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July 15, 2002
Everyone up by 6 am and packing. Didn’t realize I was traveling with the Spice Girls – lots of coiffing and preening for the day. Nice morning again (sunny) but day will be hot again no doubt. We have to head into the park to meet Jeff M. down by the Lake. Headed over Dunraven pass (8895 feet) at 7:57 am. We helped alter the ecosystem a bit that morning as we pancaked a chipmunk. However, we just missed a pika by the side of the road. Saw mule deer & bison on the way and then a neoprene hatch on the Yellowstone River. Met Jeff at 0830 at store by the Lake. We did see some gulpers below Fishing bridge this year which we haven’t seen for several years. Our plan had been to hike into Pelican Creek and fish there on opening day of the Yellowstone River (which was today!). Lower Pelican Creek is closed until July 15 to protect the bears from human disturbances (or is the other way around?). We were pretty sure the bears knew how to read calendars so they would not be any trouble on the 15th as they might have been on the 14th. Just in case we had in bears who were dyslexic or slow readers, however, we were prepared with whistles and armed with pepper spray. We wondered why we kept hearing about bear droppings that would jingle when kicked and tended to smell like pepper. However, the Broad Creek fire was raging in the back country and the firefighters were using that access as a staging area for their forays into the backcountry to suppress the fire. So that whole drainage was off-limits to us when we were in the Park. Bummer! We went ahead and then checked into the Lake Lodge cabins and then headed out to fish on Slough Creek. Heading again past the Yellowstone River we noted how crowded it was on opening day with lots of people at every visible access. Arriving back to the northeast corner of the Park, we rigged up in the Slough Creek Parking lot (not too full!). Everyone had their bear protection (pepper spray, pen knife, whistle, prayer, or whatever). Rangers had told us the trail had just reopened that morning. Seems the Grizzly Bears had killed an elk near the trail earlier in the week and had been feeding it on it, causing a trail closure. Good luck for us that the bears must have been done dining so the trail was reopened. We hiked the 1.8 miles to the first meadow (7000 feet elevation) via an access road still used by a private lodge just outside the northern border of the Park. The elevation, coupled with a total lack of physical conditioning, made this easy hike seem like a "death march" to some of us (a profound statement on our total lack of fitness!) while a "stroll in the park" for others.
Glad not to see any bears on the way in although we still got the adrenaline rush from thinking that just maybe they were in the bushes next to the trail!! A pack train coming down the trail told us they had spotted several Grizzlies at the second meadow just above where we were heading. (I decide we need to sign up some folks who are much slower than me as part of our team if we do this again! Unfortunately I don’t know how well we can get people in walkers up this kind of trail.) We got to a deserted first meadow – where was everyone? Everyone else was upstream fishing on the main-stem Yellowstone River leaving Slough Creek all to us. Cool!!!! Jeff showed us some tactics for how to approach and sight fish the feeding cutts in absolutely gin clear and shallow waters. We split into two groups with Jeff, JR, Greg, and Mike jumping upstream while Andy and Al worked upstream from the meadow downstream end. AM tied on a #18 rusty spinner (6X tippet and 9 foot leader) and approached a gently feeding cutt, after making a few gentle casts over the grass adjacent to the stream, I laid a little hook cast softly on the water, got the fly to lead the tippet, brought into the feeding lane, and………fish on!!! Really cool to sight fish the target like this. I am pumped!!!!! Onto the next feeding fish,…..and another fish on. I had Andy help me land the critter due to the muddy steep bank. Good job, AB!!
And then another one!!
