25 August 2010
Up casually in the morning for a continental style breakfast at the Twin Pines; we chat with some folks from Sheridan who are heading over to Jenny Lake for a birthday celebration. They retired some years ago to the area around Sheridan which apparently is a forested area unlike the more open sage brush country we see just east of Dubois.
We arrive mid morning at our first stop along the East Fork of the Wind River at "Andy’s Parking Place" – no, I am not making that up!
The water is clear with corner pocket pools and large woody debris jams. We start to fish the water with some of us going downstream (AB and AM) and some upstream (MS, JR, and GK). We raise some smallish fish (circa 10-12 inches) on a #14 purple haze.
Expecting more action, we decide to pull up and try another section of the drainage. Fishing on the way back, I let AB work a short run and then head the next run upstream. Following behind AB, I work a fly across the water up to the head of the pool just by a log in the water – BOOM!! Big fish comes up to hit the fly but arrrghh! no hookup. However, this proves there are larger fish in this section. Just then AB says "BIG FISH ON!" on his radio, so I scramble upstream to do whatever is needed….he has a big bow in the rod….after some bankside shenanigans, we get the fish in the net…..a nice 18 inch Wind River cutthroat! Woo Hoo!
Good stuff – the fish was holding in the middle of the run in the deeper water – AB had fished this chute from the opposite side on the way upstream but couldn’t reach the far side of the drift. On the way back downstream, he found the fish through a random cast with a Purple Haze in the heart of the chute – you never know where they will be holding!!
Leaving "Andy’s Parking Place", we search around to find the Wiggins Fork road, we come across a small hill, a dusty road with a steep incline, and finally an area close to the stream bed. We spread out and try to experiment with differing flies.
AM hooks up a cutt with a grey Chernobyl hopper while JR hooks into a couple of nice brown trout on a yellow Chernobyl hopper and a purple haze. AB & MS work downstream traveling thru much thin water and huge slimy boulders to find a few nice pools and green chutes below. AB is glad that he’d installed a dozen 3/8" hex-head sheet metal screws in the soles of his hip boots, it made wading much easier. GK confirmed that the screws AB had installed in his new hip boots definitely improved traction. MS & AB found several small cutthroat in the pools/chutes willing to take parachute Adams, Ants and Purple Haze, but no large fish were found. The water is pretty thin with the holding water being a fair distance apart. It seemed like the water was more forgiving in 2004 when we fished the Wiggins Fork up higher. However, it is what it is and the day was perfect!
The native vegetation seems largely normal with a few erratics thrown in -
who knew that old cars grew in such places?
We elect to head back to town to get Reservation permits for Bull Lake Creek ($30 each) today so we can get an early start for the next day. We’ll head out toward Horse Creek to fish later in the evening.
We stop by the Wind River Gear store.
While musing through the cool outdoor gear they have, I am standing next to a local fellow who is procuring some additional fly leaders. He is talking to Margot (store owner) about the problems he is having with grizzly bears and wolves on his stock on his ranch. Through the discussion, I learn he’s Bayard Fox – wait a minute! Isn’t there a book on the shelf here in the store written by some fellow with the same name? Yes it is him! I tell him I’ll buy his book "Wind River Country" if he’ll autograph it – he agrees and we have a deal! He owns the Bitterroot Ranch a little ways up the East Fork of the Wind River where we had been fishing! It is an unusual place as it’s a working ranch but also a destination for equestrian vacations. In addition to the ranch, he also operates an international operation for horse vacations as well. I found out later that his son, Matthew, is one of the stars of the recent concluded "Lost" television show.
In the shop, we also end up chatting with a retired mathematics school teacher from Louisiana. Louis (‘Too-Too") Gros from Thibodaux, LA is spending the summer in Wyoming fly fishing the various areas. We compare fishing notes and find that we have been criss-crossing the same waters. He did find the hole we were looking for on the Grey’s River at mile post 41 whereas we had stopped at about mile post 37.5 – sounded like we should have pushed on!
Before we leave the shop, AM also rents a pair of hip boots….his are shot. If we are heading for snake country on the Wind Indian Reservation, he does not want to be wet wading with shorts!
We head out of town up Horse Creek Road toward the more remote stream areas. We see Grizzly Bear warning signs – apparently we are in a significant grizzly area! We arrive at Horse Creek and spread out to see what is happening – slow fishing with only a couple of rises.
– we elect to head for Wiggin Fork via a backroad to hookup where we were earlier. The road continues to deteriorate with very deep ruts and we elect to use good judgment for one the few times in this trip and return toward town. On the way back, we stop at Scout’s Pond where GK tries his luck with a spinner (no luck) and JR, MS, and AB do a little target practice with some of MS pistols which he brought for this purpose.
No animals were hurt in this shooting event – not sure if the trees even took much damage – they were in a pretty safe place as the targets were placed on the tree trunks and there weren't many holes as I recall in the paper..
Likely the only "animals" affected by us were the mosquitoes as AB was wearing pretty much head-to-toe Buzz Off clothing!
We had hoped to have dinner at the River Café in Dubois but their kitchen was closed when we arrived. We head off to Chandler’s which is open a little later. A good hearty dinner is enjoyed! GK decides to order the trout - it is one way to get vengeance!!
JR elects for the CFS - with the current high domestic unemployment running at over 9% at this time, he is doing his part to help give sustenance to unemployed cardiologists and emergency room workers! This is an amazing patriotic sacrifice!
Coming back to Lodge, we do get a visit from a local gendarme – the claim is that we were doing 42 in a 30 mph zone – may have been true but likely only for a short distance as the rigs were slowing down to the speed limit. Fortunately, the desire to keep reasonably well behaved folks like us visiting their community outweighs the desire for revenue. After a short discussion and pleasant warning (the cop was very courteous) we completed an uneventful journey back to the Lodge.