NUMBER:
2012-013
DATE:
9-8-16-2012
LOCATION:
Yellowstone
National Park
Brad and I spent just over a week in the park again this
year. Shot a good bit of video, that I
am still working on. Hopefully I will have
it edited together soon. A lot of smoke
from the fires in Idaho and elsewhere on most days. Made some of the photos kind of hazy, but
didn’t affect the fishing.
Day 1:
Started the day early in Pennsylvania and landed in
beautiful Bozeman around noon. Made a
quick stop in Livingston to pick up licenses and food before hitting the
Gardner for the evening. Saw a large
heard of Elk and a big bull, which was pretty cool. Managed to hook a few nice browns , rainbows,
brooks, and a cut. Just at dark, we got
into a few really nice browns…which made us stay a little longer than we should
have. Especially since the headlamps
were all still packed. Things got a
little “furry” on the hike out as it was almost completely dark when we
stumbled into a rather large heard of Elk.
After several minutes of creative dodging, we were able to make it back
to the car.
Day 2:
Started the day of on the Taylor Fork of the Gallatin. We did really well here a few years back, but
this year things were pretty slow. Only
caught some 10-12 inch rainbows, but at least most of them ate on top. Finished off the afternoon on the Gallatin
with one nice rainbow and a few smaller fish, mainly nymphing. Hard to beat the scenery in the Gallatin
Valley though!
Day 3:
Decided to fish the Lamar today. Hiked several miles upstream and got into
some nice cuts, mainly on hoppers. All
the fish were pretty beefy and averaged about 16-inches, with some a little
larger. Always takes a little bit to get
used to the slow takes of the cuts, especially when you see them coming from 5
feet down! Had pretty steady action all day, but towards
evening, we came across one hole that was on fire. Easily caught 50 fish just in the one hole, although
the average size was only in the 10-12 inch range, it was non-stop action on
hoppers and nymphs.
Day 4:
Started off with a brisk 3 mile hike into Hellroaring Creek…all
downhill, on the way in and only had to avoid one heard of buffalo. Also saw quite a few antelope which posed for
a few photos. Fished the Yellowstone
just upstream from the mouth caught a couple nice cuts before beginning to work
our way up the canyon of Hellroaring. Caught
a lot of fish in the canyon, but the average size was less than 10 inches. The scenic canyon more than made up for the
smaller fish and the death march back out.
Day 5:
Started the day on the Gardiner. Caught a few nice fish in the morning and
lost about a 16 inch brown but decided that we would head over to Soda Butte
for the afternoon. Fishing on the Butte
started off well, but slowed as the day progressed. The high winds made casting
about impossible in the late afternoon, so we decided to call it a day.
Day 6:
Hiked into Slough Creek to the first meadow. Pretty much had the place to ourselves as
everyone else made a “B-line” for the second meadow. Caught some really beefy fish in the meadow
before working our way up through the canyon.
Good looking pocket water filled with some decent sized fish, but pretty
spooky looking bear country. Caught a
few more nice fish up in the second meadow before making the 4 mile hike back
out.
Day 7:
Back to the Lamar. Another
great day with the hopper! Not as many
fish as the day before, but still a good number, and all were pretty big
fish. Most cooperated on top to the
hopper.
Day 8:
Last day…since the Lamar had been treating us right, back we
went. Fishing started a little slow, but
pick up some in the early afternoon.
Caught a few nice cuts before deciding to make the trek back out and
head over to the Gardner to look for some big browns at dark….and it didn’t disappoint. We caught several nice browns including one
that was pushing the 20 inch mark. Still
not sure how we landed the thing. Brad
hooked him in some really turbulent water, ended up having to hand the rod off
to me, so he could get around some willows, I handed the rod back off and he
took off downstream under a bolder the size of a truck, but I managed to lift
the line off of it and Brad pulled him into the shallow water as I scoped him
in the net…probably would have been a good time to have the head cams running,
but we did get some good video of him once he was landed.
