The BilletHead's Ride again. 2016 Adventure The offical report.

[BilletHead]

  Yep just like Ness and JohnsFolly said. Really invasive. Fun to catch though. States who value their native species are trying to get rid of them. One year we visited the Daniel fish hatchery near Pinedale. Got to see the four genetically pure cutthroat they had in the state. A neat visit where he explained how ultimately they would like to straighten out the mistakes of the past and control invasive species as much as possible.

BilletHead

[BilletHead]

        Up early and again on the road from Butte towards Livingston and the Yellowstone valley. Looking at the map for streams we had not fished in years past . Spied Pine Creek. We had seen the access road before but never ventured up it. Thought that may be a plan. Stooped at a Micky D's for a cold drink and break along the highway we seen a fly shop. Slipped in and had a visit with the owners. Asked about Pine creek. Oh yes you can catch some Brookies in there. Plus if you go up to the lake above there is some real nice cutthroat. Dumb ones at that. I asked how the trail was. Good one and just a two hour hike. OK there is some potential there we thought. Well we thought there was .So on to Livingston for more fly shop looking. Dan Baileys is always a good stop and if you look in the discount room some nice fly bargains by the dozen. Four dozen bought at six bucks a dozen. Cannot tie them for that. Asked the brain trust there about the Pine creek trail. Again a different answer. Difficult trail real steep. Takes five hours. Huh? This isn't sounding any better. Left there and headed to the High School in Livingston. Yep the BilletHeads went to school. I knew the Federation of Fly Fishers were having their big conclave this weekend and we decided to check it out. Drove around, found a parking place and open doors so we went in. Walked around most of the building until we rounded a corner and got stopped by the FFF Police . Excuse me folks where are your name tags? We just got here. You mean you did not check in? Nope walked in those doors. Well you need to go here and there and check in before you see anymore. OK we can do that. Checked in and found my membership got our name tags, paid ten bucks to see what we had already seen. Pretty neat I guess but small attendance.  Left there and headed to Hatch finders fly shop and visited some Dandy Reiner told us she had hiked up to Pine lake and fished. Good fishing she said but steep trail. Then I sent a PM through the OA towards Al Agnew to pick his brain. Headed up the Pine Creek road to the campground. Way up there I had cell signal and later on that evening I got Al's response. Steep, takes you awhile, good fishing and an all day trip. We nixed that idea as we could do it but We would not leave Sadie that long all alone. We can do that here at home for hours where she feels comfortable but on trips like this she is real apprehensive . No one would leave their child all day like that and right now she is our kid. So we just fished Pine creek and did real well. Brookies and Yellowstone Cutthroat . Actually quite a few.,

  Narrow and like fishing in a tunnel at times. The brookie the Mrs. was holding is ten inches. Doesn't look it but we measured. Then carnitas for the evening meal,

   After a full belly went to picking berries. Red raspberries and thimble berries. Raspberries had intense flavor, thimble berries not so much. Kind of tasteless but sweet and kind of a fuzzy texture in the mouth,

     Here is Pine Creek down close to where it empties into the Yellowstone after everyone gets their share of the water rights. Nothing left,

     What next? Hang tight we will be heading to Wyoming next,

BilletHead

 

 

[BilletHead]

     Up again and had Stuffed peppers for breakfast,

Hit the road up the Yellowstone valley to Gardner where we splurged on a fancy cappuccino coffee. Good round of extra caffeine for paying attention to the distracted drivers in the park. Into the park to see the mammoth springs elk all over. Asian tour buses stopping and the occupants jumping out to have a selfie with the elk. The park police scotting over to scold the photo takers for being too close. Funny watching as the only one who could understand was the bus driver. Then seen the general bison all over until we see a big parking mess ahead. Finally getting close to see three Bighorn Sheep Ram's laying on a hill side right next to the road, I mean rock throwing distance. No way to stop to get a photo. No that is one I would of liked to have. Right through the rest of the park we went towards the east Entrance and out we went to the first place we could get our Wyoming fishing license. That taken care of back to the Rex Hale campground we like to stay at when fishing the North Fork of the Shoshone. picked out a nice spot where there was some leftover firewood from the previous people. Then made like a pirate and raided other empty sites for booty   . Set up and hit the river catching some rainbows of various sizes. Lightning and thunder in the distance then rain so we scurried to the nearest bridge for cover and tried to wait out the rain. Well it did not let up and we got wet,

      Started up the fire pit with our spoils pirated and then fired up the grill,

Rib eyes, hash browns, Missouri sweet corn and maters,

 Time for the scare crow shot. We have taken one like this at Rex Hale every time we have camped there. This was our 39th wedding anniversary. Man that is a long time with one woman . Think I have decided to keep her a few more years. Besides don't think I could find another one to put up with me.

 Spent the evening watching the fire with Sadie at our feet,

    Again up early and headed to Cody to regroup and make the final plan for fishing . One primary species and four subspecies of the primary species to try for,

Bob the watcher of the valley says to tell all high with a special howdy to Ness.

