Yellowstone Fall 2010

After nearly 10 years I finally caught a fish!!

Dad, Kyle, Jonathan and I went up to Shoshone Lake in Yellowstone for a fall fishing trip.  This is a trip we've normally done in the spring and summer time, but tales of spawning fall browns tempted us to brave the fall weather and see if the rumors were true.

We might have been a little early it looked the brown run was just starting but we did see quite a few fish on our way up the river. Unfortunately the fish were a little more interested in things other than food.  Inspite of our best attempts they didn't seem too interested in our flies along the river.  Kyle with his fly fishing prowess was able to catch one fish with his fly rod.   We did have better success with good old "yellowstone specials" and red daredevils in the lake.  All of these fish were caught at the outlet of Lake Shoshone.

 

I would like to point out that my fish pictured first was the "biggest" (22 inches) but I think this fish caught by Kyle was the prettiest (and first caught).  Along with the browns we caught a few lake trout but they weren't nearly as pretty and large as the browns.  All the fish caught were between 15 and 22 inches.

A view of camp

Hmmmm Trout!!

Most of the fish were released but a few ended up on the menu.  They were pretty good, in the past we've noticed that the lake trout haven't been as good but no complaints about the browns

Here's a view of the outlet of the lake that we fished.  All in all the weather was pretty good.  We did get some rain, and it was.. well... October, but we still managed to stay dry and warm.  Actually it was really cool seeing the park at a time of year when there are not the normal crowds.

A picture of Jonathan as we headed back down the river. 

I'm not sure if I'm comming or going in this picture. 

The trip consists of a 3 mile paddle across Lewis Lake and then a 3 mile paddle/pull up a river to Lake Shoshone.  The last mile usually consists of donning the wadders and pulling the boat up stream.   

Here's a view of the channel opening up into Lewis Lake.  Usually this is the most tenuous part of the trip.  When crossing open water there's always concerns about wind and sudden white caps.  We played it a little safer this trip (I have kids now) and stayed closer to the shore this time.  We did get the added benefit of checking out some geysers and hot pots that we had never seen before.

It was great trip, it was nice be back at Yellowstone and finally catch some fish.  It was great being able to spend time with Kyle, Jonathan and Dad.  I'm looking forward to future trips and the day when Hyrum, Isaac,  (and Jen if she wants) will be accompanying me.

-Ryan