Grayling Tour 2012

So the big rivers are feeling the heat of late, so I took to hiking in to some mountain lakes I have not been to before.  Tried out Deer Lake and Moon Lake just north of Big Sky in the Spanish Peak area.  It was about a 6 mile hike in up hill and you can guess a 6 mile hike down hill.  Great day, it did get a little smoky later in the day with smoke blowing in from the south.  Good camp spots up here, would be a great place to come back to and camp.

Deer Lake in the Spanish Peaks, full with Grayling.

Cork excited to swim after a 6 mile hike in.

Grayling, kinda like a white fish but way prettier.

High mountain fish always fall for the ant.

Moon Lake just below Deer Lake, caught a couple Rainbows here, no Grayling though.

Trail side snack, Huckleberries. 

A young cow moose, probably a little to close.  Cork notice her first and froze looking at here.  Then I noticed her and told Cork to stay until I could get her leash on her.  The moose watched us the whole time with her main spike up.  I was a little worried there for a few, but Cork was good and we just walked on by her.  I took this picture as I was feeling safe that we got by her.

Emerald Grayling

Fished Emerald Lake today. Nice hike and good fishing.  Cork enjoyed it too.  Caught my share of grayling today with an ant.  I also had a first at Emerald Lake catching a West Slope Cutthroat I believe.  It was a wet hike down with continuous thunder and lighting.  

Mouth Full of Chubby

Rainbow with Chubby

Summer is finally here in Montana!  Here are a few pictures of my last weekend journey on the Yellowstone just inside the Park.  The Salmon fly hatch has been awesome this year on the Yellowstone with the water shaping up perfect for fishing.  I have been floating the last week just above Yankee Jim and just below as well with great fishing.  I have been using a golden brown chubby with a little yellow sally stimi trailing behind with great success.  We should transition perfectly from the stonefly hatches to hopper season within the next couple weeks if not now.  I'll be in Truckee next week for some mid-summer fishing, probably going to be a morning and evening thing. 

This stretch was very good.

Cutthroat with Chubby

Varney to 8 mile

Devun had the day off from school so I took off from work as well. Had a nice spring day in the Madison Valley. The fishing was good. They were eating pretty much everything I threw; golden stone, micro-may, and of course the worm. The water was perfect, a light breeze and partly cloudy. Hope to get over there again soon, while it's good.

The Snake

So Devun had a soccer tournament down in Jackson Hole, WY. So I thought I had better bring my rod as I did not last year and wished I had. We had sometime in between games so we hit up the Snake in Grand Teton National Park. The Snake has one of the most scenic backdrops ever, with the Tetons towering over the landscape. I was told it is a tough river to wade fish, but we found and nice mellow channel of the river, which was more like fishing a creek. I noticed we had a nice hatch of the area's fall drake called the Hecuba. I then I saw a few fish rise. It was game on. Devun had tangled his line, so I gave him my rod and with a few casts, I heard a big gulp and Devun's rod was bent over.

I could not get a good grip and grin of Devun, but I think this picture turned out better. Devun's nice release of a 18" Fine Spotted Snake River Cutthroat.

I finally got my rod back and was able to catch my first Snake River cuttie, not as big as Devun's though. For only fishing about 2 hours and a $14 Wyoming day fishing license, I think I got my money's worth.

If only I could fish more.

Wow, If I could spend more time on the water right now I would. The fishing has been awesome, the weather has been awesome, flows are great and so is the water clarity. Its terrestrial time! Well, the few times I have been out lately, the fish have been on the dries from hoppers, ants, and beetles. Been using the dry dry setup of late, with a bigger hopper trailed by either a beetle or ant. It is amazing how many fish will pass up the hopper to eat the smaller beetle and ant. Here are a few images and a video from the last month. Oh yah, these pics and video were all taken on Devun's new GoPro. Pretty cool device, Devun can't wait to use skiing.

Devun and I on a Backpacking Trip, Hidden Lakes

Hiking in.

Wolf Print, Soda Butte, YNP

Good times, Fishin' Soda Butte

Devun is getting good at the catching, now I need to work with him on the release, it looks like this little cuttie did okay on getting back to his hole.

Beaverhead

Had some free time to spend so I took off to the Beaverhead. I fished just down from Pipe Organ Bridge. The water was a little dirty there but not bad and the parking lot was empty when I pulled in at around 11:30. The fishing was not bad using an indicator with a worm and a variety of flashy small beadhead nymphs. Good day for me and my old dog Acacia who had fun too. Seeing the Jefferson at close to record flood levels on the drive over there was a sight to see as well, man there is a lot of water everywhere right now.