The BilletHead's most excellent adventure 2015

[Ham]

Thanks so much for sharing. I will say the Mrs seems happier when she is holding a fish than when is having to gear up, but I suppose that is true for all of us. 

[BilletHead]

  Ha yea she looks like a sour puss there but the sun was intense looking into it.. More later I think three more posts will wrap this up if you all can stand it,

BilletHead

[ness]

Was it the sun in her face, or the realization that it had been 38-freakin' years?

Wonderful write up, as usual. Lot's of beautiful spots, food and fish!

 

[Ham]

I think we'll all be sad when the last installment is done. 

[BilletHead]

      Got me there Ness! Darn I am not sure if I should ask that question or not?

Next stop Wyoming!  Well with the river muddy it was time to drag up and head south. To get to where we were going we had to go Yellowstone park. In the North entrance and out the North East gate. We were up at 4AM cranked the camper down and hit the road. Running up the paradise valley in the dark we came upon fifty or more cow and calf elk in the middle of the road and strung into a hay field just before Dome mountain at the beginning of Yankee Jim Canyon. Al being a part time resident knows just what I am talking about. They did not hurry getting off the roadway and we did not push them either. It then started to rain pretty hard. Bummer I thought for seeing game in the park. As we got to the Tower Junction it was pouring buckets of rain out of the sky. We had planned on stopping road side to fix breakfast in the park and suck in the clean cool air. So I decided Breakfast at the Roosevelt lodge would be in order. This was the only bought meal on the whole trip. As we walked to the door folks were in line and the doors opened at seven AM. Good food was consumed and people watching was done. Funny as you could pick out families from all walks of life from bikers in leathers too yuppies and well off tribes with stuck up privileged kids whining about the food. Common people too watching their pennies as the food was quite pricy. The young and old folk that are annual workers with their name tags saying what state they were from. All making small talk with the customers. Ours was from Missouri and had relatives in Springfield.   Out the door still raining soon we started getting into Bison road slowdowns of buffalo traffic jams,

  A fine pair of pronghorn young bucks,

  Then right out of the park in Silvergate and then Cook City. At Cook city stopped at an outfitter shop looking for our Wyoming license. Cook City is in Montana and we were hoping we could get one but no way so all the way to Cody to get it and then all the way back up gain to our destination. We picked out a high smaller lake called Lily. It is stacked with grayling and cutthroat. We sat up the camper and took a walk. Found a covey of family of grouse,

 Raining off and on we grabbed the rods and headed to the lake to fish. Caught grayling and cuts when again it started raining harder. Back to the truck for rain jackets. Should of been smarter but being in a hurry we get. Back to fish more in the rain. We kept a few stocker cuts for our one fish dinner. Back for an evening meal and a nights sleep,

  Next morning back out early again to the lake,

On the way up there we stopped to take a shot of Beartooth Falls on the stream coming out of the lake. Photo does not do justice,

   Getting to the lake we seen bookoos fishermen/women around the shore trying their luck. We geared up choosing the exit stream where no one was. Big boulders, skinny water with nice places to put a fly. We caught brookies, rainbows and more cutthroat. So pretty.

  As we walked and fished I began to hear loud water, I mean loud! We had came upon the top of the falls!

  Again photo does not do this justice. Mrs. BilletHead got to the side for a shot. I wanted to hold on to her that close to the edge,

Looking straight down,

Fished our way back to the lake,

Ever fly rod targeted fish under a bridge. Right at the outlet of the lake,

The lake,

Chowed down on a peanut butter sandwich and headed to next stop and the "Branding"

   

[Lancer09]

Man, I'm super Jelly of those Grayling. I tried in the park and had a few hits but couldn't get anything to stick. I've got my notebook handy.

[BilletHead]

     Leaving Beartooth back down to a couple of lakes. Luce and Hogan. Cold water in warmer sagebrush environment. You can camp at Hogan but have to make a short quarter mile walk to Luce. Luce is managed for catch and release Kamloops rainbows lures and flies only. Hogan stocked with cutthroat anything goes. We sat up and made a rod less walk to Luce for a look see. Really windy. Have been there before for sight fishing and blind casting with small buggers damsel flies. I will be darned if that guy that has been stacking rocks in Missouri had been there before us doing the same. See what is waiting in the water above the rocks?

  Back to the camper for a meal,

   There were folks in and out of the camping spot at Hogan all afternoon and evening. Some swimming,some dunking worms and a few throwing spinning lures and flies. Right at dark everyone was gone. Still windy it was time for a dunk in the lake for a clean up. In the water we go and soap up. Good grief it was cold and the boys sucked up tight  Then it happened we heard in the wind what we thought was a vehicle. Uh oh and the Mrs. peeked over the bank. She squealed and we wrapped up in little towels all soaped up and scurried down the lake shore to a small point behind some driftwood. Crap. The car left and back into the water to rinse off. Burrrrrrrr   

  Up early next morning and walked to Luce.

Fishing pretty slow. Caught some very picky fish. They would swim over to our dries and then snub the offering. We managed a few and could not get a taker at all on buggers.

