Up at 7:30AM; breakfast at the Black Cat Restaurant in Longview. Also, ordered sandwiches for lunch.

Leaving town at 9:15, (1,748-miles from Spokane) we were headed for the Highwood River in the grassy rolling plains of the surrounding cattle country. Stopping for fuel near the Highwood River, we found that JR’s Jeep had consumed nearly the same amount of fuel on the last run as MS’s turbo-diesel Ford ¾ ton, 4WD pickup. Pretty amazing since the Jeep weighs about 3500# and the truck about 8000#!

Back on the Forestry Trunk Road (read: gravel again.) we stopped at a bridge over the Highwood, a place that we’d fished on last year’s trip. There was a buck standing on the right side of the road. 10AM.

MS, AM & JR go upriver, AB tries downriver. The first hole AB tried with a BWO produced a rejection, followed by a second rejection in the same hole. Moving down to a large, deep, crystal-clear pool with a small stream entering from the side, AB stopped to observed the water. It wasn’t long before a few fish started feeding. A few casts with a BWO only manage to drive the fish down. Several great looking holes downstream produced similar results.

Meanwhile MS finds a great stretch of water and catches a large Cutthroat followed by a Rainbow on an Elk Hair Caddis. JR also finds good water and comes up with 4 Cutts & Rainbows using a Caddis and Royal Stimulator. AM also scores a Cutt with a Caddis.

At 11:45 we were back at the vehicles.

While putting our gear away another angler walked up from the river. A truck stopped and they began to chat. The angler said the fishing on the Highwood wasn’t too good today, the man in the truck said, try Daisy Creek, it’s been pretty good. We immediately took out our maps to find Daisy Creek, AM found it and marked the spot.

We stopped to check out Cataract Creek. 12PM, 74-degrees. The stream looked good, especially upstream, AM felt the best strategy to use, if we planned to fish the creek, would be to park one vehicle down stream, using the second vehicle to take all upstream, then fish down stream. We discussed fishing Cataract, but decided to move on toward the Livingstone River.

The forest fire danger had kept this backcountry area closed until Thursday. Now Friday being the day before a Holiday weekend, there are a lot of folks on the FTR, many trucks, trailers and campers. Seems everyone’s headed for the woods for a camping holiday. We think big game hunting season also opens this weekend.

We came across the Livingstone River running along the FTR; it looked small and braided at this point, so we continued down the road. At 12:30PM we found a small rutted road heading across flat land toward the stream. AM & JR headed down the road while MS & AB parked along the road waiting for AM’s assessment. He called back on the radio saying the river looked pretty fishy at this point. MS & AB had seen another road that appeared to access the river about a ½-mile upstream. We called back and said we’d come in on the other road, they could fish upstream to our vehicle and we’d fish upstream from our vehicle so we could check out the maximum amount of river.

AB was using a Royal Simulator on the first couple pools without success, but when a Blue-Winged Olive Mayfly landed on his hand, he immediately switched to a BWO adult pattern. The real BWO stayed on AB’s hand for 10-minutes, so he decided to try to lay the imitation fly next to it on his hand and photograph the two together…..but as soon as he laid the fly on his hand…the real insect panicked and flew away….too bad…it would have made a great photograph.

AM & JR reported catching several Cutthroat, but nothing too big. There seemed to be a lot of fish in the 10-12 inch range in non-descript pocket water – willingly they would attack a dry fly of any sort I suspect although BWO’s were the most popular.

AB worked the next pool from the bottom to the top without any interest. Seeing a plunge of water crashing into a large root wad with a deep blue pool under it, he said to himself….There’s got to be a fish in that spot. Only one problem….the root wad was loaded with snaggy roots and twigs, it was unlikely one could cast a fly to this spot and have it survive. And….if a fish actually struck the fly, it would likely dash back into the root wad, hopelessly tangling the leader. Well….all that said, AB applied the old steelhead adage; "Worry about hooking one first, before you worry about how you’re going to land him!" Talking careful aim, AB cast the fly perfectly into the chute of water; it drifted down the chute into a calm part of the pool. AB was manipulating the fly line to guide the fly around the snags when all of a sudden a huge fish raced from under the root wad and SMASHED the fly. AB knew he was in trouble, so he quickly put the tip of his fly rod in the water to use the strong current against the fly line to pull the fish out of the log jam. It worked! The fish came out of the root wad. A beautiful, large Cutthroat.

MS & AB were "leap-frogging" each other on pools as they moved upstream. MS found a couple smaller Cutts in one pool on a Caddis. AB told MS about the BWO that landed on his hand and let AM & JR know also.

The next pool AB spotted was a beauty, about 40’ long with brush on the far side, a gravel bar on the near shore, a log laying completely across the stream about 4’ off the water and a large chute of white water pouring into the pool. Boy…this pool should hold a fish, it’s perfect. AB worked the hole from the bottom up, the next cast would have to be under the log….and the wind was gusting. Making a side-arm cast the BWO flipped under the log about 4’ upstream. It was immediately attached by a big fish. MS helped AB land the fish….another beauty! AB replaced his net on the clip on the back of his fly vest and made another similar cast under the same log…..BAMM!! Another nice Cutty!

