Playing Guide...

"Nope, I've got the rowing today"

"Are you sure"

"Yes, you bet"

I've rowed and fished this stretch of river many times, I know every twist and turn and likely pocket to hold fish.  Expert I am not, but it's safe to say I know the playbook on this piece of water.

What I hadnt seen in a while was someone's face light up as a fast rising cutthroat levitates up out of nowhere, pauses and then inhales a huge piece of foam and legs.

In my day job, clients become friends and I had the chance to take a husband and wife team out for their first float in my cutty nirvana.   They're previous home in Colorado dictated long leaders and delicate 7x presentations of small midges.

Lets just say picking and popping your casts on the move with a size 4 chubby takes some getting used to.

The fish were willing dance partners all day long.  The only fly changes  we made were from big bugs to small PMD's that were causing the river to come alive with rising fish for 2 hours.  Beyond that, it was like I was a point guard directing traffic, delivering the pass and waiting for the bugs to get snarfed.

It was experience that I wont soon forget.  Watching my new friends take the whole day in, unravel the stress of moving to the area and getting settled and realize they had found a new home in a pretty special area of the world was awesome.

Three quarters through the day, the wife buttoned up her rig, sat down and lit a smoke.

"hey, dont miss this good water ahead"

"Oh, it's ok, I'm just so happy about today I need to take it in for a minute"

She continued to fish after about 10 minutes, but that statement alone was payment enough for a day playing guide.

Hello Streamer Eater....

During the lull of mid day fishing when your dries go ignored like a steak to a vegetarian,  go slang some meat to the bank and strip away.

You shall be rewarded. 

TU Blogger Tour Entry--A Symbol of Yellowstone

This is my submission for the Trout Unlimited, Simms, the Yellowstone Park Foundation and the Outdoor Blogger Network – Blogger Tour 2012 contest.”
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They’re a miracle of evolution, god’s intent  and a little bit a primordial luck thrown in there.

In short, they’re the ultimate gift to a fly fisherman or woman.

Eking out and existence in the mountainous west, they rise with uninterrupted abandon to whatever food source is readily available.  Time has taught the species that if they don’t go hunt down their food, they go hungry

A fly fisherman doesn’t have to be told this; he experiences it on a slashing rise to his Chubby Chernobyl as it rides down the soft seam of current beyond the big boulders.

Some say they’re dumb.  A challenge only worthy of beginners…

The smiling angler who knows better calls that baloney.

An indicator of ecological balance and ecosystem health, they serve as our canary in the coal mine.  Pushed out, over competed or turned away by pollution, we need to take heed to where they have disappeared from.

A western stream without Cutthroat Trout is a travesty, and we need to fight to protect them.

Yellowstone National Park is a symbol of our country.  Wild, rugged and impossibly beautiful.

I submit to that beyond the buffalo and the elk that roam it’s wild land; the Yellowstone Cutthroat is the ultimate symbol of the park’s spirit. 

Through our hands we have outcompeted these native fish park-wide.   Non native lake trout have put a massive dent in their population and through evolving without brown or rainbow trout, the cutties of Yellowstone face an uncertain future.   Plain and simple,  they can’t compete on their relatively new playing field

While my experiences inside the park are limited to a few trips as a child,  I speak out now because I want to know that this key cog in the collective Yellowstone ecosystem remains in play, forever.

But, there’s hope.   The winds of policy change in the park and in our governmental agencies are pushing for protection of the Yellowstone Cutthroat.  Netting of Yellowstone Lake for Lake Trout has begun to curb their populations but beyond that, it’s up to the angling community to stand tall as advocates.

Become involved, become very involved.  A voice and it’s opinion are never heard unless you find a forum to speak it in.

Think about joining Trout Unlimited, or other groups out there committed to wild fish conservation. 

Because without our collective voices, the plight of the Yellowstone Cutthroat stands the chance of being tossed aside.

We can’t let that happen.

The Confidence Boost...

When winter steelhead grind you into submission....

When work and life get's as nutty as you can stand....

If your last several trips were not as you wanted...

If any other maladies plague your life,

As if you were a computer, hit reset and find yourself on a cutthroat river. 

One thing is for sure, they make you smile every time they rocket up and snap up a dry fly.  In this particular cutties case, it was the first dry fly fish of year for me.

God bless these little confidence boosters.

And the Year Continues, May and June

Our would be winter released itself and transitioned into Spring that looked more like winter than spring.  Nesting conditions for our upland birds sucked the big one and it wasnt till mid June that it felt like we might actually have a summer.

But the fishing continued to be good

May

Rivers in full runoff...so what, time to go find the closest thing we have to bonefish.  I have grown to love these ugly bastards

And apparently carp sex isnt the kind where sweet nothings are uttered...

Next, or annual trip to Chopaka Lake

You know what sucks, 3 days of catching fish after fish on dries.  Oh, and they jump a lot.

June

Finally, our rivers are shaping up to go towards the middle of the month, and it affords us the ability to saddle up the drift boat and throw these to willing cutthroat

Notice the teeth marks on this one? 

These guys might or might not have caused it.

And lastly, is there anything better than this....

For Murph dog to fall asleep like this, you know it was a good day on the river


Tomorrow....the white unicorn of July and a tall dudes wedding in August