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Up at 0630 again, showered, and off to the Lodge for a cup of Joe. They put it out at about 6 or 6:30 before the Lodge itself opens. Pretty darn nice of them. We had great service and help from the Staff. A fun group of folks. The food is great. It is very hazy and smoky this morning from all of the fires in the surrounding areas but not yet from any fires in the Park itself. The sun is a red orb. I missed hearing the wolves, but the lady at the desk said they had come down to the area by the lodge and the staff had heard them calling that morning. AM had gotten a small heel blister the evening before from the hip boots; used some moleskin from an REI trail medicine kit. It worked great and held up for the hikes we had planned for this day. Talked with a fellow named Ryan who was working at the Lodge about good places to fish around the area. He told us that Slough Creek was a good area but had lots of people, recommended Chernobyl Ants. Hit the Lamar by the construction equipment and follow the trail down to the Valley itself – use parachute adams and hoppers. Also he liked the confluence of the Slough Creek and Lamar – hoppers. He suggested the Soda Butte up by Pebble Creek (we had looked at the day before without success) and to fish the areas by the cut grass. Also liked the Lamar Trail up the river. Suggested the Yellowstone River and Lamar confluence – go to the left down the road. About a 15 minutes walk. The water is deep – likes to fish wooly buggers – yellow preferred. Also we should think about Lava Creek on the way to Mammoth Lodge. About 6 miles short of Mammoth from Roosevelt Lodge – lots of brookies. Also Brook trout in Blacktail Lake. Now to put the above advice into perspective, while Ryan is represented as fishing the area essentially every day after work (which is what I would do!), he is from Georgia and not from the local area. However, his advice does make sense and ties up with info we have gotten from locals. We decide his info is pretty current and therefore likely to be useful!

GK & JR start the morning stooping over a cooler full of water searching for the leak in GK’s new boots. A pinhole manufacturing flaw is found. Much discussion & GooP are suspected to fix the problem.

After a breakfast of a huge stack of blueberry pancakes, we head east away from Roosevelt Lodge and pull out by Junction Butte peak and parked the rigs. From there we headed cross-country, no trail, toward the river which should be 1 to ½ miles in. 

The area we are heading for is called Buffalo Ford (of the Lamar not the similarly named area on the Yellowstone River). Passed a bison resting on the way in. Made a lot of noise to help the bears locate us! River is not visible as we hike in although you can see where it must be from the hills a distance in front of us. As hike, we found several sets of bones from large animals (deer or elk?) Some have reddish meat edges still on them. Find a chunk of elk fur – looks pretty fresh. After discussing how bears handle their kills, we continue on – making more noise now. River comes into sight – we see a herd elk upstream about 400 yards crossing the Lamar. We finally arrive at Buffalo Ford a lower flat area that one could visualize being an easier place to cross the river at higher levels. While the water levels are low this year, the water level on this stretch of the Lamar is very good for fishing. . No footprints!!! Area all to ourselves in the wonderful cool of the morning! JR hits the first fish of the day (before some of us could even finish rigging up!). Then he got the next fish! Fast and furious action by the obsidian (?) rocks along the stream. Very black, very smooth, and very slippery. We name the spot "Slippery Rock." AB & GK join in and immediately begin catching Rainbows. No wonder this place is nicknamed "Rainbow Alley" by the locals. AM leapfrogs upstream to find another great looking hole where the water rolls over a cascade into a chute and then slows (very deeply) over large boulders. Very fishy looking. And sure enough, the fish are very cooperative – hit 7 in a row – every cast it seems has a roll or strike. Using a Royal Trude and a dropper (pheasant tail nymph). JR/MS join up and then AB/GK. GK hits several nice fish. AB finds a 18 inch Cutt by sliding a Bugger into the deep pool.

AM hikes on upstream to find a group of 4 and a group of 2 fishing in a boulder laden area. Find a spot between the groups, bring up 4 small fish on 4 casts. Move on upstream to another boulder laden area but walls of cliffs keep one from moving further upstream. This turns out be the area just below the Slough Creek confluence with the Lamar. Heading back downstream, moved below the Buffalo Ford area and found more great water with fish. About ½ mile downstream from Buffalo Ford, found another boulder chute and pool structure and cliffs to block further downstream hiking. This hole holds willing fish after willing fish which would take Royal Trudes, bead head Pheasant Tail Nymphs, Chernobyl hoppers, Dave’s hoppers, etc. etc. Great fishing in a great location! Further for our enjoyment and pleasure, we had a bison bedded down about 100 feet from where we fished this hole. Seemed to be a little uncomfortable with us being there. Got up and fed for a while. Then came down to the water for a drink. We gave the critter lots of room! Bison then moved back to the bedding area but finally wandered off to find a quieter place.  Too much screaming since it was almost a fish per cast!!

AB returns to Slippery Rock and ties on a Roy Nakano tied Sofa Pillow fly. Flicking it just upstream from where I’m standing into a nice chute coming around the black shiny rocks, the fly disappears behind the rock. As the fly comes into sight floating around the edge of the rock, a huge head emerges from the water and inhales the fly. A 20+ inch Cutt! Moving down to the Buffalo Ford crossing produces several more nice Cutts on the Sofa Pillow.

After finally running out of drinking water (next year we’re bringing water filters to replenish our supply in the field) by about 3:30pm, we decided to head back to the trucks. Truly a great day of outstanding fishing!!

Arriving at the trucks, the vote is unanimous. Five cases of Gatorade are NOT too much!

Back at the Lodge, JR treated everyone to a favorite adult beverage or two. (e\Every expedition needs their own JR!) We decided to go fish after dinner since we were on a roll. But first, we had a Lodge dinner which was  great. AM (being a vegetarian) had the Linguini Mushrooms and Mediterranean Vegetable Soup. Recommend these highly! [Note: At all of the Lodges in the National Park, we were able to find menu items that had a wide range of prices and also had non-meat containing options for those that prefer it.  We thought the Park and the Concessionaire did an excellent job of making the Park affordable and tailorable for most people.]

Headed off to Lava Creek for some brookie fishing. Got to place and headed up the trail per Ryan’s instructions from the morning. Turns out to be kind of overgrown with a pretty small stream. Not very impressive after the Lamar River. We hauled a couple of 2 inchers out and one monster 6 incher. Not what we expected or wanted. Mosquitoes were more prevalent and generally larger than the fish. Had lots of bat action following our fly lines in the dark! Concluded that we could put Lava Creek on the "Have Fished" list but also on our "Never Fish Again" list!