Fly Fishing the West
Vol. 2, Issue 1
July 20-25, 2009
Pacific Creek/Snake River in Grand Tetons National Park
Yellowstone River, Lamar River, Slough Creek in Yellowstone National Park
Monday, July 20-- Jerry, Steve and I left Salt Lake City at 7 am traveling north on Interstate I-15 up through Logan, Utah over to Bear Lake. Continuing north through Montpelier, Idaho, we stopped at Paris, Idaho and took a tour of the Mormon Tabernacle (erected in 1888). It is an imposing structure with a pulpit, from which every President of the LDS Church from John Taylor on has spoken. We continued north crossing into Wyoming and entering Star Valley. Salt Creek runs from the south into the Salt River near Afton, Wyoming. This is a beautiful valley. We saw several deer. The Salt River is known as a great fishing stream. In the valley the river flow and color reminds me of the Provo River, but with less water. Continuing north to Alpine Junction, Wyoming we turn northeast along the Snake River heading for Jackson Lake Lodge (north of Jackson Hole about 40 miles). This is beautiful country getting into tall firs and pines. The Snake River here is ‘big’ water with many rafters floating down from different launch sites. The water is green and would be fishable with the right gear. We did not stop to fish.
We arrived at Jackson Lake Lodge about 4 pm. (Jackson Lake is fed primarily by the Snake River flowing south from Yellowstone Park. From Jackson Lake the Snake continues south flowing out of Jackson Lake Dam.) We proceeded to fish below the Jackson Lake Dam in the evening. The water is fast and pretty flat, but deep, coming out of the dam. We caught a 13” MOUNTAIN WHITEFISH (on a size 14 sow bug—tied by Tyson).
Tuesday, July 21—At 7:30 am we drove 5 miles to Colter Bay and rented a boat on Jackson Lake. (They didn’t rent them until 8:30 am.) We fished for about 3 hours catching nothing. We trolled worms with ‘ford fender’ flashers, a Rapala, and weighted flies. It was Jerry’s opinion that the trolling speed of the motor was too fast, even at the slowest speed setting. The weather was warm and clear with beautiful views of the Grand Tetons and surrounding peaks. At 1 pm we drove up Pacific Creek Road several miles and parked at a road side turnout by a split rail fence. From there it is a short hike of about 150 yards through tall bushes on a deer trail to Pacific Creek. (This is a beautiful small stream in a creek bed too big for the flow, i.e., wide open creek bed.) Steve and I went downstream and Jerry went up. We fished about two hours mostly nymphing and with dry flies on top with no luck. We joined Jerry upstream at a bend in the stream that was curved and fairly deep. (This bend is directly below the road about 30 feet down a steep incline.) Jerry caught a pretty ~17” CUTTHROAT. He caught several other smaller fish (CUTTHROAT and RAINBOWS) on spinners. In the evening we drove south to Deadman’s Bar on the Snake (a rafting launch site south of Grand Teton National Park about 10 miles). The Snake River here is very wide, deep, and fast. We did not try to fish.
About 8 pm in the evening we saw a number of elk out the picture windows of the Jackson Lake Lodge (looking toward Jackson Lake and the Grand Tetons).
Wednesday, July 22— At 7:30 am we fished the confluence of Pacific Creek and the Snake River. It is a nice ‘beach’ type area with deep, green water. I caught a MOUNTAIN WHITEFISH on a size 14 sow bug –a Tyson tied fly. Jerry caught two ~12 inch RAINBOWS on a spinner.
At 9:30 am checked out of our cabin at Jackson Lake Lodge and headed north to Yellowstone National Park, entering through the South Entrance. The Snake River just inside the Park looked very fishable but with a bit of a hike to get down to the water. We did not try. Just north of the Snake we followed the Lewis River, which has lots of water but it is down in a steep canyon. We drove to Fishing Bridge and saw one fish (a lone stray cutthroat about 16” long. Driving north from Fishing Bridge we drove into the Navajo Picnic area along the Yellowstone River to eat lunch. The Yellowstone River is beautiful here--wide, clear, and picturesque. There were geese and red and white diving ducks on the water.) I fished along the shore for an hour--nymphing with a strike indicator, with no luck. Several other fly-fisherman fished there as well. We saw no fish caught. We drove to Mammoth Hot Springs and checked into the Lodge (a room, two double beds, with a common bath and shower arrangement down the hall. It reminded me of the bunkhouse at the Green Giant Pea Cannery in Dayton, Washington where I worked for several summers while attending college.)
