Wow, what a weekend! As I write this, I have just arrived home after spending Friday and Saturday in the Big Horn Basin. I drove over to Thermopolis, WY on Thursday night after work getting there at 7:30 PM. I met my good friends Danny Sheldon (from Florida, Danny is an expert angler both in freshwater and the salt) and Chad Olsen (long-time Montana guide and shop owner, Chad is an exceptionally knowledgeable angler). I was planning on fishing Friday and Saturday with these guys and heading home Sunday morning.
We hadn't seen each other in a year or so and it was great to see these guys again. We had been to Kamchatka, the Amazon and the Bahamas together and always found each other great fishing companions and somewhat hilarious. That's not saying we are good companions or funny… just that we think we are. We picked up right where we left off. I don't think I've laughed so much in a long, long time! While we screwed up enough to embarrass ourselves repeatedly, we did manage to have some success. In fact, over the course of the day, we caught plenty of fish, experienced great weather and thoroughly enjoyed our day.
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| Seriously?… this sign was on a small island in the middle of the river. |
On Friday, we fished from the "Wedding of the Waters" (where the Wind River becomes the Bighorn River just above Thermopolis) down to the takeout at the Hot Springs boat ramp in town.
We caught lots of fish… we caught them on small dries (small pseudocleons or baetis), big terrestrials (crickets), droppered small terrestrials (cinnamon ants), droppered nymphs (hare's ears and pheasant tails) and streamers (too many to count). We caught big fish rising in pods, we stalked individual sippers, we sight nymphed big 'bows and we relied on indicators to stick big browns. It was never easy, but always entertaining. When all was said and done, we boated plenty of fish up to 22 inches and had a wonderful time.
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| 22" brownie |
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| 22" brownie |
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| Chad's dog Ursa watches the action |
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| lots of these... |
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| ...and one cutthroat! |
What...?...what...?..I wasn't invited to this most auspicious occasion with the very chaps who, like me, were carried up the Stairs of the Oz after vodka consumption and fly tying lessons...? Oh the shame...
ReplyDeleteJust kidding! Had to be a blast with those two kids! Well done amigos!
J
Trust me sir, your name came up. We detailed that evening from beginning to its ignominious end!
DeleteI hope that sign now rests in the Thermopolis refuse dump - or at least has some appropriate additional prohibitions, such as "No posting stupid-ass signs"
ReplyDeleteMan, that's where it belongs. I'm all for property rights, but this is ridiculous. We need in Wyoming, the same river laws as Montana!
DeleteSweet! I wanna go!
ReplyDeleteScott- What is a good source for river info on that stretch? Flows, report, etc. Like a shop? Thanks!
ReplyDeletetry:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.windrivercanyon.com/ff/fly-shop.htm
they do a good job!