Westward Bound Part I; Wyoming's Piney Creek

Honestly, I really don't know where to start? It was the first time...I would finally be traveling west to do nothing but fish, and I couldn't wait!

Each year SAO Guide Brett McCrae travels west after the Steelhead season to guide for Rock Creek Angler's (http://www.rockcreekanglers.com/) in Saddlestring, Wyoming. Brett is good at sending us pictures of the beautiful Brown Trout he manages to hold each season, and finally I had to take him up on his generous offer to spend a couple days on his favorite Wyoming guide haunts.

I could hardly wait as we drove up to Detroit to catch our flight. After the lengthy wait to go through security we finally reached our terminal. A quick look around and out the large window we realized that our plane was not here? No big deal, Right? Well, not a big deal if you have a direct flight, and we didn't. So, after waiting three agonizingly, horrible hours in the terminal, we finally got airborne. With five minutes to spare to catch our connection flight to Bozeman, Montana we were gonna need a miracle once we landed!

When we landed, Theresa and I ran so freaking hard to our assigned terminal (which is like 20 ridiculous miles away), and barely caught the luckily delayed flight to Bozeman by about 1 minute! You can't cut it any closer than we did, I guarantee it! We would have kicked the crap out of every contestant on the Amazing Race on this day! Talk about being a tad PO'ed at our airlines.... You don't mess with a man and his trout fishing!

We landed in Bozeman with huge smiles on our face thinking the worst is done. Yeah, get ready, there's more. I walked over to baggage claim while Theresa got all our paperwork and keys for our car rental done and out of the way. At this point in our days travel, we still had about a 3 hour drive over to our hotel in Buffalo, Wyoming and the trout fishing scheduled early the next morning. Well, as the saying goes, it went! When it rains it pours! You see, this time around, some fool decided that our luggage could show up on a later flight! At this point I was told that my luggage would be in Bozeman by 5:30pm, (it was only 2:30pm) and since they could not deliver our luggage to Wyoming we would have to wait. As much as I would like to tell you exactly how I felt about the whole situation, I will instead say nothing. This will allow the story to be appropriate for all ages, because if I told you how I really felt, it would be anything but wholesome. All I can say is that we finally made it to our hotel albeit much later than we would have liked. The good news is that we were back on schedule and the mornings fishing wouldn't come soon enough.

Wyoming's Piney Creek

We met up with Brett early and with much anticipation, eagerly hit the road. The scenery in Wyoming was spectacular with Pronghorns, Mule Deer, extensive grasslands, rolling hills, and stunning plateau's everywhere. As we pulled up to Piney Creek we noticed that she was slightly off color. This may have hurt some of the dry fly opportunities, but a quick look at the grin on Brett's face and the twinkle in his eye, and I knew he was thinking streamers! This was our opportunity to fish big flies to the big fish, and it had us both chomping at the bit...

Here is just one on the fantastic Brown Trout we caught stripping 5 inch long baby Rainbow and brown trout imitative streamers!!

I still am taken back at the strength and aggressive nature displayed by Piney's Trout.

The most exciting part of this trip out west was the opportunity I had to introduce my wife Theresa to fly fishing! At this point in our lives, she had never caught a trout, or even attempted fly fishing. To make things more difficult in her learning experience, we needed to cast and strip large heavily weighted streamers, and those of you who do fish like this know it can be challenging for a beginner to cast well with these tactics.

After listening to instructions from Brett and watching a few demo casts, Theresa picked up the rod like she had done it for ages and landed an 18 inch brown trout and a 21 inch rainbow before I even got my fly wet! This was the time where I was smiling from ear to ear, and thinking to myself " please catch the fly fishing bug"....

My first of many Brown Trout from Piney Creek.

I have caught few Brown Trout that hit a streamer as hard as this fish!

Piney Creek was one of those streams that you look at and couldn't find a single place that didn't look fishy. We covered a lot of water and landed more than our fair share of trout by anyones standards. At about 5:00pm Theresa gave me that look, like when do we call it a night? It had been a long hike and exhaustion was setting in. At this point, I was literally in heaven and could have fished until night fall! But, being sensitive to my wife and her first day, we decided to end the day on a big fish and look forward to tomorrow. It was time for a good dinner together and a good nights rest.