And then the piece de resistance,….I sight a
fish feeding beside a clump of mud which had slid off the bank but which still
had the grass on top of it. Carefully walking around the spot on the grassy bank
so as not to cause ground vibrations to scare the fish, I approach the
streamside but duck crawl forward to be low profile, make a dab cast which just
the tip of the flyline outside the tiptop, put the fly just in front of where I
guess the fish is feeding (I cannot see the fish from this position), move the
line in synchrony with the water flow, and…..fish on!!!! He never actually saw
me until he was writhing in the net!! A truly great experience – thanks to AB
again for the skillful netting. While this experience certainly was great, it
was not without some challenges some as the huge and ubiquitous horse-flies
which would not only bite but also seemed to like DEET as a tasty sauce for
their meals (of me and the others!). Further, you would be tying up a knot or
fly and suddenly big black things would come across your field of view…..it
was these huge horseflies on the inside of your glasses!! Quite intimidating.
Heading back downstream, we found a formerly quiescent fish now feeding so we
skirted around it inland on the bank to approach it from the downstream side.
Andy gets into position and makes another great cast and …….fish on!!!!
Again it is just breathtaking to watch the fly come into the feeding window and
watch the rise, the take, the turn of the head, and then the gentle hook-set…….the
anticipation of the ritual steps is just heart stopping followed by the joy of a
successful hook-up. Hiking back down to the vehicles, being ever alert for bear activity, I feel a great satisfaction with the experience on Slough Creek. Also I can think of such things when not gasping for oxygen – going downhill is easier on the cardiovascular system than going uphill!! What a revelation! After re-grouping at the vehicles and chugging a fair amount of Gatorade (the refreshment of champions!), we elect to swing by and see how Soda Butte Creek is doing. Arriving we divide the rigs into different parking areas, split into several smaller groups to attack the water. AB starts hitting fish fairly quickly and consistently in the riffles and pools using a large stimulator with a bead head dropper. After catching a fish or two in each hole, he would switch to an olive crystal wooly bugger and catch another fish or two. GK/MS head a different direction on the stream to work some interesting water. I try sight-fishing on Soda Butte, where you have to go a little slower to inspect the water since the chop on the stream flow makes it harder to resolve the well camouflaged fish, however, with perseverance I start to locate the Cutts and start getting hookups pretty consistently.
Moving from run to run, we photo some huge wolf tracks in the mud (recent!!) as well as a pretty used elk carcass. The cycle of life does in fact go on in these regions.
In one stretch, we find about 4 cutts (all range from 14-17 inches) feeding in about 4 inches of water – their dorsal fins look like they could be getting sunburned. I hooked one but spooked the others out.
We meet up with JR and work with him on an upstream presentation technique – he got into fish right away!!
Life is always better when there are enough hook-ups to go around!! Link up with GK/MS who had had limited results in their section of water. Piling back into the rigs, we head back toward the Lake after sunset. Driving uphill before Mt. Washburn in the dark, we see orange "lights" off in the distance – these are burning trees in the Broad Creek Fire (circa 9,000 acres and about 10 miles NE of Canyon Village) – these fires are the reason we couldn’t fish Pelican Creek on opening day although we had a great time with the alternates!! There is another pesky lightning storm to the South and West of us as we are driving – all of the fires this year are ascribed to lightning strikes. Huge aerial lightning strikes through the sky – the show goes on for over an hour!! We have no rain, however. Sight some coyotes by the side of the road in the evening. Head to cabins at the Lake and go crash!! Impressions about Slough Creek (multiple inputs):
Impressions from Soda Butte Creek (multiple inputs):
