BilletHead

Go get them Nortrad and have a safe trip. Daryk thanks a bunch and I promise there will be only one or two more posts to finish up the trip report. We had withdrawals today and had to drive to Bennit for a fix. It kind of worked and the fish bit well for us. Size even was not too bad. Small dries worked but best for wife was primrose and pearl and myself a small black beetle, Billethead

After leaving Bull Creek we took the advice of the game warden who checked us the day before and headed for Sawmill lakes. He told us it was a mile or more walk downhill and to remember it is uphill coming out. We found the trailhead. Packed the water filter and fishing gear. I had read that is is sometimes stocked by helecopter. So Sadie, the Mrs. and i hit the trail. A nice down hill walk took us betweeen the two smaller lakes below the big one. Then we crested the dam and it was beautiful greeting. Pretty good sized and would guess a hundred acres or more. The dam was covered with rasberry bushes. Fish were rising all over and I did not know if I should feast on the berries or catch a fish. well we did both. Used a smaller hopper or trude trailing a hares ear dropper. The brookies would come straight up like little rockets clearing the water all the way and if they missed on the way up they would get it on the way back down. We caught dozens, a foot or a little more long is there size but it did not matter. Brookies were all we caught but there could of been other fish in there. Here are some pictures of the place, Sadie kept watch over us from her nest in the rocks and then the uphill walk out . On the way out there is a stream with a steep grade called Goose Creek. We hit the plunge pool pools and pockets catching rainbows and more brookies. We then headed to Shell creek campground. It has shell creek running through it. We have fished Shell Creek three years ago and hoped it would be the same. We set up the camper, grabbed our gear and hit the creek. It is packed with rainbows and brookies. I think a 10" fish was the largest but we caught them by the dozens. Too busy catching to take photos of each other Here is one of the creek and camp. The next morning we headed back to Cody to a campground in town for the next three nights. Two more days of fishing with a friend will be next if you all can stand it. I will try to get in one post but it might take two. BilletHead

Ness, what do you feel like you are most like? 007, Man from Uncle or Get Smart? Man I forgot the Pink Panther? Charlies Angles? Man I am getting old BilletHead Yes I carry and so does Mrs. BilletHead As far as for bears you are better off with pepper spray in the big cans for Grizzly defense. I don't care who you are if your suprised I want that can that makes a big pattern and hope the wind is in my favor. I hear it works for a mad cow moose that has young too. BilletHead

Hit the road from Cody to the East towards the Bighorn range. I knew one place I wanted to go but check out a couple of other places. We really wanted to use the kayaks again so we found a lake on the map. Sibley lake, this place simply put was a bust. Sooo many people fishing, really busy. We paid for a camping spot and went down to fish. Almost everyone was fishing from shore. Did not see a flyfisherman in the bunch. We tried and then I heard from the shore "could you please paddle over here" Game warden who looked like he just walked from a western movie. Big stash on his upper lip, cowboy hat and all. We paddled over and he checked our license and invasive species permit we had to buy for the kayaks. We had a good visit, Wanted to know how we had done, where we had been. Told him we were not too happy with this place and he laughed. You need worms here he commented. We asked his opinion and he said since we were from Missouri and he had spent time there he would tell us of a place. Said it will be a downhill walk but a booger uphill back out. Just what we need I said. Told him of another plan we wanted to try. Good idea he said just hike a bit and you will find fish. I told the Mrs. Lets get out of here and we did. Went up to the campground to find it full. Pulled our tag off the post and on the way out there was an older couple trying to find a place. We gave them the tag amd site number. Paid for so enjoy the wife told them. the lady teared up. I told Pat things happen for a reason and off we went. Ended up on the end of another forest service road. Bull Creek. Set up and started fishing this little creek. Hit the deeper runs and pools. One little brookie and several nice cutthroat were found. The cast the catch. The wife outfished me this time, she is getting good ! A couple of fish on and One of my fish. Then next morning time to explore. Got this nice moose on the camera on the way out. Next post will be Sawmill lakes and Shell Creek

