It was October last year that Rick Schreiber and I put the kibosh on the mackinaw up at Jenny Lake. We found a spot that was absolutely loaded with toddler lakers cruising the bank – perfect size for eating. Amongst these baby char were some true monsters. There weren’t many, but every outing we laid eyes on several macks over 20lbs that just lully gagged along the drop off we were fishing. I became possessed by these magnificent fish and drove to Jenny many early mornings determined to catch one but they were too smart for me.
Two days ago I received an email from my long lost friend Greg Gaddis from Boise. I tease him, he’s really not a long lost friend, and in fact we’ve stayed in touch. Greg simply has a great family and he’s been busy for years. I can’t even remember the last time we did more than sneak a beer together. So when he emailed me a few days ago that he was in Jackson and wanted to go fishing, I made the time.
Neither of us had all day. I am preparing for a huge October that includes a ten day speaking tour in Southern California then heading for Africa for three weeks (Yes, you guessed it, this blog will be plastered with tigerfish stories soon). So we decided to hit Jenny Lake because it’s close to Jackson and we could fish a few hours in the morning. I sent an email to Schreiber to see if he’d been to Jenny. He hadn’t and was quick to first point out it was two weeks early but also to say don’t go without him.
We didn’t make it an early one. I picked up Greg at 8 and we didn’t launch the first cast till after 9. But that was ok. It was absolutely freezing cold with high winds and whitecaps. This picture was during the one minute where I didn’t mind yanking out the camera – a moment of silence from otherwise heavy wind. Believe me, it was ugly out there!
Fishing wasn’t bad. Between the three of us we hoisted in about ten small lakers from the unsettled lake. We’d of landed more but I had one of those flies that couldn’t handle the twisting battles from these little lakers, I lost at least another ten.
It was great to see Greg and the good fishing has Rick and I excited to hit Jenny again next week. That is if the Government doesn’t shut down. I know nothing about such a threat but Rick told me all about it. My answer to closed gates – my mountain bike! We’ll cross that hurdle if it comes.
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