Oct. 6, 2009 - Yellowstone Float

Woke this morning at 6:30 and made a big breakfast with leftover bison and steak to keep us powered up through today's float of the Yellowstone. Any description I muster up will not do the day justice. It was mostly sunny, with a supposed high of 50, and winds steady at 15-25 MPH. Brutal on the casting, but we caught fish despite. I started out wading while Ben and Paul helped Peter get the boat set up and started upstream. From my place on a side channel near a "tributary," I caught 3 rainbows, 9-12" on a black bh zebra midge dropped behind a parachute adams. Had 3 others on, too. Once they figured out the game and stopped biting, I walked downstream to see what I could fish while waiting for the boat to arrive. nothing of interest awaited me, so I headed back up to where Corn Creek dumped in and changed my rig - indicator with "the worm" and the zebra midge. Only a couple casts in I landed a nice 16" rainbow. Fought like a champ, too. The boat had just arrive so I hopped in a started the float.

I have much more to say about this day, but my eyes are closing and I'm exhausted. We're getting up early to drive to the Beaverhead and fish some warmer water tomorrow. I'll fill in the details later, but all three of us hooked into some beautiful fish today and despite the constant distraction of catching whitefish all day, had beautiful scenery and a great day in a drift boat.

Oct. 5, 2009

Woke up this morning to a few inches of snow covering everything. Snowed throughout the morning. Ben had a lot of work to do, so Paul and I tied flies until noon before the three of us headed out to the Madison River. On recommendation from Peter Vandergrift we headed up to Bear Trap Wilderness Area and jumped in to some good looking riffles and pools. Rainbows were on the menu. Paul caught one right away. Ben soon followed. The river was big, wide, and looked super fishy. But the wading was tough and really the first time we've fished a river of this size. Not sure if the weather was the biggest factor or our strategy, but the fish were few and far between. Paul caught one more and I managed to pull two out of one seam and hooked another, but didn't land it. A few beautiful fish, but nothing more than 15". We're in the mood for some big fish.

Cooked up some bison for dinner - didn't know what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised. Wicked good. Hit the hot tub for an hour or so after dinner. Rolled in the snow halfway through to break things up. Loved it. Beautiful sky with stars poking intermittently through the overcast sky. Hopefully the haloed moon brings good luck for tomorrow. We're meeting Peter at 9:00AM to float the Yellowstone. "Let's go catch some big fish" was the last thing Pete said to me before cell service cut out. Let's hope he's right. Should be a beautiful day - first in a while - and we're looking forward to a full day on the river.

Finally bought real food to stock the kitchen. It's been too long. Local beef, sausage, bacon, and bison to start. Turned some of the beef into Trout Slayer Stew (Patent Pending). It'll do a body good. Can't wait to come back in from the stream and snow to a cup tomorrow. In the meantime, we're settling for a Sunday night Steelers game (whooping up on the Chargers) and the smell of stew.

Oct. 4, 2009

Picked up Paul from the airport and had some dinner at four corners last night before coming back to the cabin and toasting the week. Half a bottle of makers made sure we all slept well. I was up at 7:00 to touch base with Peter Vandegrift about our plans for the week. The winter storm warning for today and tomorrow settled the discussion and we'll probably float the Yellowstone River on Tuesday or Thursday depending on how the weather shapes up. Today was mostly blustery with flurries and cold. We got a quick breakfast after talking with Peter and hit the closest fly shop for supplies and a license for Paul. Got on the Gallatin around 10:30 and fished until 3:30. Fishing was slow. Ben had the first fish of the day, I had the most fish, and Paul hooked into the biggest. Stood at one hole and caught 4 trout and 3 creek chubs. Lost too many flies for so few hours of fishing. Had to take a walk back for my net at day's end and Paul took a last minute, unplanned dip crossing for home. We're all burnt and dazed from fighting the wind all day. Headed to the supermarket for food for the week. Looking forward to a big pot of beef stew. This storm is supposed to dump anywhere from 4 to 15 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow morning. Probably going to tie flies and rest up in the morning then explore the Madison river in the afternoon.

p.s. Paul sat next to Ms. Montana's mom on the plane. She seemed to want to talk to us at the airport, but then quickly ran off. Perhaps I'm not as good looking as I think...

Oct. 3, 2009 - Bozeman, MT - Day one

Gallatin rainbow:
View from the fly shop:
On the road:
Got up around 5:00 this morning, packed, and started the 5.5hr drive to Bozeman. The moon was bright, hovering on the horizon to our left. The sun was slowly rising to our right, the sky slowly changing colors through the spectrum. Most of the drive was in a straight, unwavering line up I-25 and then across I-90. After Buffalo, WY, the antelope and mule deer were everywhere. Saw one nice 8-pt muley crossing the road in front of us. Must have seen 300 antelope.

Driving west through Montana slowly brought Mountains into view. Impressive, snow covered peaks would appear on the horizon, slowly grow as we drew closer and then disappear behind us. Lots of pictures were snapped - few of them, I'm sure, are any good. But it was fun to be in awe of the scenery. Pulled into Bozeman around 11:00 and went directly to the fly shop, Montana Troutfitters. Got some tips and compliments on our timing - the fishing should be awesome. Super friendly guys and a beautiful store.

After a quick bite to eat we arrived at the house. This place is beautiful. Right on the Gallatin - it's literally a 1min. walk to the stream. We threw our stuff in the house and quickly donned the waders and hit the stream. Ben caught a nice brown right away. I hooked into a large creek chub, the first of 6 through the afternoon. Ben caught a handful more trout and I managed to catch 4, all rainbows. The last fish of the day was a nice 15" rainbow that took a bwo dry out of the bubble line downstream from a half-submerged tree top.

The wind started to blow something fierce and we called it quits around 6:00PM. I'm still trying to stay on the healthy side of this head cold so getting chilled to the bone is not a good idea. A nasty winter storm is blowing in later tonight and should stick around for two days. We'll decide in the morning whether to meet up with Pete Vandegrift tomorrow or on Monday. Hoping he'll give us a primer on Bozeman streams.

Very much looking forward to being in this house for a week. I need some stability amid these travels and this is going to be just perfect. Paul arrives in just about an hour. It's going to be insane being here for so long, just the three of us, fishing, cooking, drinking, relaxing. Couldn't be looking forward to this more.

Pictures from Big Thompson

Wild rainbow from the canyon stretch:


Ben sneaking:



The canyon:


Fishing the far side:


One of the doubles:

Oct. 2, 2009 - Hotel bound

Woke up feeling like crap today. Head cold had taken over the body. Decided to take it easy and try to get healthy. After eating what was probably the absolute worst breakfast I've ever choked down we hit the Casper, WY fly shop for a couple more tying materials. The rest of the day was spend at the hotel tying, napping, taking medicine, and planning. Sucks to have "lost" a day, but we've been in hotel rooms for almost a week now and needed a breather. Miracle mile will have to wait for another trip. Spent the evening at the hotel restaurant watching the Rockies game and talking with some antelope/mule deer hunters. The bourbon felt good on the throat.