Piney Creek stream side lunch! If you head over and fish with Brett at Rock Creek, request the Turkey Bacon Swiss sandwich with raspberry sauce, it is out of this world!

Another hard hitting Brown Trout from Piney Creek.

Theresa with her first fly caught Brown Trout!

Gorgeous looking Piney Creek Trout.

Here is a close up of Theresa's Rainbow that smacked a large streamer.

Brett and Theresa pose with her first fly caught Rainbow trout!

See you later!

This next fish is the one we decided to end the day on! I had seen, lost, or missed more fish in the 20 plus inch range through the course of the day than you could imagine. Finally this one didn't come unbuttoned and would be to fish to close an overall stellar day on the water...

I finally got to pose with one of Wyoming's 20+ inch Butter Bellies.

Awesome fish to end day one with....

My next post will be on Wyoming's North Fork of the Powder River, until then thumbs up and be happy!

Tight Lines!

Greg Senyo

Owner/Operator

Steelhead Alley Outfitters

The Adventures of Flybum - Part 5

After a quick day on the Henry's Fork, we were back on the road to see more water and scenery. This time it was up into Montana and Wyoming to see some of Yellowstone National Park.

The agenda was to spend the day fishing on the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers whose flows come together to make the world famous Madison River. And I think it goes without saying that while we were there, we had to fish the Madison. I mean, who doesn't fish the Madison when they are close? I know, people who don't fish : )

We left the area of Ashton Idaho as early as we could for getting in bed the night before at about 1 a.m. The drive would take us to the town of West Yellowstone and the fly shop of Craig Matthews (Blue Ribbon Flies) who I had met in Indianapolis earlier this year (Greg and I had the opportunity to drive him to the Indiana on the Fly show as we were staying in the same hotel). At any rate, I wanted to stop in and say hello and check out his shop....and better yet, I wanted to hear some of his stories from when he was the police chief in West. He told me one about when the Hell's Angels saved West from a bunch of ticked off cowboys who were minutes away from setting town on fire....I swear....the story was amazing and hilarious at the same time!

So, after a brief stop in West Yellowstone to get our licenses and such, we made the punch into Yellowstone National Park (YNP), but not before some traffic issues.

THE GUYS WAIT FOR A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE WAY TO

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

After a ten minute traffic jam due to construction, we were on our way and the challenge was to not stop at the first glimpse of Madison water. The road paralleled the river all the way into the park making fishing access to the very easy and I'm sure highly pressured due to the immense traffic in Yellowstone this time of year.

A BEAUTIFUL PANORAMIC OF THE MADISON RIVER IN

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

ANOTHER SHOT OF THE MADISON RIVER

We drove for about 15 minutes before we couldn't take it any longer. The water started looking better and better, and our fly rods were just screaming to be used. So, without any further delay, we exploded from the truck like legendary super heros of the fly fishing kind (capes included) and walked across the water to the perfect places for presentation....Well, maybe it wasn't exactly like that, but close...... ha, ha.

DON LOADS THE ROD FOR A NICE LAYOUT

As soon as we could get a good look at the water, we noticed fish rising throughout the flows. Smiles graced our faces for the fourth day in a row and the dry flies came out. One thing is for sure, after a long fall, winter, and spring chasing steelhead, we turn into dry fly bums in the summer!

It only took a few presentations before fish started coming to the nets, and this time they were Browns....in fact, these were the first Browns that we had seen since our arrival out west. Ben was the first to score and the rest of us followed.

SAO GUIDE BEN BARGER RELEASING A NICE

MADISON RIVER BROWN TROUT

After a short stint on the Madison, it was off to see the Gibbon and Firehole Rivers. It didn't take long to get there as we were just a couple miles below the confluence. Looking down the valley of the Gibbon was a beautiful sight, but from the fishermen we spoke with, the scenery was the best part of the fishery. I'm sure there were some nicer fish somewhere in the watershed, but most of what we heard was that small fish were the norm, so we opted to move onto the Firehole.

