Warren PA Wine & Art Walk

If anyone is in Warren, PA friday, stop by (https://www.facebook.com/events/226244767527665/234113643407444/?notif_t=like) and say hello...i'll be set up at Allegheny River Fly Fishing Company selling prints as part of the Wine & Art Walk.

Trout Tails - September 22, 2013

Brad and I headed out for our annual Yellowstone trip last week.  The flight out was pretty smooth, we arrived in Bozeman around 10:30pm, picked up our bags, and some supplies before heading to Gardiner.  Rolled into Gardiner about 1:30 am and caught a few hours of sleep before hitting the Yellowstone bright and early. Most of the trip this year focused on the Cutthroat waters (Yellowstone, Lamar, Soda Butte, etc.).  They are having a low water year this year, and many of our hotspots for bigger browns and rainbows were too low to fish.

I messed up my ankle pretty bad the second day, and had to make a trip back to Bozeman to get a new pair of boots from Simms.  Not sure why, but the ones I had gave me one hell of a bone bruise to where I could barely walk.  As expected, Simms took care of me.  Even though the damage was done, the new boots and several Advil each morning, allowed me to finish out the week.  Since we were outside the park that day, we decided to fish the Boulder above Big Timber.  While public access can be a little tricky on this stream, you couldn't ask for much better scenery. 

Overall, fishing was pretty good.  Hoppers, hoppers, and more hoppers.  Even took a couple cuts on mice patterns.  A cold front with some rain moved in the last two days, and slowed the hopper fishing, but we still had spurts of good fishing.  The trip home was fraught with mechanical delays, cancellations, lost luggage, and overall lack of customer service from US and United.  It would take pages to describe all the issues we had to deal with.  I guess at least it happened on the way home instead of the way out.

We did shoot a bunch of video, but it will take some time to go through.  Hopefully I will get it up sometime soon.

Yellowstone Cut

One of the few Browns from the Gardiner.  Water was low and we decided to pretty much leave it alone this trip.

Lamar Cut

Double Rainbow on Soda Butte

Soda Butte

Even Cuts like Mice

Simms New Building

Boulder River

Black Canyon of the Yellowstone.  Treacherous Fishing, but worth it.

Upper Soda Butte

Trout Tails - September 2, 2013

Don't get me wrong, I love to fish (no kidding, right), but sometimes it is more about just getting away and hanging out with old friends, and making some new ones.  My buddy Todd Bowersox just opened his new shop (Allegheny River FlyFishing Company) in Warren PA, and the long weekend made it a perfect time to go up and check it out and decompress.  Anyone looking to fish the Allegheny definitely needs to give him a call!!!  Not too many people know the river or the town better than him. 

So Friday, I loaded the dog and all the gear up and headed west to meet up with Todd and his friend Mike for a little cast and blast weekend.  Early Saturday, we hit the river.  Fishing was good early, but the sun and warmer temps seem to put the fish down towards the afternoon.  Had good action most of the morning including one pretty nice smallmouth.  About mid float, had a monster  absolutely crush the fly, but he rolled hard on it and you could have heard the snap a mile down stream.  Finished the day with a few cold beverages downtown before calling it a night. 

 

Todd had clients Sunday morning, so Mike and I ran shuttles for him and just hung out/explored town.  In the afternoon we headed over to the range to shoot a little trap, then back to town for some drinks and pool. 

Woke up early Monday and took a nice drive through the Allegheny National Forest on the way home.  All in all, an awesome weekend.  Now it is time to get stuff packed up for Yellowstone.  T-4 days....I hear some cutthroats and browns calling my name!