Thursday, July 23— At 7:30 am we drove east across the park to the first turnout south of the campground at Slough Creek. No other cars were there. It is an easy 50 yard walk to the creek. Jerry fished the wide, slower water by the turnout and Steve and I went downstream several hundred yards. We fished two places where the shallow water fed into deep long runs. We fished there (the same place) for about 4 hours with no bites. (This was a place where you know they are in there so we just stayed there and literally went through the fly box trying everything we had. Steve also tried dry flies on top.) We could see smaller fish nipping at the dry flies, but never taking them.) Getting ready to leave we did a 'bug check' looking under rocks in the stream. Under one rock in a still pool of warmer water were some large 'rock-rollers' (large yellow larvae with premature wings and a black head in thick pebble casings) and a single fairly large, dark grey ‘grub’-type larva with no protective shell or casing. I had never seen such an insect larva as this one in a stream before. Not having a match for this in the fly box, I put it on a size 14 hare’s ear caddis fly and made one last cast back into the hole. Immediately, I had a strike. I called Steve back to help me land a beautiful ~19 inch CUTTHROAT. (It was returned to the stream unharmed.) Jerry caught 3-4 CUTTHROATS where he was fishing, including a nice ~15 inch CUTTROAT on a size 12 black wet fly, by drift fishing it about 3 feet down with a small sinker below a bubble.
At 5 pm left Slough Creek and drove east trough a canyon along the Lamar River characterized by very large boulders between which the water (a lot of water) cascaded from pool to pool. At a turnout near the top of the canyon stopped and hiked down to the 'raging' water. Jerry caught a ~13’ rainbow on a size 10 black wet fly almost immediately. Just above us on the stream Steve had a fish on a size 12 black gnat that broke his line. Steve then caught a 15" CUTTHROAT on a size 14 black ant. After about 45 minutes, we ended up vacating the spot as a thunderstorm was passing through the area and it had begun to rain.
We then drove east toward the East Entrance to the Park along the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek (to beyond Ice Box Canyon). The waters here meander through picturesque meadows below Ice Box Canyon. There were quite a few fishermen along most of these stretches. We stopped and watched a lone black bear along the side of the road busily eating yellow flowers in the meadow. He then crossed the road right in front of us.
We returned to the Lamar River and fished above (about a mile) the ‘boulder’ area we had fished earlier. This part of the river was flatter but still with deep, long, green water runs. I caught a ~15 inch CUTTHROAT on a size 8 black stonefly. This catch was interesting because the fly was barely in the water (by accident) next to the shore and the fish came from out of the depths, grabbed it, then disappeared back to the deep immediately. I had fished this fly (nymphing) through this deep run a number of times already with no strike. Shortly after catching this fish, Jerry came hurriedly up the stream having seen a black bear across the river from him start to swim the river to his side.
We drove back to Mammoth Hot Springs and then north to Gardiner, Montana to see the ‘Arch’ entrance to the park erected in honor of Teddy Roosevelt. We followed the Gardner River the 5 miles to Gardiner. It looks like a good fishing stream all along the way. We saw a group of about 9 big horn sheep on the cliffs to the right of the road heading north.
Friday, July 24— At 7:30 am we drove back to the Lamar River area with the large boulders. I caught an ~13 inch CUTTHROAT on a size 8 light-colored ‘stonefly’. Steve caught a ~13’ rainbow on a size 12 black ant. About 10 am we returned to Slough Creek and parked at the second turnout from the campground. There were already several cars with fishermen there. Jerry and Steve fished the bend closest to the cars (only a 30 yard walk through sage brush) and I went upstream. I fished a small ‘hole’ for about 1 ½ hours (nymphs mostly) and got no strikes. I returned downstream. Jerry had caught several CUTTHROAT on a SIZE 10 black wet fly and had one that broke his line. We ate breakfast about 4 pm at a picnic area several miles west of the Slough creek turnoff.. We returned to Mammoth Hot Springs and took a self-guided tour of the hot springs at about 7:30 pm. Hot water bubbling up from the earth brings with it limestone (normally white). Bacteria grow in the water adding different colors to the rock. We would have liked to have taken the Ranger-guided tour, but it occurs only once a day-- at 9 am.