LOOKING WEST DOWN THE GIBBON RIVER

So, on the road again (can you hear the song)....we started our drive into the caldera that houses some pretty amazing water and volcanic features! So, with rods readied, we meandered the region of steam vents, geysers, and rather hot Firehole River.

DRIVING THROUGH YELLOWSTONE WITH THE RODS READIED!

Upon our arrival on the Firehole, I was caught off guard when I stepped in a side channel only to feel water that I guess had to be somewhere in the 110-120 degree range hit my skin! No wonder this is an early season fishery! This water is great in the winter I imagine! However, due to all of the volcanically heated water that flows into this river, it also shuts down much faster than other rivers.

The river aside from it's hot waters, was yet again, a totally different kind of river in it's features. Within a couple of minutes of my arrival, we found fish. Here is where the distinct difference was noticed! These fish were as spooky as any fish I have ever fished for....bar none!

On several instances, I walked up behind fish and at a distance of twenty yards or more (again from behind them), I watched them scatter like I had just thrown a rock at them. These fish were not going to come to a fly easily. Fly line in the air would spook them, too much ground vibration or water disturbance would spook them, shadows, talking to loud, cloud shadows....I mean, it got to the point that I think getting a fly out of my fly box spooked them.

Needless to say, the Firehole River was the only river we visited that left us with our tails between our legs. It was a challenging fishery, at least in the area we fished her, but was extremely unique in it's features! I hope to return to this water during a cooler season to see this place in greater splendor!

DON MAKES AN ATTEMPT AT SOME VERY SPOOKY TROUT

The photos were few due to me shooting video most of the time, so I apologize for the limited photos. Hopefully I will find some more time to get some video of this place put together for all to see.

Next time I will get started on another amazing fishery where we shot a lot of video and shot a lot of photos and that is the amazing Teton River.

Until then, tight lines...

Patrick "Flybum" Robinson
Head Guide
Steelhead Alley Outfitters

The Adventures of Flybum - Part 4

Well the last time I blogged, we had just finished up a true deep wilderness fish chase and won! We didn't win big like we would have liked, but we still accomplished a few new species of trout.

After our exploration of parts of northern Idaho, it was time to hit some highly sought after water.....namely the Henry's Fork of the Snake in the northeast part of the state. Our plan was to get there mid morning after a short drive and pop into TroutHunter, one of the many fly shops that line the highway in Island Park. We had the opportunity to shoot the breeze with a couple of the employees and then decided to grab a bite to eat at there bar and grill knowing that in days past there wouldn't be a whole lot of options for eating after the evening hatches.

A VIEW OUT THE BACK WINDOW AT TROUTHUNTER...

YES THAT'S THE HENRY'S RIGHT OUT THE BACK DOOR!

We didn't get to spend much time on the Henry's, so what time we did have was spent fishing and not taking photos....unfortunately. However, Don did get this nice sunset photo of myself and Ben Barger fishing an evening hatch and spinner fall. Other than that, all we got was a little bit of video. You can look for that later in the blog.

PATRICK & BEN FISH THE EVENING HATCH AND SPINNER FALL

ON THE RANCH SECTION OF THE HENRYS FORK.

The day we had on the Henry's was way to short, due to some crazy circumstances. But we tried to make the most of the afternoon slowdown by finding some nearby mountain streams that held fish.

I don't know about you, but we enjoy small streams and small fish as much as we do the big ones. There is something about the allure and beauty of small streams and the fish that they hold. On this afternoon, we found another mountain jewel that held some beautiful little fish!

PATRICK READIES A FLY FOR THAT PERFECT PRESENTATION

In short order, I was on the water of this little stream. I found it to be narrow, but pleasantly cut into the floor of the mountain that it meandered in. Those nice deep cuts with undercut banks was picture perfect trout habitat. I knew that it was only a matter of time!

PATRICK PREPARES A CAST IN A TIGHT LIE...

Not long after I found the water, fish started coming to hand. They were feisty little guys for their size and were more than happy to put a bend in your rod. I was more than happy to let them too! This was the only stream that we fished that had a healthy population of Brook Trout. At most locations, these fish were found in a stream no more than three to four feet wide. The amazing thing was the spinner fall we witnessed late in the day! It was mind boggling to see the vast numbers of mayflies dancing above the waters surface.

