July 26-29, 2021
Montana & Sammy August 8, 2013
It’s been since 2019 that Granny and I made our way to our favorite small stream. A stream full of cutthroats. A place where I taught my nieces to fly fish over the last decade. This weekend we met my brother and his family, including nieces Sammy and Montana (all grown up now) along with his brother and sister in laws (Rob and Lynne) and we fished the beautiful area again. There was also Sammy’s boyfriend Max.
While fly rod experienced Sammy and Montana were able to take off on their own, Max, Rob and Lynne are newbies to fly fishing. It was mine and Granny’s job to teach them how to cast and get them onto some fish. I took the guys and Granny went with the ladies.
The stream is low and warm. There’s a serious drought going on here this summer. Because of the conditions we headed out right after breakfast with plans to call it a day by early afternoon. The reason for the early stop is that we didn’t want to catch fish during the hottest time of the day. Something that could be too stressful on the trout.
The good news is that when it is hot, trout are very active early in the day. We found fish the second we hit the water. I had the guys fishing a Parachute Hopper on one of my Winston’s and a size 12 Parachute Adams on the other. Both Max and Rob had fish snatching their flies in every good pool. Rob landed the first of the day.
While the guys missed more fish than they caught, the ladies did well. Lynne caught her first few fish on fly and Sammy banged up a few that included cutthroats and this nice mountain whitefish. A good whitefish population is a sign of a healthy fishery.
We took the rest of the day and hiked a nearby mountain, barbequed too much food and just plain enjoyed. Hanging at a backcountry car campsite can be as good as it gets sometimes. And let me tell you, I’m glad we were car camping because this fresh bear track about 100 yds. from camp is a big one!
That was our Tuesday. Wednesday Granny and I went fishing together while Sammy, Montana and Max did the same. After the kids got situated Granny and I walked upstream a couple miles. Let’s just say the fishing was awesome as to be expected. We called it early once again to take it easy on the fish during these hot times.
At 2:20 PM the first band of good thunderstorms all summer long came through. We had three solid hours of heavy rain. The family hit their tents while Granny and I napped in the Explorer. When the rain eased around dinner time we went back outside to much cooler temperatures. Cool enough to break out the Simms gear I stash behind my seat that I haven’t used since May!
It’s been a great three nights of camping. The fishing was terrific as was the company, food, hiking and the tipping of a beer or two overlooking paradise. Its raining again tonight and is much cooler than when we arrived. Let’s hope the rain and cool stays for awhile to get the Yellowstone Country water temperatures back to where they should be.
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