It was MS’s turn, he tried the area above the log and picked up a nice fish also.

Moving to the next pool….about 60’ long with a small creek coming in from the side and a large bush hanging over the water on the opposite bank, MS skillfully worked up the hole with his BWO. I said, there’s got to be a fish near that bush. MS made the cast and his fly was immediately and violently inhaled. Wow…it was a big fish…the biggest of the day! Mike brought the fish to Andy’s net. Pictures and high-5’s….what a gorgeous fish! So wide, that AB could barely get his hand around it to remove the hook. MS said it was a personal best!!

AB uses a "Katch-‘em Release" Tool to remove the barbless flies. The tool consists of a small tube with a slot in the side mounted on a handle. The leader is slipped into the slot and the tube run down over the fly (protecting the fly from damage), then the tool is turned upside down and the fish simply drops off the hook. It does take a little practice to learn how to use the tool properly, but it’s a great tool and does much less damage to flies (and fish) than forceps, although sometimes forceps are necessary for difficult removals. JR is also sold on the effectiveness of the tool.

AM & JR called saying they were finding fish, but no large ones….we had to tell them about MS’s fish…it was awesome. Blue-winged Olives, Royal Stimulators & Elk Hair Caddis all caught fish, but the BWO was the star of this stream.

AM radioed saying that we should start heading back to the vehicles. MS & AB were about a mile upstream and headed back thru the brush and into a sagebrush-like area where several cows were grazing. All of a sudden a LARGE, say 2000 lb. bull noticed us moving thru the field. Based on his aggressive actions, he must have decided that we were predators of some sort. We yelled at him and made counter aggressive moves toward him….he wasn’t impressed. At that point I told MS that this range bull wasn’t kidding. We moved into the brush so he couldn’t see us and continued to move toward the truck. After walking for a block or two thru the brush and thinking we’d eluded the bull, we hiked back out of the heavy cover, as it was easier to walk in the open field. As we stepped out of the last bit of cover….the bull was standing there watching us! Yikes! This guy was serious about protecting his girls from predators. We hustled back into the brush and move with purpose towards the truck, he finally decided that we weren’t a threat and returned to the herd.

We were off the Livingstone at 3:10 PM, had lunch in our vehicles and headed off to the North Fork Oldman River.

While traveling we often chat on the CB. AM came up with a great idea that bloomed into quite a long conversation, one person after another building on AM’s original idea. AM proposed we establish a Yellowstone Gang "Make OUR wish" foundation. People could donate, MS said tax-free, to our foundation to keep the YG fishing into retirement in the way they’d become accustomed.

We felt that since so many people in the US like to contribute to worthy causes, we might as well make our cause available to them. We laughed for miles down the road.

At the North Fork Oldman, we found a great spot to access the river and AM immediately catches a nice Cutthroat.

JR & AM go upstream; MS & AB go downstream to some great looking pools they’d spotted from the gravel road high above. We ford the river and get to a great hole along a vertical rock wall. We can see fish feeding at the head of the pool and other fish flashing as they pick up nymphs in the deep section of the pool, but nothing we offered would entice a strike.

AM & JR reported similar luck upstream. It started to rain and the call came out to head back to the vehicles.

On the way out, AB spotted a great looking pool in the middle of a large boulder field. AB couldn’t stand it, telling MS that he had to fish that hole. He crawled from boulder to boulder thru swift water and slippery rocks until he reached a flat rock casting position. On the first cast a nice Cutt took the fly. As he zoomed thru the hole, a fish 4 times his size chased him….likely a bull trout. I landed the Cutt and wanted to continue fishing, but it was raining harder and we needed to head back.

It was 5:40PM and we were off to find the confluence of the Oldman & Livingstone. AM & JR hike down to the river to take a look. At first the trail is an ATV trail, then a game trail which drops steeply to the river. The water looks good, but we decide to move on to Daisy Creek.

At 6:10PM we passed the Oldman Helicopter Center (elevation 4,265’) used as a base camp to fight forest fires. 69-degrees. 2141 miles from Seattle. 1830 miles from Spokane.

We found Daisy Creek, a small stream flowing into Racehorse Creek. AM went upstream, MS & AB fished downstream & JR found a pool near the bridge. AB caught a 10" Cutthroat, then another on a BWO. MS was also catching fish.

AM reported several small fish upstream on Daisy Creek but the water was getting pretty thin at this point.

MS & AB moved down to Racehorse Creek and each caught a couple more trout.

We moved back to the Oldman River at "the falls at the gap", the wind was blowing so hard you could hardly stand up, a local affect caused by the steep, shear mountains on either side of the river that funneled the wind from the mountains to the plains. 7:30PM AM was the only angler with enough hutespah left to tackle the Oldman under these conditions. A young man and his Dad arrived and began fishing the upper part of the hole without luck. After an hour AM returned saying that he’d caught a big Cutt on a BWO parachute. Who would believe you could get a rise to a dry fly in winds gusting to 40 mph!! Casting was tricky!! Nice fish Al!! You certainly earned that one!

AB won $7.00 on the poker machine while waiting for dinner to arrive.