Rocky Mountain Getaway

Field season at work has come to a close, so I finally have some time to catch up on a few posts from my summer adventures. The first of which was a trip to Montana and Wyoming during late July with my wife Alexis. This trip originally was supposed to be a work trip to the Trout Congress conference in Bozeman, MT. However, after booking everything for the trip the conference was canceled, so it became a bit of a vacation (with some fishing). As we were no longer completely tied to Bozeman, we decided to head up to Glacier National Park to start things off. This trip was not as focused on fishing as it was hiking, camping and enjoying the scenery, but I certainly did get some fishing in along the way.

The scenery from Going to the Sun Road

This wasn't my first time to Glacier National Park, however this time we had much more time to explore and do a few more extensive hikes. Initially we were going to check out the trails around Logan Pass at the top of Going to the Sun Road. However, wildfires on the eastside of the park near the pass had caused the road to be closed. We did a few other small walks along the westside of the parks before heading over the eastside the long way to camp at Two Medicine Lakes. 

I had never been to this part of the park before and it was absolutely amazing, with open meadows and dramatic views of the mountains. Our major hike while in this part of the park was up to an alpine lake that was supposed to have a good population of Cutthroat.

Horses grazing the prairies just outside the park

The trail followed along a beautiful creek on its way up to the lake and mountain goats could be seen on the peaks as we neared the lake.

The creek on the way to the lake

We arrived at the lake right around lunch time and decided to have lunch before I would try to get a few casts in. In theory this would also allow me some time to observe the lake for risers and likely spots to intercept a Cutthroat. Unfortunately, things did not play out that way, as by the time that we had finished lunch, a thunderstorm had rolled in and we had to hunker down and wait for it to pass. 

The lake before the thunderstorm rolled in

The weather did not seem to want to allow for fishing even after the wait, so we made the call to head back to the trailhead and get back to camp. The next day we headed toward Bozeman. 

We were in Bozeman for a few days, which we filled with trips to the nearby hot springs, Lewis and Clark Caverns and just checking out the town. While in the area we also decided to do a hike in the Gallatin Range to a lake with Golden Trout, hoping that this time the weather would be a bit more conducive. Unfortunately, a cold front had moved in overnight and by the time we were nearing the lake, we were hiking through fresh snow. I did give things for Golden Trout a good shot, and got a few strikes and a couple hook ups stripping nymphs and streamers, but didn't manage to land any and the cold snowy conditions made to hard to stick things out for too long.

Fishing for Golden Trout amid some July snow

The next day Alexis and I headed in to Yellowstone to see some sights and do a bit more fishing in the afternoon. I found a nice stretch on a stream that I had fished in the park before and pretty quickly saw some fish rising to terrestrials along the bank. A few casts later and I was hooked into a nice Yellowstone Cutthroat which put up a good fight before coming to the net.

The river

Hooked into a nice Cutthroat in Yellowstone

A nice Yellowstone Cutthroat

After fishing in the park for a bit, we decided to try to get a couple of hours in on the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley, to catch the evening hatch before heading back to Bozeman. This stretch of the Yellowstone is absolutely beautiful and the river is a classic western freestone as it meanders through the valley. It took us some time, but we found a great steam where a couple of side channels came together and we finally found some rising fish.

The Yellowstone River

Alexis on the river

A Yellowstone Brown Trout

We started getting into some smaller Brown Trout, but for whatever reason were having an exceptionally difficult time hooking into some of the risers. However, when I did finally get a bit luckier on my timing the reason become more apparent as we had found ourselves a school of surface feeding Mountain Whitefish.

A Whitefish in the net

Dry fly caught Mountain Whitefish

A couple of fawns along the bank of the river.

After a few hours on the river, we headed back to Bozeman as the next day we would be heading down to Jackson, WY for the final leg of the trip and an overnight backpacking trip into a lake in the Tetons.

This part of the trip was the highlight for both of us, the trail was relatively flat, there were amazing views along the way and when we got to the lake, we realized we would have the spot completely to ourselves. 

The Tetons

The lake

The lake had a healthy population of smallish Snake River Fine Spotted Cutthroat and as evening approached a Callibaetis hatch started and fish began to rise across the lake.

A Callibaetis mayfly

A beautiful Snake River Fine Spotted Cutthroat

Another Cutthroat post-release

Fishing on the lake was great, but as the evening wore on we decided to stop early and just enjoy beauty of the location. At this point wildlife was coming out of the wood work, with several beavers cursing the lake, deer browsing the meadows and marmots in the rockpiles chirping away. 

