Trip Report: Chirpin' Squirrels and BWOs

Over the last few days I've gotten out fishing at some of the only open waters in my area. I got a new pair of neoprene waders from Fleet Farm on Friday so I had to break 'em in. I spend a decent amount of time prospecting with the Pink Squirrel of Prey but found some of my best fish this afternoon fishing with deer hair parachute BWO's. 

I caught a few little ones on a size 20 RS2 but the overwhelmingly preferred the size 18 parachute. 

I pulled in more little browns than I'd care to count. This is a good sign for the future of the fisheries but makes for some mediocre fishing. The trout pictured above ate the RS2. I stood in one spot and picked of a dozen or so before moving on.

This guy, along with a few of his friends, took the pink squirrel of prey bounced on the bottom. This stream was around a foot and a half lower than when I fished it last November.

On Friday night, just before I stopped fishing, I hooked into what I though was a nice Brown Trout. After a short fight I pulled in this dumb sucker! I was pretty disappointed...

This was the big fish from yesterday. Not too big but certainly pretty! I hoped to arrive on the stream early enough (during the rain) so I'd get to fish the stream first. I pulled in behind two nice fellas who offered to let me fish with them. I fished a few other spots but caught up with them quickly and the three of us proceeded upstream. We didn't do too well but just before turning around on of the guys, Kyle, flipped his streamer in front of a nice brown and the fight was on!

For the size of the stream this fish was a trophy. After a quick pic he was released to provide another fisherman with delight. I decided against heading to another spot as we walked to the car but decided I'd go fishing today (Sunday).

I landed a ton of little rainbows and a decent number of smaller browns. All browns came on dries and all except one bow hit on the pink squirrel of prey. Oh, and one decent little brown came on a purple snocone zebra midge. By around 2:00 BWOs started coming off pretty strong and within a few minutes fish rose to the surface in a flurry! I targeted one nice trout that looked to be around 15-16 inches surfacing in a prime run. He took the RS2 twice, a sz 16 parachute adams once, and a deer hair parachute BWO dry three times. I missed the hook set every time! With frustration mounting I turned my attention to another decent riser.

This guy went aerial as soon as I set the hook. It was neat to see him launch out of the water but he didn't put up much fight after that. After a few pics he was returned to the drink. I took a few more casts at the other biggun but couldn't get him to budge. I instead targeted a few of the smaller trout surfacing all around. After pulling in a few more I called it a day.

Trip Report: Fall Is Here

 After some chores around the house I decided to do a little fishing near home. I tied up a few pink squirrel of preys and headed to the stream armed with my 5wt.

 This chunky brown took a squirrel and gave a few good leaps before coming to hand. He was spotty!

 This sparsely speckled trout took a size 18 black zebra midge. I watched him swim to the fly, inspect it, and munch it. I'm always amazed that fish eat the zebra midge. I tie tons of them for sale but rarely use them. I decided today that I'll be using them more in the future.

This trout was long and skinny. Measured against my net he was around 16 inches, the big boy of the day. He also took the zebra midge bounced along the bottom. I caught around a dozen fish today in about three hours. It was a slow day but the average size fish today was around 13-14 inches. The catch and release season closes October 15th so I hope to get out at least one more time before then. Then on to the State Park C&R season till January!

Trip Report:Unrelated To The Driftless!

A little over a week ago the wife and I planned to vacation in SC and NC. I had no fishing planned but wanted to dust off my hiking shoes in the Smokies. The effects of hurricane Joaquin left us scrambling for another plan. On Thursday night we called up some friends in Livingston, MT and after hurriedly calculating we decided to go to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Park. 

I didn't plan on a ton of fishing but I got out for a few hours. There was a ton of good looking water in the park including Soda Butte and Slough Creek, the Yellowstone, Madison, Gallatin, Firehole, Lamar, and Gardiner Rivers. I spent my time fishing in the Lamar Basin.

It didn't take long for me to tie into a little Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout! A little ways upstream from here I crossed a footbridge with a half dozen big cutties under it. I tied into another nice one upstream but he got off before I could grab him. I would've been able to get him but I left the net in the car because it had Burdock burrs all over it and I didn't want to introduce any non native plants to the park.

After a few more little ones I tied into this guy. After a good fight I beached him, snapped a pic, and let him swim. 

This decent Cutty took the pink squirrel of prey fished deep. He was the big fish of the day! I decided to fish the Squirrel because I figured these fish have probably seen it all (except the Squirrel). I fished alone most of the time but I wasn't too far from the road, carried bear spray, and stayed in the open valley. 

After catching around a dozen fish in a few hours we headed off to find some animals!

 We saw a ton of Elk and Buffalo. After a while we got sick of seeing cow Elk but we did spot a number of nice bulls. We could hear this guy bugling as he walked through a field near the northern entrance of the park.

 After driving around for a bit we began to spot some bears! This brute fed on an elk carcass as we watched from a distance. He would sleep for a while, wake up for a few bites, and fall back asleep. I was hoping another bear would come and we'd witness a battle of bears but it didn't happen.

In another area of the park we spotted a big 'ol silver backed beast.

This guy was just above the road. He lounged around for a bit before ambling off into the woods. After looking at him for a bit we moved on.

This black bear and it's cub emerged from a culvert under the road and took off into the woods before I could get a good shot. We spotted four bears on this trip. Two big grizzlies and the black bear with it's cub.

 Driving into the Tetons we spotted this big bull moose from the road. We watched him for a while before making our way to Jackson, WY for lunch.

We walked up to Taggert Lake in the Tetons and spotted this goofy looking little moose on the trail. After looking around a little we found the mamma and daddy moose in the brush. I couldn't get a good picture and didn't want to risk getting gored by the pappa so we let 'em be. We saw these four moose in the Tetons and another two while driving with our friends near Livingston.

The scenery on this trip was unbeatable. We liked Yellowstone but the Tetons are right up there with the mountains of Glacier National Park for sheer majesty.

These houses and barns are found in the park in a section called Mormon Row. This settlement marked a transition from the valley's "wild west" days to more family settlement.

The picture on the left shows a thermal feature in Yellowstone. The pick on the right shows the shore of Lava Lake in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness outside of Bozeman, MT.

Some of these spots probably have awesome fishing if you're willing to put in the time and energy to get to them! I stayed near the road for the sake of time but in the future I'd love to hike into some back-country areas to fish in Yellowstone.

It's amazing to see thermals pouring hot water into freezing cold trout streams. The stream pictured is the Firehole River.

 Of course we checked out Old Faithful and all the other thermals. Many of them were obscured by steam as the air temps hovered in the 50's for much of the time. We also made the short hike to a number of picturesque waterfalls.

After three days in Yellowstone and one in the Tetons we headed back to Livingston for the night before making the 16 hour drive home yesterday! Can't wait to do it again...or move back;)