  As promised no tattoo but "The Brand" See what happens when the wading socks don't get the tops rolled down?

We laughed our butts off!

  After this stop we dragged up again. Back through Cody and then up the North Fork of the Shoshone to the Rex Hale campground. When we passed the Buffalo Bill lake we noticed how low it was. Lowest we have ever seen it. Then past Bob the big boy guarding the valley and to Rex Hale. Low water there too again lowest we have ever fished it. A bit off color from last rain and mud plug but we thought fishable. Set up. Did some more people watching as we got ready to eat,

  Cutthroat from Lily on the menu. Stockers and not sure how long they had been in the lake but their flesh was red orange and sooo tasty. After eating and letting the weather cool off we hit the water. Going upstream from the campground we caught rainbows on dries, whitefish on droppers,

  An evening around the fire,

   A nights rest and on the river early for another round,

Fun fishing for sure lots of small rainbows and a few sporting whitefish. We did a hopper dropper and the small fish preferred the dropper. Big fish hit the hopper.

One last fishing post and then a post on thoughts of the trip and we will be done,

BilletHead

 

[BilletHead]

     Yes Lance the grayling are neat. Small but hey we got them caught. When you are ready for details on exact locations send me a PM . Not a secret but easier to do on a PM.

BilletHead

[BilletHead]

   This last fishing post we will title "Fishing with a Legend" HA!

   After checking in the Ponderosa campground for a three night stay they gave Mrs. BilletHead a Welcome to Cody guide.

We got showers and proceeded to do laundry.

While the laundry started going we were shooting the breeze as she thumbed through the pages. Pretty soon she found the North Fork Anglers page from Tim's shop.

Then she started stuttering and could hardly get the words out of her mouth. What are you trying to say? Look, look she said and in the lower right hand corner I was with Tim in a trip in the past,

    Oh boy I am going to catch some crap for this I thought. So I wondered if I should be receiving for this or have a book signing? We than laughed and the Mrs. got a handful of the booklets.

You know in a previous post I talked of the kid at the Sweetwater fly shop in Livingston referring to Tim Wade as a legend. There will be some mileage with this quote and we got him good. Met him at the fly shop Wednesday morning after taking Sadie to dog jail as I refer to it. The Bed and Biscuit. When we dropped her off she looked at us like what the hell? She only gets kenneled once a year if we get to make this trip for two nights. Of course Pat cried when we drove off. So walking into the shop we asked where the legend was. We got funny looks and he popped out of his office.  I told him we were going to fish with the legend today and tomorrow and he was it. Told him the story and he popped back he was going to be fishing with the dynamic duo. Touché I thought. Mrs. BilletHead supplied lunch bot both days. Smoked duck with jalapeno cream cheese and smoked chilies and cream cheese. Both peppers from our garden and duck from our skies. We were going to do a different meal for day two but he liked day one so much it was like can we have this tomorrow too? So we gathered our gear and threw it in the back of Tim's rig and headed off. We fished a river/creek or whatever you call it. We have been there before on our own and with Tim in the past so we know it pretty well. I will not tell you the place out of respect for him and his business. All of this is on public ground and can be found pretty easy with some research. Hint I will show a few pictures. From the two days. Tim carries a rod too and we all fish leap frogging up the creek sharing netting jobs etc. Some places the bank is steep and the valley choked with willows. It was easy to loose track of each other. Bear spray was carried. To find each other you looked for rod tips or listened for who thought was in the lead for " Hey Bear, hey Bear" letting them know we were coming either for them to get out of the way or set their tables for a snack of fishermen, women.

   It was a free for all and I want you to know Mrs. BilletHead spent most of the time in the lead picking her spots and doing it by herself. I could not have been a more proud husband. I hope if I am taken out of this short life early she keeps this going. Inn a quiet moment I asked Tim how she rated with all the women he has fished with. He responded she is on top of the list, I once took out two lesbians from California who were pretty good fishing but Pat has them beat he said. I thought hummmm I have never had the wife compared with lesbians but this will work . He then said on that day at casting for recovery all though years back when I got to take her out I knew she would be doing this. What a complement. On the way out on a steep climb I got this,

She really hates the rear in shots and at the top,

 Look at that red face.  

  So after two great days fishing with a friend we said our goodbyes and headed to the campground for our last night . Did I mention there was a dairy queen next to the campground? Well there was and we treated ourselves. Next morning fueled up the truck for the long ride home and then drove around looking at the residents in Cody while waiting to get Sadie at the kennel. I am telling you these look both ways before crossing the road,

  Got to the Bed and Biscuit and while paying for the stay I looked into the hall to see Sadie laying next to the stall fence in her "Suite" She still had that what the hell look on her face. I tapped on the glass door, she seen me and came alive. When the lady retrieved her I though she would break down the gate to get to us. Then it was homeward bound and we relived the trip all the way home. One more post will follow with some thoughts. Thank you for letting us share our most excellent adventure,

BilletHead

 

[Lancer09]

Dammit Billet!!!!!!!!! I'm already low on vacation for this year and you keep putting this stuff up!