Saturday, July 25— We checked out of the lodge at 6:30 am, ate breakfast at a picnic area across from the General Store and Ice Cream Shoppe and headed for Old Faithful on the way home. We saw Old Faithful blow about 9:10 am. It was difficult to see any water as steam surrounded the spout. It lasted about two minutes. We then headed for West Yellowstone, Montana at the West Entrance, stopped at two fly shops, then proceeded home to Salt Lake through Idaho Falls/Pocatello and down Interstate I-15. We arrived home about 6 pm.
Other Miscellaneous Information/Observations:
1. We found that on the open meadow streams (e.g., Slough Creek) sunny hot days seemed to reduce any fish activity in the afternoon from about 1-5 pm.
2. We observed a lot of lone buffalo bulls throughout the Lamar Valley as well as in other areas of the park. They also had no qualms about walking right down the middle of the roads, stopping traffic in both directions.
On Thursday we took a ½ mile hike to see Wraith Falls near Lava Creek Picnic area (not much water in the creek.) On the hike we saw Uinta ground squirrels and two yellow-bellied marmots, both of which are very curious animals.
3. Driving east from here, just beyond Blacktail Deer Plateau, Jerry spotted a black bear sow and two cubs on the slope of a mountain ridge about 1000 yards from the road. They were meandering across the hillside in and out of clumps of fir trees. The cubs would lag behind the mother and then have to catch back up. After we pulled over to the side of the road to watch them (for about 20 minutes) we had 15-20 other cars from both directions stopping to observe.
4. The Gibbon River, which is between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Junction is a pretty stream that would be quite fishable. Leaving on Saturday we saw an elk cow standing in the middle of the stream in a meadow. (A great picture not taken for sure.)
5. On the Madison River, near the West Entrance to the park, we could see many (probably smaller) fish breaking the surface at a turnout. We did not have time to fish.
6. In total, we saw lots of elk, deer, bears (three occasions), buffalo, nine big horn sheep, large sand hill cranes, baby bald eagle, ospreys, Uinta ground squirrels, marmots, lesser chipmunks, snakes, and frogs. Some disappointment, however, in not seeing a moose or any grizzly bears.
Vol. 2, Issue 1
July 20-25, 2009
Pacific Creek/Snake River in Grand Tetons National Park
Yellowstone River, Lamar River, Slough Creek in Yellowstone National Park
Monday, July 20-- Jerry, Steve and I left Salt Lake City at 7 am traveling north on Interstate I-15 up through Logan, Utah over to Bear Lake. Continuing north through Montpelier, Idaho, we stopped at Paris, Idaho and took a tour of the Mormon Tabernacle (erected in 1888). It is an imposing structure with a pulpit, from which every President of the LDS Church from John Taylor on has spoken. We continued north crossing into Wyoming and entering Star Valley. Salt Creek runs from the south into the Salt River near Afton, Wyoming. This is a beautiful valley. We saw several deer. The Salt River is known as a great fishing stream. In the valley the river flow and color reminds me of the Provo River, but with less water. Continuing north to Alpine Junction, Wyoming we turn northeast along the Snake River heading for Jackson Lake Lodge (north of Jackson Hole about 40 miles). This is beautiful country getting into tall firs and pines. The Snake River here is ‘big’ water with many rafters floating down from different launch sites. The water is green and would be fishable with the right gear. We did not stop to fish.
We arrived at Jackson Lake Lodge about 4 pm. (Jackson Lake is fed primarily by the Snake River flowing south from Yellowstone Park. From Jackson Lake the Snake continues south flowing out of Jackson Lake Dam.) We proceeded to fish below the Jackson Lake Dam in the evening. The water is fast and pretty flat, but deep, coming out of the dam. We caught a 13” MOUNTAIN WHITEFISH (on a size 14 sow bug—tied by Tyson).
Tuesday, July 21—At 7:30 am we drove 5 miles to Colter Bay and rented a boat on Jackson Lake. (They didn’t rent them until 8:30 am.) We fished for about 3 hours catching nothing. We trolled worms with ‘ford fender’ flashers, a Rapala, and weighted flies. It was Jerry’s opinion that the trolling speed of the motor was too fast, even at the slowest speed setting. The weather was warm and clear with beautiful views of the Grand Tetons and surrounding peaks. At 1 pm we drove up Pacific Creek Road several miles and parked at a road side turnout by a split rail fence. From there it is a short hike of about 150 yards through tall bushes on a deer trail to Pacific Creek. (This is a beautiful small stream in a creek bed too big for the flow, i.e., wide open creek bed.) Steve and I went downstream and Jerry went up. We fished about two hours mostly nymphing and with dry flies on top with no luck. We joined Jerry upstream at a bend in the stream that was curved and fairly deep. (This bend is directly below the road about 30 feet down a steep incline.) Jerry caught a pretty ~17” CUTTHROAT. He caught several other smaller fish (CUTTHROAT and RAINBOWS) on spinners. In the evening we drove south to Deadman’s Bar on the Snake (a rafting launch site south of Grand Teton National Park about 10 miles). The Snake River here is very wide, deep, and fast. We did not try to fish.
