Tight-lines and Timelines, a Wyoming and Montana Wandering

[40tude]

That night we decided to head back up the Gros Ventre to camp for the night, on the way we saw some bison.

The river was still pretty blown out, I had one fish show some interest in my fly, but he thought the better of it, oh well. The ensuing sunset made up for it.

 

[rushr]

Great read and pictures can't wait for more. I am heading to the same area in 2 weeks

 

[Skavenger]

Sounds like a fun trip! I am from WY so it is very interesting to read what others think of our state

 

[40tude]

No new post, but I did get a bunch of the pictures fixed

 

[mph]

Great post...yes, the Tetons r Disneyland down low...if u get back, the high country is where it's at! Looking forward to following your travels.

 

[40tude]

Day 8

We started with a quick pack up of camp, in order to get down to Jackson for our float trip. We made better time than we thought, and were even able to get groceries before the trip. The plan had been to go on the Snake River, but it was too blown out with mud from the recent rain. Jackson receives only 12" of rain a year, but it had rained every day we were here. Instead we headed an hour south to the Green River.

Our guide for the day was Matt Schliske, he was a cool dude who I would certainly recommend. One of the projects he is working on right now is called Pig Farm Ink. The premise is that he and his group of friends find the people with the worst tattoos they can. After the person/tat is chosen they pay to have the tattoo removed... but then... wait for it...they get it tattooed on themselves to immortalize it forever. Stunning! The tattoos are also not done by professionals (nice). If you are interested, there is a facebook page and a youtube teaser for the upcoming web series, but parental discretion is umm strongly advised.

One of the pluses of fishing with Matt is that he is a bamboo rodmaker, and brought along one of his rods to use (which I grabbed readily). I am a woodworker and admirer of such things, so fishing all day with a handmade bamboo rod and a vintage Hardy reel was a definite treat.

The scenery on the Green River was fantastic, rolling hills, grasses, prairieland, and a gorgeous river to boot.

Oh yeah... the fish. I was able to bring in several nice German browns, but had an especially fun time with one of them. I had a ten minute fight with a brown that had me out on the backing at least 4 times, that along with a lengthy chase down the bank. The guide said that was the best fight he had had guiding out of that boat, and that it was the best fishing day of the guiding season for him. This is the good life.

After the trip was done, we again headed back up the Gros Ventre for our last night there.

 

[Jen7Iris]

Woo hoo! I, and the greasy diner, got a mention.

 

[Jen7Iris]

Love that Jenny Lake hike...but it's way better in the off season when there aren't the hordes of people.

 

[XterraOverland]

Very Nice. Good read!

 

[gsanders]

I think maybe I gave you some recommendations for this trip if I remember correctly...if not you amazingly hit many of my old haunts and happened to choose my favorite fly shop for your adventures. I have to say I move there for a summer and stayed for four years and you can probably see why. Great trip report.

 

[40tude]

I think maybe I gave you some recommendations for this trip if I remember correctly...if not you amazingly hit many of my old haunts and happened to choose my favorite fly shop for your adventures. I have to say I move there for a summer and stayed for four years and you can probably see why. Great trip report.

Indeed... And that was certainly the best fly shop we came across, by a long shot

 

[skibum315]

Awesome ... some nice fish you got into, not so bad for a (*ahem*) novice ... though I suspect there may have been some modesty in that assessment.

Oh, and the pictures/scenery aint so bad, either. Color me jealous.

 

[Kiwi-Yank]

didn't know girls in Denver could fly.
feel like I've missed out on something now

K-Y

 

[40tude]

Awesome ... some nice fish you got into, not so bad for a (*ahem*) novice ... though I suspect there may have been some modesty in that assessment.

Oh, and the pictures/scenery aint so bad, either. Color me jealous.

A high compliment sir, especially considering I was telling the truth

 

[40tude]

Day 9

We started the day by taking a short little hike, well it should have been, it took us quite a while to find the right trail. At the beginning of the trail I left my fly rod in some bushes next to the river (for easy retrieval later). It was a nice little hike with good views.

Upon returning to the beginning it took about 45 minutes to find my rod (intelligent move?) I did manage a little cutthroat and a mountain whitefish in about 15 minutes of fishing, so my day was good.

Our plan for the day was to take a quick drive through Tetons, and then find a spot to camp outside of Yellowstone. On the way to Tetons we stopped at Kelly Warm Springs. The springs are not really marked but there is a pulloff. At first we did not realize they were warm springs, earlier in the week we saw a family swimming there and assumed they were from Minnesota. The springs stay at about 80 degrees F, year round, and over the years people have released their tropical fish into them. There are goldfish swimming around, which is just weird. (no pics...sorry)

After this we swung through the park pretty quickly, other than stopping at the visitors center and hanging out a bit at Jackson Lake.

Aww...poor baby is cold...

We camped that night on the Buffalo Fork, it was muddy and storming but I had some fishing to do. It took some umm...adventurous wading, about an hour and a half, and braving some angry beavers, but I got a fish I was really proud of, and it put up a great fight. I was on a high.

The mosquitoes that night were unbelievable, we had to get in the tent without spending any time outside. They were stacked on the tent walls, and some came in with us. We thought we had only brought in one or two, but after turning on our light, the horrors were revealed. Armed with only our headlamps we waged for endless minutes killing over 20 of those buggers.