PATRICK HOOKS UP ON A NICE IDAHO BROOKIE

We fished for an hour or two seeing what we could find and it turned out being just enough fish for an afternoon's entertainment. The scenery was great, the fish beautiful, and the camaraderie was second to none. All in all, it was another great adventure in the midst of our explorations of Idaho and the surrounding areas.

PATRICK POSES WITH A NICE SMALL STREAM BROOK TROUT

AN UP CLOSE SHOT OF THE COLORATION ON THESE

SMALL STREAM BEAUTIES!

Earlier in the blog, I told you we didn't take many photos of our time on the Henry's Fork, but did shoot some limited video. So that we didn't miss highlighting this awesome fishery, I decided to break out a little video....trust me, I wanted to see it worse than you!

At any rate, I hope that you enjoy this simple video highlight from the few hours we spent on the river.

Next time, we will jump up to Yellowstone National Park and the Madison and Firehole Rivers. Truly a stunning area of our country.

Until then....

Patrick "Flybum" Robinson

Head Guide

Steelhead Alley Outfitters

The Adventures of Flybum - Part 3

When we left off last time, we were finishing up our day on a small mountain stream that held a good population of Westslope Cutthroats and Bull Trout. The allure of these beautiful species kept us captivated a bit longer than we had planned and thus ate into our allotted time for the next stream we had planned on fishing. Looking at my watch, I found that it was already about three in the afternoon, so we hustled to get to the next stream which according to my calculations should have been about 45 minutes away.

As it turns out, it took us a bit longer to get there. We got back to a small town and made a quick stop to grab a snack knowing that we would fish until dark (approx. 10pm)...gotta eat right? We would have about 5 hours to fish the next section of water as we calculated it and when darkness settled in, we would head to the east to stage for day three.

As we start driving, we hit blacktop, then a nice stretch of gravel, then dirt, then a two track through the sage brush.....then a cow path. This is where it became challenging!

LOOKING UP THE VALLEY THAT LED US ON

ONE WILD STREAM CHASE!

As we drove and the road narrowed, we tried to navigate with our limited maps and intel that we had gathered from others in weeks prior. I can still remember saying, "This has to the be the road," and thirty minutes later we would find ourselves at a dead end with an endless expanse of sage brush in every direction and the stream still a mile or two off in the distance. So we would backtrack and look for the next best avenue. Time and time again, this would happen as one cow path after another would lead us astray.

ONE OF THOSE ENDLESS EXPANSES OF SAGE BRUSH

THAT WE BECAME VERY INTIMATE WITH IN OUR TRAVELS.

MEETING THE LOCALS ON OUR WAY UP THE VALLEY

Eventually, we found ourselves on the right two track and a whopping 3 hours later, finally came to a stop and parked in the sage overlooking this awesome piece of water. With only 2 hours of light it was time to forget about the clouds of mosquitoes that had encompassed us and get to fishing. Thank God for a buff and gloves....they kept those pesky mosquitoes at bay as we made a dash for the stream!

Within minutes, I was streamside trying to penetrate the dense willows that guarded the stream and at times made it completely inaccessible! Regardless of the dense riparian zones, I would not be hindered in scoring the fish we had come for, so I encouraged the guys to follow me.

After hitting several locations and not getting any sign of fish, I came around a corner to a beautiful slot that was quite large in comparison to what I had seen so far, and I knew that it would hold fish. First cast and a nice fish rose....missed him...and it looked like a Bull. Second cast, another nice fish rose...again, I missed! This time it looked like a Rainbow, but maybe it was a Columbia River Basin Redband? Only time would tell. Ben Barger was looking over my shoulder this whole time and I think his anticipation was building as fast as mine! One more cast and the fish rose....SCORE.....FISH ON! He ripped through the hole with the tenacity of a bulldog and I eventually coaxed him to my hand. It was a nice small stream fish and the fight I had won brought to me my very first Columbia River Basin Redband.

