Ut/Wy/Mt

[Devan S.]

Wyoming Bonneville Cutthroat

Heading North we passed right along Salt Creek. We both enjoyed and caught multiple fish. I am fairly certain @Prifish wore a dozen out in one hole. Maybe even some whitefish on top. Also this is where things really get dicing with our picture taking. Streams and fish begin to all look the same. Date and time stamps tend to get mixed up when downloading/saving/sharing from Google photos.

We both enjoyed this creek. Easy to fish and full of fish and as far as we could tell, the only ones around. 10/10 would return.

 

[Quillback]

Congrats!

[Devan S.]

Wyoming Colorado Cutthroat:

Heading on up further into Wyoming. A neat little place-Tri-Basin divide. The road in from the west runs for miles along Smiths Fork which contains Bonneville/Bear River Cutts. Flowing North off the divide is Greys river which has Snake River Cutts. Flow southeast is La Barge Creek which has Colorado Cutts. 

We drove along side the Smiths Fork for miles and it looks incredibly fishy and we saw very few if any people. Never mind seeing another fisherman. We did not travel on down the road to the Greys River but my assumption would match Smiths Fork and La Barge. Lots of places to fish all within a couple miles down desolate dirt roads. Medium size stream with enough challenges and hiding spots to spend a whole week exploring. 

We moved on from here and fish the Gros Ventre briefly but did not catch anything.

Also stayed the night on the side of the road in a mosquito pit. 

[Devan S.]

Wyoming Snake River-Grand Teton NP

We had both really looked forward to this location. Scenery and rumor had it Lakers could be caught in the river and potential for big Cutthroat. It also gave us a chance to sling jigs.

I quickly caught 2 decent Cutthroat before @Prifish could get rigged up. He showed up and put on a clinic. I don't recall the final tally but know he caught nice browns, lakers, and Cutthroat. I probably had more cutthroat but he caught more fish overall than I did by a mile. He caught a really nice cutthroat but I do not have the picture so he can share if he wants. 

Oh did I mention scenery?

From here on out I had one concern. The funny rules of Montana and could we catch Westslope in a pond. Since it concerned us, we bailed early on Grand Tetons with intent to come back later if we got done in time. We probably only fished about an hour in total. 

[Devan S.]

Montana-Westslope

As previous discussed, Montana has rules about "fishing contest" therefore they only count stocked locations for the Western Native Trout Challenge. I had picked out Elk lake for 3 reasons.

1. You could drive right too it. 

2. Location compared to Yellowstone NP

3. Large Westslopes, Grayling, and Lake Trout.

We showed up mid-day. It was hot, the lake is deep, the easy spots to fish were shallow and weed choked. The deep spots had nearly vertical brush lined sides.

We saw zero fish cruising and zero surface activity. The lake is 280 acres much to large for us to fish the whole thing. We gave it a try and raced back to phone service to make a new plan. 

What ensued over the next 24hrs was nothing more than scrambling. We headed north towards Butte, Mt. 

We fished Homestake lake right off the interstate and the water was very dark stained. Zero confidence and sketchy people milling about. We bailed. 

Maney Lake, it was stocked in the last month. People fishing/swimming having a good time. 1 bite but a local said normally he tears them up on a white rooster tail and confirmed stocking recently. Others caught fish. We stayed the night in Butte. Back at the lake first thing. I managed a nice Brook trout. The best of the trip. My only claim to fame.

@Prifish ends up seeing a fish surfacing near a log. Ties an elk hair caddis on a spinning rod and dips out a westslope. 

Ticked off and scrambling I start to consider finding stream fish. 

We head toward Bozeman. Stop at White Hall, Mt and fish the community pond. Stocked last month immediately I catch a fish. It might be the ugliest Westslope ever to exist....no way I am submitting this fish.

Onto Bozeman and just south Big Bear Lake.....Did not drive all the way to lake. Hiked last mile due to road. Glad we did as it made us stay longer than we would have since we were scrambling. 

Success for @Prifish on the fly. 

Lots of short strikes on jigs in same area. Finally one hammers it on a steady retrieve.

 

@Prifish wanted to try for a better fish on jig. Took a few casts and said last cast. I said take 5 more. If no bites we can leave. Last cast and he catches this.

Pretty darn good upgrade. We hiked back down just as it started to rain.

Montana done! Onto Yellowstone to finish up the Wyoming Cuttslam! Definitely on pace to finish early. 

 

[Devan S.]

Yellowstone National Park

The only fish we were missing on this stop was Yellowstone Cutts. We setup home base in Cooke City, Mt but developed some side quest. Several river closures and hoot owl restrictions on the NE corner so we needed things to do in the afternoon. @Prifish caught a nice fish on the Lamar.

My first fish got loose before a good picture on Soda Butte Creek.

So I had to catch another to get a picture. Not chancing it this time. 

We half heartedly fish Trout Lake. Saw some good fish cruising but no interest in our offerings.

Our side quests led us to a small Creek for Westslopes. Pretty fish in small brushy pocket water we like. Too bad it was a mosquito pit.

Our final side quest was chasing Goldens at Daphnia Lake just off the Beartooth HWY. Nice little lake and fish were rising but the wind was howling. We did get bites but did not connect on any fish. 

Wyoming Cuttslam done!

 

 

[Devan S.]

Overtime:

We had about 1.5 or 2 days extra to fish. I had scoped out some Bull Trout locations in Idaho for bonus time but overall we had settled on Yellowstone/Grand Teton and after Grand Teton we were 100% headed that way. 

In the car we started counting up what we had and making sure we met the second level of the Western Native Challenge. 

I am down to Alaska and Kern River drainage/Golden Trout in California(I'm going to still get a real Eagle Lake Fish at some point). I have a Pyramid/Eagle lake trip in November scheduled already.

@Prifish did not catch a Lahontan at Pyramid lake so he still needed Nevada and a LCT to get him to the second level of the Western Native Challenge. 

On the fly we formulated a plan for Gance Creek, NV and stream resident Lahontan/Humboldt Cutthroat. 

Gance Creek comes up often for Nevada LCT but its never really discussed well on how or where so we mostly flew blind. There is lots of discussion about how difficult it fishes and how people miss out on fish and the brush/thorns are bad. 

We showed up right at dusk and checked things out. Definitely found some nice beaver pond pools that each had multiple fish. They were spooky and took some stealth but they ate.