Month: August 2019

As we end this trip, my first fly fishing adventure, I reflect upon my journey since April when I attended my first fly casting class. It felt at the time that I would never be able to figure out the correct motion to get my fly line out without tangling or whipping myself in the face. Practice does lead to not perfection, but improvement and my hours at the casting ponds, with lots of help from Tony, the casting guru, eventually paid off. I have advanced to intermediate level at the Golden Gate Flycasters and can do a decent falsecast, rollcast, shooting line and

My first trip with Ray to Hat Creek was a bust as far as casting or fishing were concerned with me spending all of my time pulling my hook out of grass. My thought- fly fishing is a hard sport!

I give my success on this trip to Ray who patiently coached me, found places to fish where I would be successful, threaded my line when I couldn’t see the hole in the hook, and patiently untangled my line. The Gallatin Women’s Fly Fishing class gave me confidence to get out there without anxiety, and gave me success in catching fish on my own. I can even wade in the water without feeling like I will float away! All in all, great progress was made!

Montana and Wyoming are gorgeous with huge open vistas, few people and beautiful scenery. These are places where I feel a sense of peace and a closeness to nature. For a brief time, we can feel far away from the problems of our world.

Fly fishing is still a male dominated sport though it seems to be gaining in popularity among women of all ages. We even met a couple in Montana – the husband was accompanying his wife, new to fly fishing. We have seen more fisherman here than anywhere else- on the trails, in the stores …. I am amazed at the friendliness of fly fishers, sharing what worked, what didn’t, offering flies to each-other. It has its own culture, lingo and brother/sister hood.

For over twenty years, I have been a bystander, on the sidelines watching, mostly waiting, hoping for the time to be over so we could move on and get to where we were going. Being an insider provides an interesting perspective- what is the allure, mystique, attraction that draws people to this sport? Why is my husband so drawn to this? I think I am beginning to understand and with time, maybe I will fully comprehend. There is a unique thrill when a fish jumps up to take your fly; it is quite unbelievable actually. For now, I am enjoying the camaraderie, the shared moments of joy, being in nature together and discovering a new skill and knowledge that awakens my senses. I’m looking forward to further progress.

Our final day on the Madison and we are going to make the most of it. We are out the door before 8am; we’ve never fished the river early in the AM and are excited to try. There are only 2 other cars in the Raynold Bridge lot and we find our favorite spot unoccupied. Ray and I each catch one, mine is a good size brown trout, a feisty one which breaks the line around Ray’s legs. It is an idyllic and beautiful morning, cool, blue skies, the air clean from last night’s storm. The clear Madison River winds its way through the sagebrush fields, the only sound is that of the bubbling river.

After a quick lunch, we stop by the fly shop to check out and say good bye to Kelly Galloup, the owner, who welcomes me to the world of flyfishing- nice guy. We drive over to 3 Dollar Bridge, which by now has gotten quite crowded with guides and their clients, every opening along the river is taken! We trod through a boggy area, tall wet grass, lots of mud, and at one spot my leg suddenly sinks and I am up to my knee in mud; I can barely pull it out, thank goodness for waders! We find a few promising openings in the bushes and I try nymphing and dry flies, but it is slow going today. I get a few bites but spend a lot of time untangling my line and extracting it from rocks. Nevertheless, being on the river is terrific and I have fun trying different flies and feel fairly confident changing them out. Ray comments that I am amazingly comfortable stepping in and out of the water and wading on the gravel. What a difference from 2 weeks ago!

Alas, it is 4pm and time to leave. We see dark clouds in the distance, looks like another afternoon storm is brewing. It has been a great trip, full of firsts and lots of memories. We drive to Twin Falls/Jerome Idaho, the Comfort Inn is quite nice. Tomorrow will be a long driving day.

We decided we are not quite ready to go home and Ray wants to show me his favorite fishing spots in Yellowstone, so we are leaving the Tetons today as planned but will drive through Yellowstone and make one more stop on the Madison River before heading home. We are lucky to get a cabin for another night at the Slide Inn.

Oxbow Bend of the Snake River has a crowd of people gazing at the gorgeous reflection of the Tetons. I stop to photograph and Ray find that this is an ideal spot to fish. Too bad we didn’t figure this out last night; note this for next time!

Ray takes me to the Firehole River, which runs through the many geysers of the park. Some claim fishing here is mystical as you are among the steam of the geysers. I can imagine it is so, when it is cold out and the area is empty of crowds. As the Firehole flows north, the temperature of the water increases, and this late in the summer, the water temperature is 70, too warm to fish up north. We stop at Biscuit Basin Geyser and throw a few flies; I get a couple of bites but that is all. It is indeed a special experience!

Our next stop is the Gibbon River which in combination with the Firehole, flow to form the Madison River. I love how the river snakes through the field and we walk, wade some and cast along the banks. We have a few bites; Ray catches a couple, I am not successful in landing any but very much enjoy being there, despite the gusty winds, black clouds and thunder threatening a huge storm.

We leave reluctantly, and head toward West Yellowstone for rations. There is a huge traffic backup which we attribute to road construction, only to discover 15-20 minutes later that people are stopping to view some animal in the woods, ah Yellowstone!

I come out of the grocery store to pouring rain, thunder and lightening. Afternoon storms seem to be the pattern in July. The rain does not let up until we reach Slide Inn and we are hoping for a clear evening to fish. After dinner, it is still gusty but we decide to chance it, and head to the river for an hour of remaining daylight. Our favorite spot is open, the skies clear, the wind dies down and it is a beautiful evening. I give up on the fly and catch a 15 inch brown trout and a little one, both while nymphing. I an proud that I set the rig up myself, though the tiny holes on the flies are really getting to me. I tell Ray I am going to devise a better system for this. When we get home, I am going to find a needle that can thread this thin tippet into the eye of the hook!!

The “back if the store” cabin is very nice, a large open room with a high log ceiling and lots of windows. I think about whether we could go back to living in a place this size; it is cozy and cute, a simple life.