About 8 pm in the evening we saw a number of elk out the picture windows of the Jackson Lake Lodge (looking toward Jackson Lake and the Grand Tetons).
Wednesday, July 22— At 7:30 am we fished the confluence of Pacific Creek and the Snake River. It is a nice ‘beach’ type area with deep, green water. I caught a MOUNTAIN WHITEFISH on a size 14 sow bug –a Tyson tied fly. Jerry caught two ~12 inch RAINBOWS on a spinner.
At 9:30 am checked out of our cabin at Jackson Lake Lodge and headed north to Yellowstone National Park, entering through the South Entrance. The Snake River just inside the Park looked very fishable but with a bit of a hike to get down to the water. We did not try. Just north of the Snake we followed the Lewis River, which has lots of water but it is down in a steep canyon. We drove to Fishing Bridge and saw one fish (a lone stray cutthroat about 16” long. Driving north from Fishing Bridge we drove into the Navajo Picnic area along the Yellowstone River to eat lunch. The Yellowstone River is beautiful here--wide, clear, and picturesque. There were geese and red and white diving ducks on the water.) I fished along the shore for an hour--nymphing with a strike indicator, with no luck. Several other fly-fisherman fished there as well. We saw no fish caught. We drove to Mammoth Hot Springs and checked into the Lodge (a room, two double beds, with a common bath and shower arrangement down the hall. It reminded me of the bunkhouse at the Green Giant Pea Cannery in Dayton, Washington where I worked for several summers while attending college.)
Thursday, July 23— At 7:30 am we drove east across the park to the first turnout south of the campground at Slough Creek. No other cars were there. It is an easy 50 yard walk to the creek. Jerry fished the wide, slower water by the turnout and Steve and I went downstream several hundred yards. We fished two places where the shallow water fed into deep long runs. We fished there (the same place) for about 4 hours with no bites. (This was a place where you know they are in there so we just stayed there and literally went through the fly box trying everything we had. Steve also tried dry flies on top.) We could see smaller fish nipping at the dry flies, but never taking them.) Getting ready to leave we did a 'bug check' looking under rocks in the stream. Under one rock in a still pool of warmer water were some large 'rock-rollers' (large yellow larvae with premature wings and a black head in thick pebble casings) and a single fairly large, dark grey ‘grub’-type larva with no protective shell or casing. I had never seen such an insect larva as this one in a stream before. Not having a match for this in the fly box, I put it on a size 14 hare’s ear caddis fly and made one last cast back into the hole. Immediately, I had a strike. I called Steve back to help me land a beautiful ~19 inch CUTTHROAT. (It was returned to the stream unharmed.) Jerry caught 3-4 CUTTHROATS where he was fishing, including a nice ~15 inch CUTTROAT on a size 12 black wet fly, by drift fishing it about 3 feet down with a small sinker below a bubble.
At 5 pm left Slough Creek and drove east trough a canyon along the Lamar River characterized by very large boulders between which the water (a lot of water) cascaded from pool to pool. At a turnout near the top of the canyon stopped and hiked down to the 'raging' water. Jerry caught a ~13’ rainbow on a size 10 black wet fly almost immediately. Just above us on the stream Steve had a fish on a size 12 black gnat that broke his line. Steve then caught a 15" CUTTHROAT on a size 14 black ant. After about 45 minutes, we ended up vacating the spot as a thunderstorm was passing through the area and it had begun to rain.
We then drove east toward the East Entrance to the Park along the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek (to beyond Ice Box Canyon). The waters here meander through picturesque meadows below Ice Box Canyon. There were quite a few fishermen along most of these stretches. We stopped and watched a lone black bear along the side of the road busily eating yellow flowers in the meadow. He then crossed the road right in front of us.