A beaver on the lake

The lake at sunset

That evening was the perfect way to wind down the trip, with that lake standing out as one of my favorite locations that I have been to on my travels across the west.

Back in Business...

To say that this past year has been busy is a major understatement. As a result of everything else going on in life right now, fishing and blogging for that matter dropped down my priority list. However, after a long break I finally got back after some sea-run Cutthroat at one of my favorite spots. 

The estuary

I arrived at estuary at low tide in hopes that the Coastal Cutthroat would be pushing into the river behind the salmon. As it would have it, while the salmon weren't moving in quite yet the Cutthroat certainly were waiting for them. I started out with a prawn pattern and within a couple of casts I got my first Cutthroat, a chunky 12" fish that fought valiantly on my 6 weight. I spent the next half an hour in this spot and landed three more Coastal Cutthroat before the fish seemed to wizen up. With the bite slowing down I decided it was time switch flies and head upstream. I put on one of my ever dependable Sea-run Buggers and in the next hole I missed another decent Cutthroat, then hooked into an even nicer one that looked to be about 18" to 20". However, I didn't get a very good hookset and after a few jumps the fish got the better of me.

Salmon season is underway (spawned out summer chum)

As I proceeded upstream, the Cutthroat were tucked along the undercut banks and seemed pretty interested in the Sea-run Bugger. Even when they were already full of salmon smolts they were still couldn't help themselves, such as this beauty below.

Still hungry...

Gotta love Coastal Cutthroat, they just don't know when enough is enough

 With the tide flooding in earnest at this point, I started making my way back downstream and sure enough the salmon started pushing into the river. As I was working my way down a side channel, I saw a wake coming upstream as a school of Coho worked their way over a bar. I cast my Sea-run Bugger downstream and gave it a couple of twitches just in front of the school and as fate would have it, one of the Coho broke away from the group and grabbed my fly. This Coho was big, and seemed to use its brute strength to its advantage making several good runs and putting my 6 wt to the test before finally coming to hand. This fish felt quite rewarding as last year I hooked 7 Coho without landing a single one and the year before I went one for thirteen. One for one, not bad!

 My first migratory Coho in two years.

Right as I got my fly out of this Coho and got him on his way, another school pushed through the shallows. I lucked out and these fish were grabby as well and the previous situation replayed itself. This time the Coho was a little bit smaller, but what is was lacking in size it made up for in fight and put up quite an aerial display. Luckily I got a good hookset on it and after a few minutes of tug of war, I was able to bring the beautiful 26" buck in. With the tide in at this point the Coho seemed to be done pushing in and I needed to get out before being stranded. So I cut my losses (or gains) and got out while I still could.

2 for 2!! Great way to end the day!

Time to head home!

First fish of 2012

After a long stretch without any fishing, I got out for my first outing of the new year with a my buddies Craig and Bob. To say that the weather was beautiful would be a vast understatement as it was as nice of a bluebird day as the Evergreen State has to offer.

An unseasonably nice day on the water

The nice weather meant that the river was fairly busy, but there were still some fish around, they just required some work. Craig hooked into the first fish of day, which took as he was retrieving his fly but popped off almost immediately. Nymphing seemed to be get the best reaction from the fish and it was just a matter of persistence and keeping them on once hooked. The honor of landing the first fish of the day went to Bob, it just wasn't the steelhead that we were hoping for but a Whitefish.

Also found this little guy...

With day growing short and after personally losing two steelhead in a row, I finally made it happen and hooked into a very hot 10 or 11lb steelhead. This fish seemed inclined to spend as much time in the backing as possible, but after chasing downstream for a good 1/8 mile we were finally able to bring it to the net. Being a hatchery fish it became a guest of honor for dinner too.

Not too bad for my first fish of 2012

We didn't touch another fish after I was lucky enough to get mine, but it was one of the more beautiful days on the water that I can remember in a long time.

A great day on the water

A false start

Not to long ago, my buddy Craig and I got out to the Olympic Peninsula to try for some early season winter steelhead. Unfortunately so did everyone else. In fact on the river that we had decided to fish, there was a rig in nearly every pull out and easily over three times the amount of anglers that I have ever seen there. Also unfortunate is the fact that it hasn't rained in any significant amount for sometime, leaving the rivers low and clear and severely limiting our options on some of the other waters that I like to fish. However, if there is a will there is a way and hitching a ride with a logging crew we found our way into the upper part of the watershed we were fishing, above the reach of most other anglers. The water up here was a bit skinnier, and the river worked its way through a bit of a canyon so it looked like we were committed to a spending a good portion of the day up here. However, the water looked pretty good, with plenty of holding water so we got too it. The first few holes looked great and Craig and I took turns covering the prime lies, but didn't see any sign of fish.

