to take a break. Well I can tell you, I was ecstatic. She has done triathlons in years past and is in pretty good shape, so my self confidence is restored and I am ready to venture on the Yellowstone.
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I hit the trail to Cascade Lake, which was about 2 miles from the road, about 1 the first afternoon I was there. I came across a guy from France that was hiking and taking pictures, so he snapped one of me. There is a buffalo behind me over my left shoulder.
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I got there around 2, walked to the side of the lake the trail didn't go on and started fishing. I caught about a dozen cutthroats and grayling in a couple hours fishing, the largest only being about 14"s, but the grayling is a fish I have wanted to catch since I was first there about 30 years ago, and this lake was pretty loaded. A ranger at the park entrance where I picked up my permit suggested this lake instead of another I had planned to go to because of the grayling and the scenery, and she was right on and I appreciated the idea.
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This one was about 12"s. It was a great way to start the trip.
 
The next day I headed down to the Gibbon River, and stopped to walk through the Norris Geyser Basin before fishing. It's about a 2-1/2 mile walk through this thermal area, and it is spectacular.
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Gibbon River meadows where I fished next is not far off the road but if you walk 1/2 mile you have the place to yourself. Saw a lot of ducks in this spot, including mallards, green winged teal, and canada geese, and a pair of trumpeter swans.
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This stretch is classic spring creek. I caught only one brown trout, it was abot 16"s, so I was satisfied.
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The next day I decided to hike about 4 miles up Slough Creek, which is known as probably the best cutthroat stream in the world. I'm in the parking lot and see a guy with his teenage sons getting ready to go up also, and they are not taking waders, so I talk to him and he tells me you don't really need to wade up there, so I take my wading boots and lightweight waders out of the pack, which was a good idea. The problem being I forgot I had stuck my reel in one of the wading boots, and didn't remember to take it out and put it back in my pack before I took off. So I get in about 4 miles, am I have a mile of open water with nobody else on it, and realize I don't have my reel and I won't be fishing in Slough Creek, the best cutthroat fishery in the world. Oh well, it was a great hike, I met up with 2 guys that had backpacked in and were coming out, and I hiked back with them to the parking lot making cracks about me forgetting my reel.. They had caught a lot of fish over the 3 days they had been in there.
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Just over the rise in this picture is the Lamar River, which is where I went after I came down from Slough Creek. The Lamar is a beautiful river to fish and is full of nice cutts. I caught one of 20"s and one 17 that day, so I ended up having a great hike, a great afternoon of fishing in spite of myself, and went into Gardiner Montana that night and had a piece of salmon fresh in from Alaska.
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This is the Firehole at Grand Prismatic Spring. The whole length of the river was too warm to fish at around 69 in the day, as was the Madison.
 
And here is the spot I had scoped out as the place I really wanted to fish when I planned my hikes, the Lewis River Channel in the south end of the park. It flows between Shoshone and Lewis Lake, and I had gotten some intel from a fly shop in Cody that this was really good for big fish with streamers, which is just what I wanted to do.
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I fished a little peninsula right near the mouth at Lewis Lake. I was feeling good about this, Im fishing this big bad wool head streamer that i probably tied 25 years ago and never used, and what do you know.
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This is one handed action photo I took when I got it in close. I kept this picture because it shows the tail.
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And here it is on the beach. The fly in its mouth is about 3"s long. This was the largest trout I ever caught at 30"s(I swear-I measured it on my rod).
Then I walked about 15 yards away and realized somebody else had been through a little earlier.

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Which is why you carry this
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I then took off for Eastern Washington, where another sister lives, went down to Salt Lake and then Arches, then over to the Vail valley to spend a couple of days fishing that area. A friend hooked me up with a couple of his buddies that live there, and they took me for an evening float on the Colorado River. That was really great, these guys really put me on the fish.
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I fished the Eagle one day, which was also really good, then I headed back to Denver to unwind and head back East.
 
I enjoyed your story and pictures.

I had to laugh, three years ago we hiked into slough creek. Not another soul in sight as I unpacked my gear.
Yup, my fly reels were back at the trailhead. Not my best moment with the grandkids watching.
We did have a spinning rod so the kids got to catch a few .
 
Great report and pictures.

Yellowstone is my favorite place on earth. We did a family trip 2 years ago and my oldest son loved it so much that he's leaving next week as soon as final exams are over to work as a horse wrangler in Cody, WY until the end of September. I plan on visiting a few times!
 
Wow, that looks really great. I'm hoping to get back this fall. You really covered some ground - I love it!
 
Gregg: Fished the second meadow on Slough Creek 20 years ago, had my reel and bear bells and had an amazing fly fishing experience in the broad meadow and towards the upper end of the meadow. Thanks so much for the pictures.
Brings back great memories. Keep those cards and pictures coming.
 
For Tod-there is hope for you with the spinning rod-the San Juan worm. You could fish this with a split shot. You can get all kinds of colors too.

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For Tod-there is hope for you with the spinning rod-the San Juan worm. You could fish this with a split shot. You can get all kinds of colors too.

02902Wred.jpg
Click to expand...

Nah, if I had to use a fake worm, my choice would be plastic. Trouts love jigs tipped with plastic.
 
Amazing pics. I'd love to do some trout fishing out there
Do they want anglers to keep the non native Browns?
 
Amazing pics. I'd love to do some trout fishing out there
Do they want anglers to keep the non native Browns?
Click to expand...

In some places you have to kill non natives. Slough creek, for example. The lake you have to kill Lake Trout.
 
Thanks for taking me on that trip with you, Greg. The story was awesome and the pictures complimented every word.
Al
 
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