2009 Day on the Lamar Final

That day on the Lamar was one of those days you always hope you have.  It was the kind that keeps you going.  Motivates.  Inspires.  Just being in creation; in the middle of it all.  It's kind of like feeling for a moment that you are right where you need to be...  right where you were meant to be.  That was this day.

Normal folks, non-fishin' folk, I think struggle with this...  They ask, "How can you go fishing so much?  Don't you get tired of it?"  It's never so much the fish for me on any given day.  Although, I will admit, lots of fish makes for a nice day!  It's more than the fish though; isn't it?  I think it's the whole experience.  Trees, rocks, rivers, weather, friends, critters...  the take, the fight, the release, the near misses, the close calls.  Every experience is unique.  Everyone absolutely different than all the others.  This is why we go fishing.  This is why we love it.

This day was no exception.  A unique experience.  Many fish were caught and all of them came on this one fly.  It's been dubbed, in some circles, the foam bug.  It comes in many different shapes, sizes, and colors.  Sometimes finding the right combination can be tricky.  But this one is the one that was working on this day.

Most Delicious Foam Bug

I can't remember how many we caught that day.  What I do remember is that if a fish should have been in a spot; there was a fish in the spot.  Textbook.  Behind the rock!  In the seam!  Hold on!  Under the riffle!  Next to the down log!  It was great.  I wish I could of taken my daughter fishing on this day.  Mostly cuts live in this part of the river and they are gorgeous.  This picture doesn't do em' any justice.

After I released this fish we had our second rare sighting on the Lamar River.  The wolves earlier in the day were great.  Sometimes though, small things can be just as cool.  Walking along the bank we noticed some movement in the rocks.  Looking a little closer we discovered a friendly toad.  Little did we know at the time but it's the rarest amphibian in Yellowstone.  A Boreal Toad.  How cool!

I'm grateful for trips like these.  Days like these.  I'm hoping and patiently waiting for this summer to experience some more like them.  Hang in there!  Winter will be taking a rest here before we know it.  Until then, if we get a warm one, I hope to see you below the green boxes.

-Link

Show Me Your Fish!

Howdy Friends!

Here are a few dandies from the Clearwater!  Yoshi is an all round fishing nut; dedicated to tight lines and heavy lifting.  Here he is in Idaho droppin' some hurt bombs on these steelhead. DANG!  Way back in 2000 Yoshi was the very first person I talked to about fishing in Yellowstone.  I remember he told me about fishing on the Little Gibbon River and said if I didn't catch any I was doing something wrong.  

Nice fish Yosh!  Thanks for sharing.

If anyone out there has some fish they'd like me to put up on the board feel free to email me pictures and the story.  

Take care and hope to see you below the green boxes. 

2009 Day on the Lamar Cont.

Howdy Friends,

Watching that video reminds me of the story of that day and I'd like to share some more of it with you...

Not long after we took that video I caught some movement downstream out of the corner of my eye.  The riffle I was fishing there was making a good deal of white noise so it wasn't exactly easy to hear everything going on nearby.  Sure if a Kingfisher sang out as he was passing by I'd notice, but other sounds were not as easy to pick up on.  None-the-less you'd think I'd be able to hear a buffalo herd crossing the river just 75 yards downstream, but they must have been buffalo ninjas.  As I turned toward the movement out of the corner of my eye I was surprised to see that very thing; about 80 buffalo crossing the river in absolute silence.  It was a wonderful sight; all the activity and no sound.  The feeling reminded me of what it was like seeing an owl in flight for the first time soaring through the forest.  The scene stays with me to this day but what happened next I wont ever forget.

I finished watching the herd cross the river and was making my first casts back into the spot where I had just caught that nice cutthroat when a huge commotion started to break through my peaceful white noise.  The herd began to stampede!  Water and buffalo were moving everywhere and what was once a silent scene before me became an explosive roar of excitement!  

The river bank was elevated on the far side of the river so from where I was standing you couldn't see much past the river's edge.  I had no idea what was spooking the bison.  My first thought was a grizzly.  Racing through my mind was that at any moment a huge bear was going to appear 75 yards down stream and then what!  Quickly I got my spray ready.  I'll admit my nerves were running full speed at this point.  Not knowing what was coming made time freeze and then, there it was...  I could see some movement through the brush...  It was a WOLF!  Wow!  Not just one, but two!  They came right down into the water.  All the buffalo made it back across the river and were headed back the other way.  The wolves just stood there at the river's edge and watched them retreat.  

The pair of wolves hung around only for a few minutes.  I was pumped!  After sitting on the couch and being on the mend all summer; what a great first fall outing we were having, and it wasn't over yet....

More to follow next time.  Hope to see you below the green boxes this week.

-Link