PATRICK ROBINSON HOLDS A NICE

COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN REDBAND

These Redbands sometimes make a run clear to the ocean and become part of the wild species of Steelhead that return up the Columbia and into the Snake River drainages. When they don't become anadromous, they remain in areas such as this to be caught by blessed anglers like me : )

A CLOSE UP OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN REDBAND

Quickly the guys jumped in and started pounding the hole with me as the sun was setting quickly. In short order, Don and I were standing side by side with a great Idaho double.

DON AND PATRICK HOLD A COLUMBIA

RIVER BASIN REDBAND DOUBLE

BEN BARGER PUTS A NET ON A FISH FOR DON

Following a few fish in the net by Patrick and Don, Ben was chomping at the bit to get his fish. I reluctantly stepped aside and let him slide into my spot knowing that his patience and help shooting photos and film demanded it be done. I handed him my rod that was already rigged and took one cast and BOOOOM! A fish slammed his fly and had no intentions of letting go. It was a tenacious fish...it was a Bull Trout! Although they get much larger than this, we were stoked to say we had got one! Char in the lower 48.....it doesn't get any better than that!

BEN BARGER HOLDS HIS FIRST BULL TROUT

IN THE MOUNTAINS OF IDAHO

A CLOSE UP OF A RESIDENT MOUNTAIN BULL TROUT

What really had us charged was the thought of a large Bull Trout taking our flies! We knew that they were there, and had the proof in our hands when the following fish was brought to the net wearing the notorious scars from the teeth of a large Bull Trout. The fish in the photo was in the 12 inch range which leaves us believing that a 20-30 inch fish must have left these scars. (look for the scars between the dorsal and pectoral fins)

A BULL IN THE NET WITH SCARS

FROM AN ATTACK HE SURVIVED

Although our time on this creek was very short, it was oh so sweet. We caught a great number of fish in a short period of time and they were all new species that we could add to our life list. The experience was wild and definitely an adventure that we will not soon forget!

In time, our truck will find its way back to that location to spend a couple of days hunting the big boys and the plethora of wild upland birds that frequent the sage brush of the area.

Next time, we will head for the famed Henry's Fork of the Snake area and another small stream. Until then, tight lines!

Patrick "Flybum" Robinson

Head Guide

Steelhead Alley Outfitters

The Adventures of Flybum - Part 2

Day 2 began with great excitement as the sun exploded from it's slumber revealing to us the might of Salmon river! We were in some amazing country and quite frankly, I couldn't wait to see more of it. Today was going to be the start of our multi-species pursuit and the excitement of catching some of these species of beautiful trout put my heart on a racing pace.

With every mile we drove, the excitement grew. I just couldn't believe how much water was around to fish. It seemed that everywhere we drove, there was trout water....it was paradise! After a short drive, relatively speaking, we came to the road that would take us back into the middle of nowhere...that place I love to be!

HEADING UP THE VALLEY INTO THE MOUNTAIN

(if you look on the road ahead there is a mule deer fawn looking at us)

Shortly after our turn out, I jumped out of the cab and into the bed of the truck for some moving film shots that will hopefully add to "The Adventures of Flybum, Volume 2" that we were trying to shoot while on our big adventure in Idaho and beyond.

Driving up the valley was breathtakingly beautiful and the wildlife just kept getting more plentiful and the scenery more spectacular!

PATRICK ROBINSON RIDES IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK

LOOKING FOR THAT NEXT FILM SHOT TO ADD TO

THE PLANNED PRODUCTION

Eventually we arrived at the location we wanted to fish. It was a great little place to camp, but unfortunately this was our first time out, so we didn't plan on camping while out there. Next time, we will have the tents with us to make sure we can hang out in some of these remote areas for longer periods of time.

At any rate, we were now looking over the first piece of water we had planned to fish and we were stoked. We couldn't get wadered up and ready with the film equipment fast enough!!!

BEN BARGER STANDS AT THE BACK OF THE TRUCK PREPARING

TO HIT THIS AWESOME PIECE OF WATER THAT WE WILL

LEAVE NAMELESS TO PROTECT THE BIOLOGICALLY

SENSITIVE SPECIES IN HER WATERS

Not long after arriving, we were curious to see what kind of bug life was in the water, so we grabbed one of the nets that had a fine mesh bag and flipped a few rocks. It was quickly understood why this stream had such a good population of Westslope Cutthroats and Bull Trout. Along with this handful of tasty bugs, we also put a nice sculpin in the net as well. So, I think it is safe to say that this stream is alive and kickin!

