Some things came up that prevented me from going to my original intended fishing destination. No worries there are plenty of backup places to fish around here. The morning started early when my alarm clock went off at 0300. After a quick text to Elvis confirming he was on his way, I got ready and waited for him to show. He arrived at 0330, we put his gear in my vehicle and then we were off.

The forecast for our destination read: high 39 with a 20% chance of snow. Well up here it seems that when the percent is lower for precipitation the more probable it is. As we made the drive up the canyon road, the light rain first turned to light then heavy snow. At one point I had to turn off my high beams because the reflection from the falling snow was making it difficult to see. The road conditions that were good at the lower elevations quickly turned worse as well. What in reality should only be about a three hour drive ended up taking us four hours.

Finally around 0730 we were at our destination, we found a spot and started fishing. The air temps weren’t too bad and the water was a nice 36 degrees. The weather was variable going from periods of sun to full blown snow showers. This continued throughout the day.



The fishing was pretty slow, except for the whitefish. They couldn’t actually fit the fly in their mouth; they would attempt to strike it and some of the time they would inadvertently get hooked. Then around ten, I hear Elvis say “I got one and I don’t think it’s a whitefish this time”. No, it wasn’t a whitefish and after a nice fight the intended target was brought to hand.




I gave him crap about beginners luck and all but in reality, I was happy that he got one. Especially as this was only his fifth time ever fly fishing. After releasing the fish back into the water, I decided to take a couple random scenery shots.





We fished this run a while longer not catching any more except some whitefish. At this point while the 16-18” whitefish were mildly entertaining we decided to see what else was out there. After a quick “lunch”, we drove to a few other runs but weren’t having any luck. At this point it was decided just to return to the first spot.

Once back there, we went right back to fishing. After some more whitefish, I was thinking to myself “damn, I am going to get blanked today”. Just then I hear him yell “got another one and this one is bigger than the first”. I gave him some crap and said it isn’t anything until it is landed. As he was fighting it his rod went limp. After a few choice words from him the problem was figured out. The second fly had broken off at the knot.

Just as he broke off, I had a fish take my fly. The fish swam towards me at first giving me the impression it was another whitefish due to the lack of pull. Then as I put some pressure on him, it became obvious that it wasn’t a whitefish. He made several good runs and was a fun little guy to fight. Finally just when I was getting ready to throw in the towel for the day I got one.







We went back to fishing, after a while of nothing; I ended up getting a bad snag and lost my rig. At this point, I decided to stop fishing and screw around with the camera a bit.















Just before 1800 we decided to call it, while not the most productive day, fish were caught and fun was had. As we left, I stopped and got some more scenery shots. Oh and on the way back the road was nice and plowed unlike on the drive up… I hope you enjoyed this TR.

You sir are a master at fishing trip reports, beautiful fish, pictures and excellent detail! Those are cutthroat trout right?  

Sadly, I won't be able to go fly fishing for awhile. I sprained my right knee last week and missing some good hatches  on a local river.
Hopefully it will be 100% by the time the Sulphers hatch in May.

Damn, that is shitty, hopefully the knee heals up soon so you don't miss out on too much.


Thank you, glad you liked the TR and photos. Oh and those aren't cutthroats, they are the ocean going variety of rainbow trout. For a size reference, that rod in the pic is a 10' 7wt and the first guide is at the 32" mark.