Yellowstone Summary

[doghaircaddis]

Spent the past week in the Yellowstone area camping, hiking and doing a little fishing. It was my first time in the area, and I had an incredible time. I had no itinerary, only a few places in mind that I wanted so see and fish. Here is a briefing along with a few photos from my trip...

I arrived in Duboise, WY last Thursday night. Immediately after throwing up the tent I was greeted with this beautiful rainbow. I fished the Wind River, which flowed through the campground, and was able to pick up a few small browns. The two other tent campers (from Boise and, coincidentally, Nashville) were solo also and provided great company. We all headed into town for dinner and a drink. It was a nice way to relax after driving all day from Denver.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/duboise1.jpg

The next morning I drove into Yellowstone and set up camp on Lewis Lake. Despite the rain, I was able to fish the Lewis River above the falls. I only caught 2 small browns but had a great experience fishing in the park for the first time.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/earlymorning1.jpg

The cool weather was a nice adjustment from the record breaking highs in Nashville.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/time.jpg

I spent the next few days camping near West Yellowstone. First at Bakers Hole campground, then at Campfire Resort below Quake Lake. I was in a great location, being only a matter of minutes from Hebgen, the Madison and Gallatin Rivers.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/quakelake1.jpg

I fished the Madison at Three Dollar Bridge for two full days. Stripping streamers through the big water produced several nice fish. I was surprised to see that most of the fish I caught here were bows. I expected a lot more browns after reading about the effects of WD. This is a beautiful river with a LOT of good sized fish. I dropped my fishing camera in the water shortly after catching this bow. The camera is gone, but the few photos on the memory card were salvaged.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/madisonbow1.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/ThreeDollarBridge1.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/brown.jpg

continued...

[doghaircaddis]

I then headed over to the Lamar Valley to check out the streams in that area. I ran into a Buffalo jam on my way over.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/buffalojam1.jpg

The Lamar and Soda Butte were muddied up from the showers that passed through the prior couple of days. I still decided to wet a line in the Soda and picked up several small cutts. The Buffalo were everywhere here. It was an unforgettable experience.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/LamarValley1.jpg

I finished my trip up camping at Slough Creek. Despite being fished hard, the lower meadow produced consistently on hoppers. I was even able to pick up my largest fish of the trip, a 21" bow, on a streamer in a deep pool.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/sloughcreek1.jpg

When Slough would close at 2pm, I'd head up to trout lake for some cutts.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/troutlake1.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/cutt1.jpg

Wednesday I passed through the Tetons on my way back to the airport. Definitely a sight to behold.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/swingbatta/tetons1.jpg

I had a great trip and hope you all get a chance to visit that part of the country...if you haven't already.

Enjoy the photos!

[ttas67]

man, excellent photos and great report! looks like you had a great trip and caught some really nice fish. trout lake is a great place, kind of addictive. by the way, what did you catch those fish in trout lake on?? seeing those pics at $3 bridge, I really wish we would've fished the madison outside the park now. we heard it was fishing well, just didn't want to buy a MT lic! we also wanted to fish the lewis but didn't get a chance to.

[doghaircaddis]

Yes, Trout Lake was addictive! I hiked up with intentions of only taking a few photos. I'm glad I took the rod with me though. Ended up fishing two afternoons there. During the day I had the most success dropping a size 16 PT about 3-4 ft below an indicator. At that point it was just a waiting game. You can see some real monsters cruising along the shoreline, and the view up there is amazing. I hooked a HUGE bow...easily the largest trout thats ever been on the end of my line, but was broken off after I had some good looks at the fish doing aerials. Also had success on tan EHC's in the evening. The cutts up there are marked up nicely and averaged around 15-17 inches. Luckily someone hiking by retrieved my camera and snapped that photo for me. I'm dying to go back!

[David Knapp]

Great pics! Trout Lake is indeed a fun place to fish. I'm going to have to fish the Madison outside the park sometime, I keep hearing great things about it and that 'bow is beautiful.

[Gerry Romer]

Great report and pics!! I'm drooling.

I think I'll go to bed now...

Gerry