July 10 - HB2Me

If you could design your birthday day from scratch, what would you do?

One of my top 10 birthday days would be what I did yesterday!

After warming a raspberry danish and sipping Starbucks coffee while watching sunrise over the Gallatins, I assembled my flyfishing gear and headed toward Yellowstone Park. A quick stop for advice and license from a local outfitter, and I was on my way. Hmmm...where to fish? I could wet a line on the Gallatin itself inside the park. The Gallatin, made famous by 'A River Runs Through It' is a quintessential gold medal gorgeous Montana trout river. But the Gallatin is still swollen by snowmelt from the long winter of '08, so I opted to look for a smaller stream. The first one I came to was Fan Creek, joining the Gallatin at the trailhead of Fawn Pass trail on Rt. 191. I had fished this little stream before and gotten skunked, but I was willing to give it another try. There was something appealing about the hike in; a distinct feeling that you could happen upon a grizzly or mountain lion or moose is with you all the way on this hike. That's what I was looking for - that feeling of being within nature - not the dominant member of the food chain, but a wary member of the ecosystem. Call me crazy (many would), but I actually enjoy that heightened feeling of alertness that comes with walking in a truly wild ecosystem.

I veered off the path toward Fan Creek after about 0.8 miles. I then assembled my new stream-fishing fly rod, a lightweight 7.5' rod, tied on the leader, and the recommended fly - an 'stimulator' fly that was supposed to get the trout aroused. Within short order, a beautiful leaping 12" rainbow had taken a liking to the fly and I caught and released him/her. A short while later a tiny 5" trout grabbed the same fly and I discovered the stream had western cutthroats as well. I was quickly becoming a fan of Fan Creek! I moseyed on up the stream, and a few more trout showed interest, but were warier as the sun got higher. As I was getting ready to leave, I gave one last try with a different fly at a pool where I had seen rising fish. On the second cast, a 12.5" rainbow snatched the fly and leaped 3' out of the water trying to throw the hook. What a fighter! After several more leaps and runs, I landed this fish, which you see in the photo. This time I remembered that the park was encouraging fishermen to remove non-native trout from these streams, so I decided this one would be my dinner. And a delightful dinner it was; grilled wild caught rainbow trout...yum.

Later that evening, I returned to the Gallatin to try for one of the lunker browns, but I was rather late getting there, and pretty much just enjoyed the drive up and back, though I did wet a line for a few minutes in the setting sun.

Kevin and Colin returned from their photography expedition with Tom Murphy that evening bearing beautiful images captured from their several days in the park. All I can say is 'Wow'! I pilfered one (it was very difficult to choose) picture of an otter family that Colin took to share. I'll direct you to his web site as soon as he posts more images (and to Kevin's blog). Until then, this little sampling will have to do. By the way, if you haven't figured it out yet, you can click on the picture and it will enlarge, so you can see it in detail. I highly recommend it for this superb photo. Skol!