Craig working a good looking pool

However, before long we came to only of those spots that just screams Steelhead and sure enough Craig spotted some. We worked this pod for a good while and I managed to get one fish to take before we lost sight of the ghostly Steelhead that seemed to vanish from the hole.

Steelie holding water

Once we figured that the fish were either gone or spooked, we decided to move on and explore a bit more of this part of the river. However, a great deal of hiking and exploring this part of the river only yielded one more decent looking spots, which in turn showed no signs of fish. At this point we were already starting to wear out the already short window of winter daylight that we had. So we decided to work our way out of the upper watershed and into some more familiar water.

Once we had worked our way into some waters that were a bit more familiar for me, we made a stop at a corner where a nameless tributary joins the main river. The hole had treated me well in the past at low flows so we figured we would at least take a look. It didn't take too long to spot some fish, as there was a good pod of around 10-15 Steelhead holding in the tail out. Craig decided to act as the spotter and I made my way to the far side of the river where I would have a better approach. My first drift went right through the fish with no reaction whatsoever. My second drift got a bit more attention. While I remained out of sight and started it well upstream of the fish, as soon as my fly got in range it looked as though a bomb had gone off with the affect of steelhead scattering in every direction. We wondered a the spookiness of these fish until we left the hole and found the remains of several fish in the next run downstream.

Working the pod of steelhead before they spooked.

At this point we had one more shot at try to find some sort of fish and found another promising spot downstream a ways. As I was working a little long jam that had newly formed this season, I finally got a solid take from a sizeable fish, but after one initial tug the fish tossed the fly and I was out of luck.

Or so I thought. Just downstream I got another take and this time actually got a good hookset. Right away I could tell that this wasn't a Steelhead as my switch rod quickly over powered it. However, a beautiful native Coastal Cutthroat fresh from the saltwater was just as good to me at this point and was a great note to end the day on.

A flawless native Coastal Cutthroat

As steelheading goes I would have to consider this trip a success, as anytime you can spot some fish and a least get a take or two you are doing something right. Plus it doesn't get much better than exploring some great water with a good friend.

Redbanded Metalheads

Several weeks ago now, my buddy Jonathan and I made a long day trip east of the Cascade Mountains to search for some Redband Steelhead. With fall rapidly progressing towards winter the morning started off rather brisk and a bit drizzly, but the river was in perfect shape so we were on the water shortly after sun up. Our first spot was a run that had treated Jonathan well over the past few seasons, but after a few hours of fishing I hadn't had a bump and while Jonathan had found a few Whitefish, but no steelhead so we decided to relocate.

The river

The second spot that we fished had a nice deep slot on the far bank and we decided to start out swinging flies. I started with an intermediate tip and little size 6 October Caddis toned fly that I came up on an and within a handful of casts I got subtle take, but couldn't get the fish to come back. After that things slowed for a bit until we got to the tail out, when I got another but much more viscous strike. However, once again it didn't result in an actual hook up. We covered the water for perhaps another hour, switching flies and sink tips but had no more interest.

Even though we had already cover the slot for several hours without any fish to hand, we knew there were fish there and decided to try something a bit else. With that we switched to nymphing rigs and what would you know within three or four casts I got a take and a solid hook up. The fish immediately came up and did a bit of thrashing and put on a nice aerial display before deciding to take off. Luckily for me the river was fairly free of obstructions for the fish to hang me up on and although I had to chase steelhead a good hundred yards downstream we finally managed to bring it to hand.

Me with a beautiful native Columbia Basin Redband Steelhead

Another look at the fish

After a couple of quick photos, we watched as the fish sped off into the current again. Although I love to swing flies, this was just another example at the shear effectiveness in nymphing in comparison - 4 casts vs. several hours... A fact that was more evident when about a half hour later I got another take down. Although it was evident right away that this was a fish due to a couple good head shakes, it didn't seem to want to budge for the first minute and I was really starting to think it was a Chinook Salmon or possibly a big Bull Trout. However, finally the fish discovered that it was hooked and finally decided to show itself as another Steelhead. After a couple of leaps, it was straight into the backing for this Steelhead and once again I had hurry in pursuit. I finally caught up with it just downstream of where we landed the first fish. After several more minutes of battling the fish, we brought another beautiful native Redband Steelhead to hand.

Another beautiful Steelhead

We gave the spot a little more time, with Jonathan getting another Whitefish before we decided to try another spot a little further down stream. When we arrived at our next spot things looked great as there were maybe a couple dozen salmon holding and/ or spawning, which usually means a few Steelhead are likely to be around. However, after putting in a good amount of time we had only managed to donate a several flies to the boulder strewn bottom.

