Summer Newsletter

August 2007

09/24/2007

I had the pleasure of fishing with Bob and Garrett Koehler on August 11th and 12th. We've been fishing together for a couple of years now and I look forward to their visits. Garrett is 14 and already a darn good fisherman. We have had a run of muddy water for almost 2 weeks and the waters around Cody were just starting to clear.

We chose the Tongue for the first days fishing to give the Clarks Fork canyon one more day to clear. The Tongue's conditions were perfect as was the weather. We even saw a couple of moose on the way over. There has been no defense against the Wal-mart wiggler on the Tongue so that is what we started with and stuck with all day. There is a certain technique involved with fishing the wiggler but it wasn't long before both father and son were yelling the familiar cry of "FLY FISHING is EASY!" The sun was out and there were no hatches that day to speak of, so we stayed with a subsurface presentation for most of the day. We did try some dry midges and PMD's and did pick up a few fish but most fish were taken deep. The fish were hungry as you can tell from the pictures.  The water is low and clear so stealth was the name of the game. If you got your fly in front of the fish without it seeing you or your cast, fish on! What fantastic fishing in a very beautiful place!

On the 12th we made the grueling hike to the Clarks Fork canyon. Unfortunately I forgot the camera so I will steal a couple pictures from another trip down. The water was still slightly off color but got noticeably clearer as the day went on. We started with a small Turks with a red Copper John as a dropper. We caught fish from the get go but most of them were small to start with. I think they were adjusting to the change in clarity. We found that they wanted the dry fly fished under water with movement. If you didn't move the fly, no hits. This could have been because of a recent golden stone hatch. We saw many left over shucks on the rocks.

After lunch, as we proceeded up stream, some of the larger fish began to come up. Garrett fish a foam eddy on the edge of a shear cliff and nailed several nice fish. Bob began to get some better ones as well. On the last hole things really got going. We spent the last 2 hours on a 100 yds of water and got 20 nice fish (12" to 16"). A great way to end the day in one of my favorite places in Wyoming! One other thing. Both these guys are in great shape and kicked my butt on the hike out. This has inspired me to go on a run of canyon fishing for the next couple of weeks. Thanks for a great couple of days!

Fred, Derrick, and Aimee Thranhardt came for a couple of days on the 13th and 14th of August. I have been fishing with these guys for more than a few years now. Fred and Aimee get to come multiple times a year but for Derrick who is finishing up a UGA, it is a once a year proposition.

 Luckily, the waters had cleared and things were looking up. To continue with my canyon adventures we decided to try the Greybull canyon first. As soon as we saw the river we new we had made a good choice. Fred hooked a real nice fish in a shallow riffel on a dry right off the bat. The water was slightly off color so we tried some nymph rigs in the deeper holes and it was on. Here's Aimee with a nice one (left).

 Derrick was on fire and pulled 7 or 8 fish out of the first hole. As the sun warmed the water, fish began to come up. We tied on the Bah Behr with a couple nymphs below and got at least a look if not a fish out of every likely looking spot.

The quality of these fish is hard to beat! Most of them were 15" to 18". We fished hard but decided to make it a short 10 to 12  hour trip so we could save ourselves for the Clarks Fork canyon on the 14th. Check these beauties.

The Clarks Fork canyon was our destination on the 14th. We had attempted this trip a couple of years ago and were stopped by rain and muddy water. This time conditions were good. Here we are heading down the trail.

When we hit the river Derrick was the first to get rigged up. By the time I got Aimee ready Derrick had landed 7 or 8 fish! This was a sign of things to come. Aimee and Fred began hooking fish as soon as their lines hit the water and from that point on the catching never slowed down!

 We decided to go down stream as I had take Bob and Garrett up stream two days prior. The canyon was gorgeous and the flows perfect for wading. The water was noticeably more clear than two days earlier. Every hole had hungry fish. We fish a big Bah Behr with a red Copper John dropper  and I rigged an extra rod up with a bugger to dredge the bigger fish from the deep holes.

 Moving the dry fly was the way to go. As soon as you jerked the fly under and twitched it a fish would attack! The brookies were doing cart wheels over the fly. There was a lot of black bear sign (right).

We fish almost all the way down to the falls. Caddis were all over the walls of the canyon so we switched to a small prince as a dropper in the evening. Fred probably had the big fish of the day with an 18" or 19" cuttbow on a 2wt.

More trout were caught on this trip than any other Eastgate Anglers trip in the past. I hate to estimate with a number but lets just say it was a lot of fish. An EPIC day for all the anglers! I can't wait to see what happens on our next trip!

Dan Breck came back to fish for a day in last summer. Dan has become a good friend over the last couple years and returns to fish the Cody area at least twice during the summer months. Our only real option was the Clarks Fork canyon due to muddy waters.

 When we hit the bottom of the trail we heard a huge splash. The splash was the elk and when we looked up a wolf was in mid air chasing an elk across the river. They took off up the bank with the rest of the pack in hot pursuit. That was enough to make the day before we even rigged up a rod!

The river had just cleared and the fishing was a little slower than it can be but we picked up fish all day on the Bah Behr. The last two hours really picked up and we had a blast catching fish on dries in one of the prettiest places in Wyoming!

Tight Lines!