BEN BARGER HOLDS A HAND FULL OF

MACROINVERTBRATES...aka...FISH FOOD

Although we did catch fish, we didn't catch as many as we would have liked and it was largely due to huge volumes of water this little creek was pumping. A friend of mine, Chris, had turned me onto this stream as he had been there a few years back. He actually caught a huge Bull Trout in this stream that took a smaller Bull he was reeling in. So, we knew the fish were here, but the turbulent water had pushed all the fish into very limited locations of availability. Nevertheless, Westslopes and a single Bull Trout were caught because of our tenacity to not give up so easily! If you like fishing for native species or just want to learn more, I encourage you to check out my friends blog about "native salmonids" (http://shocchris.blogspot.com/)

BEN BARGER FISHES TO A CUTTIE THAT ELUDED US ALL

DUE TO HIS POSITION THAT MADE A GOOD HOOKSET

NEAR IMPOSSIBLE! WE ALL HAD A SHOT AT THIS NICE

FISH TUCKED WAY UNDER THE OVERHANGING WILLOWS,

BUT COULDN'T BUTTON HIM UP.

After a good mornings fish, it was time to move on up the stream a little ways, and we found an amazing meadow with an old homesteaders cabin that had been abandoned years ago. It was a telling story of how people used to try to squeak out an existence here in years past. Living in this location would be great in the warmer months, but foot upon foot of snow in the winter would make this a very challenging place to live!

DON AND BEN OVERLOOK THE STREAM WHILE IN THE

PRESENCE OF ONE BEAUTIFUL HIGH ELEVATION VALLEY.

It didn't take long for me to get back down to the water! In fact I may have run down to the water for all I know. The child in me tends to come out in moments like this if you know what I mean?

Upon arriving at the stream again, I found a very nice little pocket of calm water under an overhanging willow with a log providing some protection from the raging water. This was sure to hold a fish or two. The only problem was getting a cast just right to make the presentation. Fortunately for me I was fishing a 7' rod with a very slow action, therefore these kind of presentations were right down my alley!

PATRICK ROBINSON SCOPES OUT THE NEXT

POCKET IN HOPES OF A NICE TROUT

I got into position from the downstream side of a huge log crossing the stream and cutting the raging current. After checking my backcast lane, I got the fly in the air and crossed the mental fingers. With the layout of the line I gave a waggle to the rod to build in some slack for the drift that was about to ensue. The line hit the water and it was absolute perfection. My fly had fallen just shy of the willows and caught the back eddy current that would pull my fly deep into the overhanging willow and hopefully deep into the mouth of a hungry trout.

I waited and the fly pulled upstream into the eddy. The time seemed to slow and it reached into the depths of the cover within. Then all at once, time was freed to race again as a fish slammed through the surface and annihilated my fly. Immediately I set the hook on this fine specimen and in doing so turned him downstream to a virtual torrent of whitewater. In short order my 10 inch fish felt like 30 as I fought to get him out of current back under the log I was standing behind and into my hands. Would it happen, could it happen, did it happen.....this time around, I came out on the winning end and with a great big smile to boot.

PATRICK ROBINSON HOLDS HIS FIRST WESTLOPE CUTTHROAT

A CLOSE UP SHOT OF A STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL SPECIES

Westslope Cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi)

aka...the black spotted cutthroat

You could hold these things in your hand all day and just stare at their beauty. They are definitely one of the prettier species of trout I have ever caught. Although, it is hard to say that any are prettier than another. Simply put, I love trout and the beauty of each one I get the pleasure of catching and releasing for another day!

A FINE CLOSE UP OF A WESTSLOPE CUTTHROAT IN HAND

Our time on this fine stream took longer than we had planned making our dedicated time for the next stream excursion a bit cramped for time. That will be the next blog topic.....Stream number two and Bull Trout and Columbia River Redbands....

Tight Lines,

Patrick "Flybum" Robinson

Head Guide

Steelhead Alley Outfitters