Jeff thanks for the post and your Blog, I check it often and like it. IT makes me a bit too hungry at times. I have a friend in the Minnesota part of the driftless and he invited me to come up. Might just have to, BilletHead

Worked hard to be alone Greasy, and it worked. How was your trip? Shoot me an E-mail if you want. Hope you made it to the little creeks I passed on to you and they fished well, BilletHead

Dog tired and we still have a week to go. Left and fishished our trip on the forest service road. Came our at Alpine. From here we headed North to Cody.best way is through Jackson and the Yellowsone. We have done the park thing in the past and caught fish there but now all we want to do is get through it. This we did and other than the bison traffic jams it went smooth. Did make it to a campground we like on the North Fork Of the Shoshone. (Rex Hale) It is naimed for a fire fighter who died in the area fighting a forest fire. Nice place and you can just walk down the bank and start fishing. Mrs. BilletHead stalked this beaver and snapped several shots. Sadie and I hit the water and picked up a few smaller bows. Missed some small cuttroat. I was dissapointed in the water level. They did not have the snowpack like the last couple of years so water was low. Sadie tries to catch one now and again. I have seen her go past her eyes to try to pick up crappie on a stringer. Quit early and was looking forward to the next morning. Got up the next day early, went outside to relieve myself and took a look at the river. Looking good I thought. We ate a quick breakfast and there was a small shower going on but we could see up towards the park more of a rain as far as we could see. When the rain quit we donned the waders. Mrs. BilletHead said as she peered over the bank "You are not going to like this" I looked and the river had turned to mud. Crap I said but this will be a good time to go to town, do laundry, shower and find out our options. Town pets, Everywhere there were mule deer in town. Turns out there was a big rain near the East entrance of the park and they even had the East entrance closed for a while because of a mud slide. Was told the river would be bad for a few days and to try to fish below Buffalo Bill dam. Nice place was found and we caught some nicer rainbows. Did one more night at Rex Hale but could not stand the muddy water so again it was time to move, we will be back to Cody again but for now it was time to head to the Big Horn mountian range to the East . Bighorn report will follow. BilletHead

Dennis I read you report about the Sierras, it is on our bucket list. Chris it was a good time for sure. 90% of the places we fished no other soul was around. Cannot get anything close to that here. More reports from that country coming. BilletHead

After Murphy lake we drove higher up along Murphy Creek. Found a place to park for the night and got set up. Headed for the creek and started picking apart the water. This creek was pretty dinky and we could make the call where the fish would be waiting, We were rewarded for our efforts. This was the day after our 35th wedding anniversy. We make the trip out West and on that day or near it we cook trout. So this was the night we did just that. That is what was left, Realx time, Guess what? Seen no one at this place or hear anyone all night or in the morning. Time to move again to the next place. So we loaded up in the Am and headed out. Next report sometime tomorrow, BilletHead

Time to leave the Green, Plan was to head over a forest service road to the grays river. So back South on 191/189 to Daniel Junction, then hit 189 through the town of Daniel to 117- to 129 which is North Cottonwood road. Took this road to FR (forest road) 10125 up and over MCDougal Gap. Then back down the mountian to the Greys River road which runs along the greys. I will say busy, busy, busy along the greys. You can camp about anywhere in the forest but we could hardly find a place to camp. Finally did, set up and I yanked a couple of small cutthroats out of the greys. Spent the night there but here again too busy for this guy. This is my escape from combat fishing here in Missouri and the less I have to bump into folks the more I like it. I would say 99% of the plates on cars were from Utah and California. Studied the map more for another plan? Looked for another place to put the kayaks in, found a small lake called Murphy lake so off of Greys river road we took FR 10002 up Murphy creek to the lake. What a little gem! No one there although you could see it had been used a bunch. One thing I have learned is that mose folks out there don't go early but we are earlybirds. Unloaded the kayaks, grabbed the rods, hit the paddles and started fishing. Caught on small dries but the hot ticket was smallish leeach and bugger patterns with a small nymph trailing. Fish on and caught! We caught quite a few of these snake River Cutthroat (fine spot) here. When we quit and i got back I turned to hear and see Mrs. Billethead squeal as Sadie fell off her Kayak. She said what shall I do, let her swim in which she did. Kind of funny and did not bother the dog at all. Loaded back up and headed farther up Murphy creek and that will be the next post. Are you all getting tired of this yet? Too bad more to come. BilletHead BilletHead

