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Thursday August 17, 2000 Up early for a big stack of Blueberry Pancakes. AB/GK/AM/MS head off to hit the Lamar and Soda Butte at their confluence. JR resting up after a heavy earlier day exposure to pollens etc. The Lamar and Soda Butte Confluence seems to be fishing well, with the major holding water in a large plunge pool from where the Soda Butte enters the Lamar. AB hits several Cutts in the pool right away with a Stimulator & Prince dropper. AB/GK move up the Soda Butte to find great water but no more fish. They cut cross country to fish the Lamar and hit some great holes just up the river from the confluence. GK finds several Cutts in a pool above AB. AB fishing a chute pouring into a huge pool catches several Cutts on drys & droppers, then switches to a Jack Danner White Wooly Bugger and catches several more. AM/MS moved downstream where the sinuosity created structure every several hundred yards. The Lamar downstream of the confluence runs through the valley with a low gradient so there is a fair amount of shallow and featureless areas which often hold smaller fish. But at selected turns, the river turns and creates the opportunity for log pileups and related structure with better holding water for the fish. These are the areas on which to focus. Got some pretty fair fish on a #12 bead head Prince Nymph running 6 feet behind a strike indicator. AB/GK used Chernobyl Hoppers and droppers. Also had some action on wooley buggers stripped through deep pools. MS also got some action on the white wooley bugger tied for us by Jack Danner. Beautiful clear and sunny morning; by coming from the Roosevelt Lodge, we could get to the waters before the crowds could move in later during the day.
While we were fishing the Lamar and Soda Butte at first light, there were a fair number of folks with spotting glasses of various types looking over us and across the Lamar River Valley. Apparently that morning a group of wolves had taken down an elk and were feeding across the Valley. We couldn't see them but apparently these other groups with the high powered spotting scopes could see the action. Always a lot happening in Yellowstone NP! Headed back to Roosevelt Lodge about noon to check out and pick up JR. Headed off to fish Yellowstone Lake. Pulled over at Gull Point. Fished a variety of wooley buggers largely without success (AB did get one!) although some folks using spinners had gotten a few fish that morning. Fishing was slow although we did see a couple cruising the shoreline. Looking across the Lake, we watched a huge smoke plume arising from the Raven Creek fire over in Wyoming.
After an hour or so we decided to head on down the road toward West Yellowstone. Finally started to run in elk and bison on the way. Looked at the Gibbon River for fishing and thought the area below the falls looked interesting. Lots of smoke hanging over the area from fires in neighboring areas. Saw signs where the road out of the South Entrance toward Jackson and Grand Teton National Park was closed just outside the Park due to fires in Wyoming by the Flagg Ranch. Fortunately we are heading to the West Entrance which was open. Arrived West Yellowstone about 7 pm. Checked into our rooms at the One Horse Motel (http://www.wyellowstone.com/clients/onehorse/) and said Hi! To Becky again. Decided to head out and do the rounds in West Yellowstone to get the latest fishing info and to share some of the wealth with the local fly shops. Also found a fun bike and cross-country ski shop called the Free Heel and Wheel (40 Yellowstone Ave, PO Box 634, West Yellowstone, MT 59758; email at freeheel@wyellowstone.com; tel: 406-646-7744; Owners – Kelli Criner and Melissa Buller) – they said there was good mountain biking in the area!! Swung by Bud Lilly’s Fly Shop (http://www.budlillys.com/) for some suggestions. They suggested the Madison below Hegben (the Cliff Lk and Wade Lk areas); the Gibbon up by Norris for browns (which can be hard to find), Henry’s Fork by the Ranch. Then we stopped by the Eagle’s Nest Fly Shop where they suggested Hegben Lake where a few big trout were being caught from the North shore. Also suggested Cliff Lk. and Wade Lk. areas. They said the Gibbon had been off and on. For an offbeat approach, they suggested trying the Madison between the Lakes where there were a lot of whitefish and a few huge trout. Drifting on over to Arrick’s Fly Shop (http://www.arricks.com/), they suggested the Madison in riffles up and downstream from the Barnes Holes using streamers such as big and small wooley buggers. Thought the Gallatin was OK but not great.
Jacklin’s Fly Shop suggested the Madison by Cliff Lk and Wade Lk; also the River between the Lakes on the Madison. Madison River Outfitters (http://www.flyfishingyellowstone.com/) suggested the Madison by Cliff Lake and Wade Lake. Sitting down to assimilate the info we received, we all had dinner at Mountain Mike’s where some had all-you-can eat ribs, others had the ubiquitous chicken fried steak, and one of us had a vegetarian meal (which is not easy at Mountain Mike’s). At this point in the trip, the votes for chicken fried steak quality was:
JR’s book "The Best Chicken Fried Steak of the West" will be out soon. |
