Fall means two things - one, I begrudgingly have to start raking leaves, and two, we've got a fall trip to eastern Idaho and Yellowstone for the final "hurrah" at trout season.
We pushed the trip back a week or two this year, hoping to hit true fall weather, and we were not disappointed. Cruised into Boise on Saturday, and the world was white. Picked up Doug and Paul at the airport, and rolled on towards Silver Creek.
We had a little snow on the ground, but waking up Sunday morning we were surprised to see over 2 inches of fresh snow.
Normally we'd tube the s-curves through the Preserve, but given the snow opted to push east.
Unfortunately, the Box Canyon section of the Henry's Fork was running at a measly 225 cfs, roughly half of what it should have been for this time of year, so we walked into a few spots but didn't float it.
We floated Warm River to Ashton on the Henry's Fork, managing to pick up a few smaller fish (and I caught a monster sucker) but we were all focused on the Madison...
Got up on the Madison at sunset on Monday, and were treated to a nearly full moon rising over the river.
Sadly, Doug is scheduled to have shoulder surgery, which prevented him from working the sticks however he was able to fish (how convenient!)...the fishing was dynamite, and while we picked up a few fish on #18 and #20 baetis patterns the bigguns were on zonkers and buggers.
Got off the water late Tuesday, and dropped through West Yellowstone into the Park. One of the benefits to pushing the trip this late in the season is that there was no one around - we didn't see anglers, boats, or many campers for that matter, and the Park was no exception.
We had hoped to hike into Slough Creek in the NE corner of the Park, but one of the Park Rangers informed us that the snow storm that had dropped a few inches on us at Silver Creek earlier in the week had dumped FOUR FEET of snow on Cooke City, just outside the NE entrance to the Park. Not knowing if we could even get into Slough Creek, we opted for a lazy day of throwing dries on the Firehole.
Paul had a date with Reality on Friday, mumbling something incoherent about presentations. Sadly, at that stage in the trip, anything outside of "browns", "tippet", or "what are ya using?" might as well be a conversation in Klingon, so we hit the Barnes Pools on the Madison, grabbed breakfast in West Yellowstone and sealed him to his fate by dropping him off at the Idaho Falls airport Thursday afternoon.
Doug and I rolled west, postponing our own respective reality check, and spent the last few nights on Silver Creek. The weather could not have been more of a contrast - first of the week was snow and a high of 30ish, Thursday and all day Friday was almost 70 and sun.
The fishing was excellent - streamers at last light resulted in several nice fish, and tubing the s-curves gave us a baetis hatch mid morning and we picked up several nice fish on #20 adams...
Dropped Doug off at the Boise airport Saturday, and made my way back home to NE Oregon. All in all, this was one of the better trips - a true "fall" trip, and I know that I am already looking forward to next October...
We pushed the trip back a week or two this year, hoping to hit true fall weather, and we were not disappointed. Cruised into Boise on Saturday, and the world was white. Picked up Doug and Paul at the airport, and rolled on towards Silver Creek.
We had a little snow on the ground, but waking up Sunday morning we were surprised to see over 2 inches of fresh snow.
Normally we'd tube the s-curves through the Preserve, but given the snow opted to push east.
Unfortunately, the Box Canyon section of the Henry's Fork was running at a measly 225 cfs, roughly half of what it should have been for this time of year, so we walked into a few spots but didn't float it.
We floated Warm River to Ashton on the Henry's Fork, managing to pick up a few smaller fish (and I caught a monster sucker) but we were all focused on the Madison...
Got up on the Madison at sunset on Monday, and were treated to a nearly full moon rising over the river.
Sadly, Doug is scheduled to have shoulder surgery, which prevented him from working the sticks however he was able to fish (how convenient!)...the fishing was dynamite, and while we picked up a few fish on #18 and #20 baetis patterns the bigguns were on zonkers and buggers.
Got off the water late Tuesday, and dropped through West Yellowstone into the Park. One of the benefits to pushing the trip this late in the season is that there was no one around - we didn't see anglers, boats, or many campers for that matter, and the Park was no exception.
We had hoped to hike into Slough Creek in the NE corner of the Park, but one of the Park Rangers informed us that the snow storm that had dropped a few inches on us at Silver Creek earlier in the week had dumped FOUR FEET of snow on Cooke City, just outside the NE entrance to the Park. Not knowing if we could even get into Slough Creek, we opted for a lazy day of throwing dries on the Firehole.
Paul had a date with Reality on Friday, mumbling something incoherent about presentations. Sadly, at that stage in the trip, anything outside of "browns", "tippet", or "what are ya using?" might as well be a conversation in Klingon, so we hit the Barnes Pools on the Madison, grabbed breakfast in West Yellowstone and sealed him to his fate by dropping him off at the Idaho Falls airport Thursday afternoon.
Doug and I rolled west, postponing our own respective reality check, and spent the last few nights on Silver Creek. The weather could not have been more of a contrast - first of the week was snow and a high of 30ish, Thursday and all day Friday was almost 70 and sun.
The fishing was excellent - streamers at last light resulted in several nice fish, and tubing the s-curves gave us a baetis hatch mid morning and we picked up several nice fish on #20 adams...
Dropped Doug off at the Boise airport Saturday, and made my way back home to NE Oregon. All in all, this was one of the better trips - a true "fall" trip, and I know that I am already looking forward to next October...
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