Hi families!
The last week or so has certainly been eventful for the guides and the Yellowstone Adventure crew alike! After resetting with some pizza after coming out of the backcountry in Grebe and Ice Lakes, we moved camp to Bridge Bay Campsite just beside the beautiful Yellowstone Lake and the Mighty Yellowstone River.
The following day we headed to the Upper Yellowstone River to hunt giant, rising Yellowstone Cutthroat trout sipping dry flies in the crystal clear water. The Upper Yellowstone is world famous for this style of fishing, both because of the excitement that comes with sight fishing dry flies as well as the consistent huge average size of the fish in the river. It isn’t uncommon to get skunked on the Yellowstone due to the challenging nature of headhunting on the river, but nonetheless the gentlemen put on an excellent performance. We hit some very solid drake hatches and over the next few days managed to pull out a good number of 17-19 inch cutties as well as two 21 and 22 inch giants! Two of the biggest fish our guide team has ever seen a camper catch, and certainly a highlight of our careers up unto this point.
Over the course of these days, we also were able to fish some more diverse water like the Snake (one of the park’s best kept secrets) and Yellowstone Lake. Both locations provided a number of great fish and some great laughs, and the evening on the lake gifted us with one of the most beautiful sunsets we had ever seen.
Nights at Bridge Bay were filled with campfire conversations and game-planning for the coming days, as well as a few delicious meals and s’more’s! Our time at this camp provided some of the best and most exciting fishing of the trip so far.
After Bridge Bay we moved camp to Mammoth on the north end of the park near the town of Gardner, Montana. On the 13th, the group split up to begin our second backcountry.
Sean and Kitchell lead the first group of six back into the second meadow of Slough Creek, a river known for its beautiful views and abundant and hungry cutthroats. The hike in over the mountain pass gives you some of the most beautiful scenery in all of the park, which is only rivaled by the backcountry stars in Slough that stretch horizon to horizon. It’s called big sky country for a reason! Once in Slough the first group found some excellent fishing all up and down the meadow, netting a number of 18 and 19 inch fish, and hooking a few absolute beasts! That night we fell asleep to the sound of howling wolves and the sight of shooting stars.
The next morning Hunt and Joe led the second group back where the fishing continued to be excellent, and they caught a few great fish of their own!
While one half was in the backcountry, the groups in the front country fished hallowed waters like the Lamar and the Gardner, adding to the list of world famous rivers that the boys have been able to fish this trip!
As we write this, we are currently headed into Ennis, MT on our way back to basecamp to do some laundry and reset from our backcountry adventures. Our time in the park was a great success and we guides consider it a great privilege to be able to show your boys around the most beautiful and unique place in the world.
We’re looking forward to some big fish and some more great memories in the last few days of our trip!
Until next time,
Hunt, Sean, Kitchell, and the Mischevious Bandits of the Yellowstone Adventure