A salmon on its redd

Jonathan checking out a huge spawned-out Chinook, this fish was well over 40".

Even though the salmon were entertaining to watch, the lack of Steelhead lead us to once again relocate. Although we were starting to view daylight as a commodity at this time, there were fish around at this spot and Jonathan and I managed to have a double screw up, where we both hooked and lost steelhead shortly after arriving.

The last spot of the day

After losing a decent Steelhead, I got a sort of consolation prize in the form of a good sized Whitefish that decided that it wanted a stripped egg imitation. This Whitefish even wanted to act like a Steelhead and jumped several times before coming to hand.

My only Whitefish of the day

I hooked one more Whitefish, that popped loose before the lack of daylight finally made us start to think about the long drive home and we decided to call it a day.

Belated creek post

Although this post should be a month old by now, I finally have found some time to get back to the blog. Per my usual fishing traditions for the end of the general Washington stream season I did a bit of searching for sea-run Cutthroat fresh from the salt water in my home creek.

The creek

With the first hard rains of the fall drawing Coho and Chum Salmon in to even the smallest coastal creeks, the Cutthroat are never far behind. This seasonal migration of salmon and Cutthroat provides some amazing Alaska style fishing close to home. However, it is surprisingly under appreciated and it is rare if ever that I run into another angler... A fact that you won't find me complaining about.

A wild Coho Salmon (under the log)

This year although the creek was a bit lower than usual, it had some of the better Coho returns I have seen in years and I had to tip toe around salmon redds. With a 6mm or 8mm egg imitation though the Cutthroat proved rather willing.

A native Cutthroat

Due to the small waters short leaders are the norm and as with typical sea-run Cutthroat a slightly unnatural presentation tends to get results. So swinging or twitching an egg imitation often leads to better results than dead drifting. However, as usual the end of the season comes too fast and as fishing is just getting into its stride the season is over and it is time to think of salmon and Steelhead.

Another look at an egg eating Cutthroat

A little eastern brook fishing

Although I have done a bit of travelling around the west coast, until this last week I had never been east of the Rocky Mountain states. So when the chance arose to join my Dad and sister on a trip to the east coast at the end of October, I jumped on it. The trip would see us heading to several states and while it wasn't a fishing trip per-say, I did make sure that I would at least get a little time in on the water while there.

As fishing went, I planned on checking out some smaller streams in Vermont where we would be staying for some native Brook Trout. So after flying into JFK in New York and driving across a few states we found ourselves in Northern Vermont on the edge of the Green Mountains. As this area was completely foreign to me I made one of my first stops the local fly shop. However, it was a slightly depressing visit as, I don't think I have ever been in a shop were they were less excited about the fishing. The main reason was Hurricane Irene which had swept through the area over a month prior and that combined with the fall rains had left the rivers high and swollen waters. Luckily, the smaller waters sounded to be at least slightly fishable even if the staff didn't sound so interested in them, so I picked up a few flies and headed on my way.

The next morning I got up early and headed on my way to check out some of the local waters. The first stream that I fished was a beautiful freestone river, but was still so chalky from run-off that I didn't spend much time there before moving on to something smaller. Although the next stream that I picked had picked was more of a random choice than anything, with I stumbled on one of the more beautiful places on the trip.

Fall colors on the road to the creek

With the fall colors in full effect the road with was a tunnel brightly colored leaves and the short hike into the creek was a different experience from any in the rain soaked Pacific Northwest. The stream was a still high, but definitely fishable so I rigged up my 1wt with a nymph and soft hackle dropper and started working my way upstream.

The stream

The fishing was definitely not lights out and after working my way upstream, I had only caught one small brook trout that I failed to get a picture of and have missed a handful of others. However, the experience was more important than the fishing, and the stream had a unique character compared to those I am used too. The land also had an older more settled feel about it, a fact made more apparent by the random rock walls that had been built along the stream in days past.

Old signs of settlement along the creek

After cover a mile or two of stream I started my way back downstream and while drifting a nymph through a pocket spotted a decent Brook Trout inspecting my fly. Although the fish didn't take on the first cast, I made another allowing the soft hackle trailer to swing across the pool and hooked the fish. Which ended up being a beautiful Brook Trout of perhaps 8".

A native Brook Trout

Another look at the stream

With that fish, I called it and ended my day on the water, as figured I might as well call it a successful and enjoyable outing. I didn't get another chance to hit the water on the the trip, but had an enjoyable week taking in the sights and history on the other side other country.