Pine beetle damage was bad Ness. Least amount was in the BigHorns. Later on in the trip, BilletHead

Guess I should of did this all in the last post but I will just make a few new topic posts since I started it that way. Ok here we go. After leaving the last spot we went back to pinedale for a shower and ice. There is a aquatics and excersize center in town. Public place we found where we could sign in for the day for five bucks each. Did that and hit the shower and then back out of town to fish up from the Warren Bridge access. North of Pinedale on highway 189/191 there is a BLM road 5201. this road is approx 10 miles of green river access with camping places strung along the road for camping. One to three camping places at each site. We went up to #10 and #11. Did the spot last year so we thought we knew what to expect. We found the river low, about 2 foot lower than last year. Hummmmm? I thought. Set up the camper and started messing in the water. Again smaller fish. Rainbows and browns with bunches of whitefish mixed in but fun none the less. Took a break and hit the water again. less action that before but still a few caught. Caught this little fellow checking out the boots, at one time he went into one, Lots of bugs in and along the river, As it got late that Evening the water came alive. I called it the whitefish blitz! A hatch happened and the whites went crazy. We proceeded to hammer them big time. Size 16 parachute adams. in the middle of all that a surprise happened. fired me up, Next morning we got up and took a walk to the place upriver where we got into a brown blitz on dries. A couple of a mile walk and nadda, none, zilch the fish were not there and the lack of water I thought the cause? That or we don't know what we we doing? I hope it was the first guess but more likely the second one. Walk back to the camper and right there we hit more small browns and rainbows. I thought, time to move again! I had a plan. You will hear that one next BilletHead Forgot to mention, we were the only ones at this place. Nice and quiet just as it should be!

It is and feels like a dream Daryk! billethead

Two weeks of vacation in Wyoming, Part one. First two days of fly fishing. Left on a Friday afternoon at 2 PM. Drove most of the night finally crashing in Eastern Colorado for a four hour nap. Up after that to meet the Son and his family North of Denver for a breakfast with them. Nice visit and then back on the road. Hit Pinedale Wyoming that Evening. Bought our fishing license and got a good lights sleep in a campground. Hit the road to the upper Green River lakes. The start of the Green River. Long washboard road, slow going. Got there and picked a campsite. Then down to the lake to launch the kayaks. Got on the water. Started throwing leach and buggers, trailing a small nymph. No hits. Hopper and dropper along the bank. No hits. Pretty late in the morning for any hatch. Finally set a couple of heavy nymphs about seven foot deep under an indacator and hit a drop off where there was some current at the lake output where the green starts. Picked up a little lake trout and a rainbow. More photos of the first trip on the water. Then a Evening on the lake. Hatches of about everything, three sizes of mayflys and two sizes of caddis. Fish would come up and hit four or five times in a place. You would paddle to the places of the hits, down the fish would go and then up in another place. We tried and I missed two hits. The whole lake was glass smooth and fish would rise everywhere you looked but no constant spot. Nice Evening none the less. Campsite and view from there. Next morning time to move. A few miles going back down from the lake we could see fish rising from the road, got to stop and take advantage of this. We both caught ten or more small rainbows and a couple of small browns here plus a bunch of whitefish. No time for photos when you are both catching! Then down a bit farther down the river for a night. Slower water No hatch to speak of. Did manage more whitefish and a small Brookie,. Check out the duckling. There were hundreds of ducks being raised here plus geese. I thought this guy was small for this time of the year but he wasn't the only one. Next installment coming soon, fishing will be getting better I promise, BilletHead

Scott, Sure will be hard on us midwest pond hunters. You really know how to hurt a guys hope for a nice waterfowl season:) BilletHead

