A year ago I was gearing up for a trip to MT, WY, and ID, and benefited from some good advise on here. This is the long overdue trip report.

We headed north from a Colorado that was mostly on fire, or so it seemed. First stop was the Salt, a pleasant and peaceful place:









Then the South Fork, which was less-than-stellar on that particular day due to recently raised flows. We raised martinis to compensate.


Then some place in the middle-ish part of the big rectangle, which provided what we'd been looking for.








There was a fire there too.






At 7am, of a long and outstanding day 2 on that river, things really came into focus.


It was time to push northward.


Nice mountains y'all have up there.


And then we reached nirvana, known as the Yellowstone River to some. It's hard to imagine fishing being any better, so we stuck around for 5 days. Coupla nights in Bozeman, coupla nights at Chico Hot Springs (great place!), lotta big bugs, lotta great times...










5 days of chucking just one fly, and a big one, is nice.










The last day on the Yellowstone showed signs of change. The salmon flies were getting sparse and the whitefish were getting more plentiful. So we rolled on. By this time, the crew had changed over a couple of times. But the good times remained constant.


Next up: the Madison.




Nice cattle control.


And then back to that lovely spot in the middle of Wyoming. This time on the other river.




I'm a little bummed about the timing on this photo -- 'twas a hog, I swear.


Interesting choice of rip wrap.


And that was the last of 11 or 12 days of fishing, and the second to last of 14 days on the road.


And the really great part? We're headed back again in just over a week, this time with a Smith permit in hand. (And doing rain dances double time, because it's looking kinda tight on the flows holding up for us…).

I should also note that if this TR actually works, then I'm a slacker and should have been posting stuff for ages -- this shit's easy!

http://2handedtrout.com/?p=3689

I gotta learn me how to tie some intruders

Called gear cache.
http://www.steepandcheap.com/steepcheap/gear-cache/1971

Spent Saturday on the coast. The plan was to check out the Canadian offshore waters for coho. Crashed in the 16' Arima at the dock and headed out at 5am. Arrived out on the bank to humpback whales and loads of birds feasting on the bait out there (mostly krill). Saw a few fast moving pods of boiling salmon on the surface but couldn't get them to take the fly although I had one boil behind a slider. Moved up to a tide rip where some gulls were diving instead of sitting and pecking at the krill elsewhere so I stopped above the rip and let the clouser sink as I drifted into it. Second cast came tight to the first salmon of the year, a 4 pound wild coho.



Fished the bank hard for a few more hours. Couldn't seem to figure out exactly what they wanted besides that it was small and they get friggin' picky when they're on krill. Had one other boil on a gurgler and decided to head back in. The wind died and the sun came out. Got back towards land and decided to swing into a spot that is occasionally good for finding black rockfish on the surface. In my years of guiding out there I had never seen anything quite like this. Huge areas of rockfish boiling on crab larvae or juvenile jellies.



Hopefully we get some more light winds and low swells and I can get back offshore and find some more salmon.

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Heading out to Boysen res. Monday. Heard the canyon is off the hook good. Any special spots? Also, hows the reservoir fish? Doable in a float tube? My lady wants sand between here toes and I dont think we will find that in the canyon.

Selling my Orvis Helios 8'6" 4wt 4 piece rod. It is a brand new rod that has never been fished. I ordered the wrong size. Looking for $300. PM me if your interested.

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Takin the drift boat up to some streams in northern wisconsin for musky opener.
I've got my 8 and 9 wt and bucket of junk to throw at em.
Anyone chase these toothy critters with a fly rod?
Haven't really thought about leaders yet.