Fishing season closes in Yellowstone National Park on the first Sunday of November. That’s today. As you read in yesterday’s blog, Granny and I made our way up through the Park and fished Lamar Valley. The weather window is incredible and today was like yesterday, about 50° and calm. However, it wasn’t in the 50°s when I climbed out of the back of the Explorer this morning!
Today we had plans to streamer fish my favorite run at Buffalo Ford (now called Nez Perce) on the Yellowstone River and then end the day on Lewis Lake. We made the leisurely drive from our camp overlooking Gardner, Montana all the way down to Buffalo Ford. We stretched the drive out to two hours. We enjoyed some good coffee the whole way and when we arrived, we took over a picnic table and Granny made a big breakfast of eggs, hash browns, beans and veggies – not bad for a November morning on a camping trip!
We lost an hour last night with daylight savings so at 11 AM it was time to hit the water. I worked the exact line and run I did on October 2 fishing with my friend Derek. I even used the same brown tungsten bead head woolly bugger. The Yellowstone Cutthroats were a little further downstream but I found them.
The first was this absolutely gorgeous lit up fish. The yellows, reds and pink in his cheeks are remarkable. As a fish artist, fish as beautiful as this make me tremble. Granny wasn’t fishing today but rather kicking back with the camera. I’d say she did a fine job with this one.
I’d only fish about an hour and catch two fish. The second cutty didn’t have the extraordinary colors like the first but was at least two inches longer and the girth was amazing. No doubt this Yellowstone Cutthroat has been eating well.
The reason we packed it up from the Yellowstone after only and hour is that I needed to make time for fishing on Lewis Lake. Its an hour drive from the Yellowstone and with the short days of November, we had to get moving.
We arrived at Lewis around 2 PM. The lake had barely a breeze ruffling the surface. The occasional fish broke the silence over the flats. I say flats because Lewis Lake has them. I like to walk the shallows from the boat ramp to the outlet. I caught several beautiful browns in the first hour.
The streamer fishing for brown trout was so good that I grabbed Granny and I a couple tall boy Rainiers and we sat in the sun and drank them. It was wonderful. During the beers Granny suggested I catch a lake trout so we could have him for dinner. When Granny asks I listen. I moved to a special place I know I can reach the lakers from shore and although it took 30 minutes, I finally caught us dinner.
No doubt the weather helped make this weekend – Indian Summer in November. But hands down, we caught some amazing fish. Though yesterday we worked hard for them, today will be one for the memory books. Fly fishing in Yellowstone in the fall was my dad’s favorite thing in life. I think he might have had something to do with this great weekend. . . . Time for fresh lake trout dinner!
Well told Jeff. Its 96 degrees here in Scottsdale today, you helped me escape! Sounds like a great weekend.
It was a good weekend. Its so nice when we squeeze out a few extra fall days before winter!