We returned to the Lamar River and fished above (about a mile) the ‘boulder’ area we had fished earlier. This part of the river was flatter but still with deep, long, green water runs. I caught a ~15 inch CUTTHROAT on a size 8 black stonefly. This catch was interesting because the fly was barely in the water (by accident) next to the shore and the fish came from out of the depths, grabbed it, then disappeared back to the deep immediately. I had fished this fly (nymphing) through this deep run a number of times already with no strike. Shortly after catching this fish, Jerry came hurriedly up the stream having seen a black bear across the river from him start to swim the river to his side.
We drove back to Mammoth Hot Springs and then north to Gardiner, Montana to see the ‘Arch’ entrance to the park erected in honor of Teddy Roosevelt. We followed the Gardner River the 5 miles to Gardiner. It looks like a good fishing stream all along the way. We saw a group of about 9 big horn sheep on the cliffs to the right of the road heading north.
Friday, July 24— At 7:30 am we drove back to the Lamar River area with the large boulders. I caught an ~13 inch CUTTHROAT on a size 8 light-colored ‘stonefly’. Steve caught a ~13’ rainbow on a size 12 black ant. About 10 am we returned to Slough Creek and parked at the second turnout from the campground. There were already several cars with fishermen there. Jerry and Steve fished the bend closest to the cars (only a 30 yard walk through sage brush) and I went upstream. I fished a small ‘hole’ for about 1 ½ hours (nymphs mostly) and got no strikes. I returned downstream. Jerry had caught several CUTTHROAT on a SIZE 10 black wet fly and had one that broke his line. We ate breakfast about 4 pm at a picnic area several miles west of the Slough creek turnoff.. We returned to Mammoth Hot Springs and took a self-guided tour of the hot springs at about 7:30 pm. Hot water bubbling up from the earth brings with it limestone (normally white). Bacteria grow in the water adding different colors to the rock. We would have liked to have taken the Ranger-guided tour, but it occurs only once a day-- at 9 am.
Saturday, July 25— We checked out of the lodge at 6:30 am, ate breakfast at a picnic area across from the General Store and Ice Cream Shoppe and headed for Old Faithful on the way home. We saw Old Faithful blow about 9:10 am. It was difficult to see any water as steam surrounded the spout. It lasted about two minutes. We then headed for West Yellowstone, Montana at the West Entrance, stopped at two fly shops, then proceeded home to Salt Lake through Idaho Falls/Pocatello and down Interstate I-15. We arrived home about 6 pm.
Other Miscellaneous Information/Observations:
1. We found that on the open meadow streams (e.g., Slough Creek) sunny hot days seemed to reduce any fish activity in the afternoon from about 1-5 pm.
2. We observed a lot of lone buffalo bulls throughout the Lamar Valley as well as in other areas of the park. They also had no qualms about walking right down the middle of the roads, stopping traffic in both directions.
On Thursday we took a ½ mile hike to see Wraith Falls near Lava Creek Picnic area (not much water in the creek.) On the hike we saw Uinta ground squirrels and two yellow-bellied marmots, both of which are very curious animals.
3. Driving east from here, just beyond Blacktail Deer Plateau, Jerry spotted a black bear sow and two cubs on the slope of a mountain ridge about 1000 yards from the road. They were meandering across the hillside in and out of clumps of fir trees. The cubs would lag behind the mother and then have to catch back up. After we pulled over to the side of the road to watch them (for about 20 minutes) we had 15-20 other cars from both directions stopping to observe.
4. The Gibbon River, which is between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Junction is a pretty stream that would be quite fishable. Leaving on Saturday we saw an elk cow standing in the middle of the stream in a meadow. (A great picture not taken for sure.)
5. On the Madison River, near the West Entrance to the park, we could see many (probably smaller) fish breaking the surface at a turnout. We did not have time to fish.
6. In total, we saw lots of elk, deer, bears (three occasions), buffalo, nine big horn sheep, large sand hill cranes, baby bald eagle, ospreys, Uinta ground squirrels, marmots, lesser chipmunks, snakes, and frogs. Some disappointment, however, in not seeing a moose or any grizzly bears.
7. The trip was 5 days, covered about 1200 miles and cost about $1150. You need a Wyoming fishing license to fish in Grand Teton National Park. For Yellowstone National Park a 2009 3 day fishing permit is $15. A non-resident one day license in 2009 is $14/day.
8. It was a great trip taken in the spirit of adventure as inspired by Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery as they explored the West in 1803. John Colter, a member of the initial Lewis and Clark expedition, later explored the Grand Teton and Yellowstone areas extensively.
No comments:
Post a Comment