[orvis1]

I wanted to share with you our Yellowstone trip that I had the opportunity to visit this weekend. I don't know how to relate this to you in a way that you will all understand except to say that I feel a sense of peace and the feeling that is where I belong. Trips like this are the reason we can tolerate everything else in that goes on in life. I will attempt to post a grundle of pictures but am unsure of my ability to make them show up. We left on I wanted to share with all of you my trip to paradise (Yellowstone) that I had the Wednesday evening about 6 pm for west Yellowstone and after getting through the gridlock all the way up to Ogden I felt we were finally on the way.

We made it to west Yellowstone after the truck sucked down about $140 in gas about 11:30 and pulled into our spot at the west Yellowstone KOA. I was so tired and it was late we just pulled in and left the truck hooked up and went to bed. The next morning we set up camp leveled the trailer and hooked up. I went with my wife and daughter so this was to be a mixed trip of sightseeing and fishing. We went to the museum of Yellowstone and basically wasted $12 (warning not worth the money). We then went to the IMAX Theater to see the movie Yellowstone at $27 dollars it was overpriced but cool. We then finally made our way to both Madison River Outfitters and Blue Ribbon Flies for some tips and bugs.

Now finally I get to fish we headed up HWY 191 to the Gallatin (one of my favorite spots). I geared up and the trip was on! The fist hole looked promising but no fish, I then made my way up the river and hooked into what would turn out to be the largest fish of the trip a 17" rainbow, I got him to shore and attempted to photograph him for the post and wouldn't you know it he flopped back into the river taking my fly with him. If anyone catches him with a soft hackle BWO please return the fly. I then moved upstream and caught a ½ dozen rainbows from 9"- 15" and to my surprise MR ****** came to visit now once but 2x. I was surprised to see whitefish in YNP but I guess you never know. After about 3 hours on the river we headed back to camp.

Friday I decided to go for the money shot! The Northeast part of YNP has always been my favorite and it did not disappoint! This part of the park is full of what I call fish porn! It holds the Gardiner, Yellowstone, Slough Creek, Soda Butte Creek, and the Lamar. These are all rivers you could spend several days fishing on each river and I could easily spend a month but that was not to happen this was a family trip. I did get the opportunity to see a monster elk, buffalo, and a bear on the way to the Lamar Valley.

I got the opportunity to fish Soda Butte and it was everything I remembered it to be. I caught fish on small beetles site fishing to Yellowstone cuts and also on the nymphs that worked yesterday. I caught and released more than my share of these beautiful fish and honestly lost count. I have attached some photos of the tip I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading my brain dump and I can wait to get back there again next year!

 

[Knowlton]

Why did you lay those fish in the mud to take their pictures?

 

[Improv]

Why did you lay those fish in the mud to take their pictures?

So… instead of congratulating Orvis1 on a nice successful fishing trip, you would rather know why he laid the fish in the mud before taking their picture? My guess would be this; Mud was/is the closes ground to the water. So… if you are all by yourself trying to take some photos of fish your just caught, and you didn't want your fish out of the water for very long, you might end up taking photos of them laying in the mud. That would be my guess.

Nice trip Orvis… thanks for sharing the photos, I loved them.

 

[ScottyP]

I love soda butte. I was bummed to see it out of sorts when the wifey and I visited in August. The cool thing about jellystone is there are ALWAYS alternatives.

I guess what Knowlden was getting at but couldn't say in a tactfull manner is that it is not too kind on a trout's slime coat to lay it on land. I often photo fish laying on there side in very shallow water, which may not be the greatest for them either, but is probably better than being out of the water completely. The slime protects them against bacteria and fungus and reduces the friction of water on them-- which is especially important for a river fish that is always facing the current.

Anywhoo, glad you had a cool trip. I think of the greater Yellowstone area as being the center of my universe, something like a holy land.

 

[orvis1]

Thanks Scotty, I am glad that someone understands my feelings about this place. I attempted to minimize my handling of fish, stocking has not occured since the 50's in YNP so I want to be especially carefull with wild trout. I also wanted to get a photo quickly and release the fish with the least amount of time out of the water as possible. Bolth rivers had muddy banks so as I landed the fish, rather than handle the fish by picking it up walking 4ft to the bank snapping the photo then handling the fish again to put it back in the river. YNP has also instituted a barbless only rule in the park as well to protect the fish. I was glad to share and thanks Improv for the kind words...