  BilletHead

[bkbying89]

I have read every post on your travels and have enjoyed them tremendously. I do not believe that I paused to touch a single like button in my hurry to read the next post. I am liking them a lot. Your a lucky man to have found a woman that is willing to share your interest in hunting and fishing Happy Aniversary and yeah, you had better keep her. Keep the pictures and story coming.  

[BilletHead]

    Thank you a bunch bkbying89. More to come,

BilletHead

[ness]

Lol. Bob has special meaning to me because in High School we borrowed the statue from in front of the restaurant and relocated it to the sidewalk of our rival. 

[Johnsfolly]

BH and your better half - Congrats on the 39th anniversary! That is fantastic and an inspiration.

Still looking for some WY cutthroats. So get on with writing the next post.

[BilletHead]

  Thanks Johnsfolly,

Yep had a break fishing back here for warm water fish. So here we go again. Up early to fish the North Fork of the Shoshone. Caught a few smaller rainbows but we had another fish calling us in the distance. Johnsfolly knows what is calling as we have been texting back and forth on the trip. We thought it would be neat to do the cuttslam again like we did in 2010. This time in reverse order from top of the state to the bottom. We headed to Cody to regroup and do laundry and get showers. We keep clean on the trip in yes cold streams, heating water and other ways. A good long hot shower every few days sure does feel good though . Wal -mart too for supplies and a propane cylinder exchange. Stopped by North Fork anglers to visit with our friend Tim Wade a bit before hitting the road to the notellum river. This is where we got our first of the four subspecies of cutthorat in Wyoming. The Yellowstone cutt. We tried the South fork of the river mentioned traversed the main creek and drove some miles to the South. A bit disappointing with the water level. Also had a brownish stain on the bottom. Another thing to rant about too. Open range in the forest. Not really a rant but who wants to see a bunch of nasty cows in pristine country? Hit the water and both missed a couple of fish. Ahead of us the great heard of bovine crashing in and out of the water crapping here and there. Breaking down the stream banks. Kind of creepy at times as we had not grabbed the bear spray. Hearing crunching in the thick timber was it a cow or grizzly. Not too smart on our part as we were in grizz country here. Got out of the stream and bushwhacked our way back to the truck to see more bovine around the truck needless to say Sadie was none too happy. Back down the road to the main river, crossed it again and up the main fork,

  Drove higher into the forest and found a road down into the river. Set up camp and again built rods and hit the water with much better success. Mrs. BilletHead got the prize of the trip and well deserved she was. Grin from ear to ear,

A fifteen inch beauty it was. We both misses fish. They would turn and roll without getting caught. A miss or on purpose? Then I scored,

 Caught some smaller ones and headed back to our tiny house on wheels.

Dinner was beefburgers open face sandwich.

   This is happiness. Wet wading pants, shoes and wading socks,

  The view from the camper,

 Pat and Sadie doing dishes . Sadie if to say did you even leave me a crumb?

 Next will be the ride over for the Snake River / fine spot subspecies. Did we get any?

BilletHead

[Johnsfolly]

BH - Tell Pat congrats on that awesome cutthroat! that was a great fish. One down for each of you!

[BilletHead]

  Up early again and on the road. Took a new road we have not been on before heading across towards Jackson Hole.Through Thermopolis along the Bighorn River to Shoshoni. Turned towards Riverton. At Riverton back towards the Northwest to Moran Junction. The Riverton to Dubois you go through the Wind River Indian Reservation. After Dubois started looking pretty except for the fire ravaged mountain range on one side of the road. First this we new before seeing the fire was signs along the road thanking firefighters for their service. Then fire camps along the road, smoke in the distance and scorched earth. This was the lava creek fire. We stopped at a gas station to see people filling bags for firefighters containing snacks and other goodies for personal use. After clearing the pass drainage changed towards the West and soon all waters entered the Snake River. Had a front coming through and the view towards the Grand Tetons was clear.At Moran Junction a turn South to Jackson where every turn out was full of tour buses the occupants aiming cameras towards the rugged peaks The closer to Jackson the more the people we seen. Eccentric folks most are and we shot right through the place. Not our cup of tea. At Hoback junction 189 was taken along the Hoback River until Farm Road 30530 where Cliff Creek enters the Hoback. As we hit that turn off we seen fire ravaged hillsides along the South Side of Cliff Creek. Some of the trees still smoldering. Not a pretty sight again   . Low water in the creek we drove aways, parked, rigged up and went to catching smallish Snake River/finespots.

      Bummed a bit at the size of the fish but the targeted subspecies of Cutthroat wanted. There will be a bit of vengeance for a bit bigger one before we finish the trip. Left there and worked further South. Seen more Fire camps and one named Cliff Creek fire. Then over the Wyoming range to another drainage to South Cottonwood creek to try for the Colorado River cutthroat. Got set up above the creek snapped a couple of photos and walked to the creek without camera. Caught a few brookies and cutts without even getting our feet wet.

   Hit the sack and dreamed of the next mornings walk up the creek,

BilletHead