July 16, 2002 Wake up in our cabins at Lake Lodge to a beautiful post-card morning. 2 Bison feeding in field in front of the Lake Lodge – expansive view across Lake with tall mountains in distance as a backdrop – truly a magical place – I never seem to tire of this wonderland!! Some smoky haze over the lake and mountains to diffuse the image (from the fires) – birds singing – very idyllic! Sit on porch of Lodge in a rocker just taking it all in with a cup of coffee. This scene is one key reason, I think, we work so hard during the rest of the year. We charged over to the Yellowstone Lake Hotel for their breakfast buffet – truly a gourmet repast for us all. Meet up at JR’s, organized flies, and headed out to look for Lake cruisers. Drove over to Gull Point area and parked the rigs – fished area by concrete bulkhead on road out to the Point. Perfect weather – overcast, some diffuse sun, warm, and no wind. Recommendations were to sight fish for cruisers in 3 to 6 feet of water – very clear water again. Several options involve callebaetis dries, PMD’s, scuds, hares ear nymphs, and pupatators in various forms. Key is to lead the cruising fish – get the nymph on the bottom (if nymph fishing) – twitch it just as it comes into sight window of fish, then wait… (or try to swim it up naturally) – sounds easy enough (Hah!). The cruisers we spot (6 total) are in the light emerald clear water and appear as gunmetal gray submarines – they are all bottom feeding (therefore leave nymph on bottom after twitching) and not looking around. Think of them as silent submarines of death for scuds. Tried lots of tricks on the cruisers but they are somewhere else mentally this day. Also, there are absolutely no risers despite a good hatch of spinners and duns on the water. We finally got the message about 11 am from the fish gods to move on so we headed back to ice up at the Hamilton Store. Headed over to the Gibbons fish below the Falls – smaller faster water so that rigs like stimulator and dropper (or beetle) should be effective. We spread out to cover the water areas. Our results are to only roll small ones and a rare bigger one but no hook-up using the beetle as a trailer. It is slow fishing for everyone – I check the water temp – it is over 70F – way too warm and this is below the Falls!! We did see evidence of lots of scrapes on the trees from elk!
Moved upstream to fish above the Falls but had no more luck although the water looked promising. Water temps are working against us.
Headed back to the rigs where we had a typical gourmet lunch of bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, and Gatorade. Headed back about 3:45 pm toward Yellowstone River to fish the afternoon bite (?) and hopefully find cooler water coming out of the Lake. Driving along the River, we note that there is hardly anyone left fishing the River. Stopped by the Lower Falls for a Photo Op – pretty cool place.
Stopped by Otter Creek – spotted one fish but no others. Stopped again below LeHardy Rapids where AB hits a good one on a tungsten bead head pheasant tail along the bank but no other fish forthcoming.
Lastly stopped by Nez Perce Ford (nee Buffalo Ford) where there are fisherfolks but much less than the day before.
Greg really needs to catch a fish so he is positioned for casting at place I will call Questionable Point. After much careful casting with an exact line position, Greg hooks 3 and lands a big one (19 incher!) – he claims the others were all much bigger……Right.
While fishing here, a huge (at least he seemed that way at the time!) Bison comes wading through day camping area and scatters a family of 6 from their dinner at the picnic table – I mean he walks within a foot of the table but ignores it all. I decide, since I am on his direct path, to pirouette to the side of his intended trail. Seemingly without notice he wades into the river and starts walking/swimming to the other side. Suddenly he becomes aware of the somewhat scared fisherman in front of him – it turns out you cannot run very fast in waders while waist deep in the river. They try anyway – it certainly is fun to watch! The bison seemed to focus on one fisherman (must have thought he was another bison showing him the way across the river - bison have poor eyesight). He kept crowding forward until the fisherman went off the gravel bar and into a deeper channel in the river. With water sloshing over the top of his waders, the fisherman tippie toes across the bottom with the buffalo swimming behind him. The angler crawled up on the far shore and headed upstream. As the bison approaches the far shore, the fisherman is no longer directly in his way and he proceeds to the far bank, climbs out of the river, proceeds on into the forested sidelands to feed without distraction. The good news for the angler, he wasn't trampled by the bison. The bad news for the angler, he has to re-cross the deep channel again as the nearest bridge across the river is 6 miles upstream!! People go back to fishing – just another day in the Park. We wrapped about 8:15 and head back to the Lake Hotel for an elegant dinner – reservations for 9:30 pm. Everyone enjoyed the Linguini with Tuscan Chicken except for JR who stepped up to a Sirloin Steak. All very nice!! Crashed late that evening although there was a huge thunderstorm with lightning, thunder, rain, and wind that blew through. It really lit up the windows!!
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