Justin, Myself and Mrs. BilletHead both have the Vinci. Mine has seen two seasons a and the wife has seen one. From dove loads to 3 inch heavy loads, no problems. Yes the wife shoots 3 inchers in hers for waterfowl and turkeys. Sweet guns. Wish I was closer to you, Would let you shoot a couple of boxes through them, BilletHead

Al you are right about Big creek being pretty steep in places and not very large. There is a place quite a way up there where there is one little camping spot with a picknic table at a bridge. Going downstream the landowner has put in a gate access so anglers won't ride down mess up the fence. I fished mainly upstream. First time I was there caught small rainbows. A couple years later found the cutts. Caught several nice ones. There is only enough room to walk right up the middle of the stream casting the same way. Used big hoppers. Managed some big whitefish too. Even with there small mouths they were smashing the hoppers. It would be easy in places to turn an ankle on the bolders too. As far as Mill creek the fellows at the fly shop which Is in Emigrant (I think) told me to try there. First place was access on a road where there is a forest sign. Dropped off the road there. Big falls below that. Went upstream staying below the high water mark because it went through some private ground. It is in a meadow setting. Wife and I did well there also on cutts. Then we went farther up to the campgrounds on the same road quite a way up. I dropped in the stream right behing the camper and proceeded to catch more. Here it was tight quarters with timber both sides and hanging over the creek. Fun times and we will go back sometime. I have tried the yellowstone here and there at public accesses catching a few fish. One time right in Livingston the wife dropped me off so she could do some laundry. I get quite intimidated at larger waters. I need to get over that. I suppose it is that way with me missing access the floaters with boats have. We like that part of the country. you are truly blessed to be able to be there like you are, BilletHead

Looking good. Thanks again Phil for the site you provide and the stickers, BilletHead

I hope you are not planning on leaving us soon Oneshot. Maybe we will dissapear in the blink of an eye, if that is the case I'm ready to go with you. BilletHead

Mike I can tell you two places mentioned above where the Mrs. and I caught nice fish. Easy access too. You have to love Montana for what they have done for fisherman to be able to do what we like to do. We have spent more time fishing places in Wyoming where access is limited. I will PM you with my e-mail address and phone number and put yopu on to these two creeks, BilletHead

Al if you and Mike don't come up with a plan let me know. The Mrs. and I will be out pretty close to you in a couple of weeks with the Kayak Koffin. I knew I should of made a third story on it:) Have you ever fished Big Creek West of Meditation Point on farm road 2500? How about Mill Creek East of Pray? We have done well on those two creeks before. BilletHead

Thanks again fellows. Did a test run yesterday. Trailer did well although I am adding some gussets in the corners. Needed for the dog to try also. She went in our old sit in side kayaks so she needed a trial on the sit on tops. BilletHead

Received stickers in the mail today, thanks Phil. The word will be out in my neighborhood and soon on vacation across the country, BilletHead

Smalliebigs, The wife and I both have the Adios... Love them big time! Thanks for the compliments on the paint job guys. billethead

We wanted to have a way to haul the kayaks on long trips. Keeping them out of the weather and also a good way to store them. Got a wild hair and this brought on the idea. Had a good friend assist in the primary build. The box is 13' 6" long.. Sitting on a just shy of 16' trailer. Some photos of the build. Flipped it on it's side and gave it a oil primer. When it dried caulking and a oil gloss coat. When dry uprighted for the next coat. Outside complete primer coat, caulking and then a oil paint finish. Then the vent for and aft covers. Custom paint by the BilletHead's too. 5/16" exterior plywood screwed and glued. The thing is so tight when I shut the doors there is a woosh of air out the back vents. Still some tweaking to do on more of the paint job. Kayaks rest snugly on carpeted runners keeping them centered. Tied off to keep them from moving forward or back. The bearings were in bad shape so I replaced with new bearings, races and seals. Up graded from 12" to 13" tires but I need to raise the fenders a bit. New lights also. It is a beast but we are happy with it. The name came from a neighbor that said it looked as though I had a crypt or vault in the yard. billetHead