Trip Report: Windy Gray Day

Today was windy and chilly so I headed about 30 minutes away to my current obsession, catching Arctic Grayling! Only a few good fish came to hand and fewer photos turned out good.

This pic shows the blue hues and fancy fins really well. I ended up visiting with eight aggressive Grayling, all caught on a prince nymph. Two did strike my purple and pink foam hopper indicator!

East Side Glacier Photos

I'll get it out of the way right away. We saw a couple of Grizzly Bears.

They call this inlet on the lake their love shack.

 We felt our nerves a little more after this as we began our hike out of Many Glacier. But first we grilled up some Johnsonvilles! As we pulled in we spotted some mountain goats near a high alpine ridge.

The trail led past three lakes! The first had some beautiful waterfalls at it's inlet.

We hiked over lots of snow too! And near the end of the passable section of the trail we heard what sounded like an avalanche come from the snow free mountain above us.

A flurry of goats raced off of a rocky ledge and spread out as they slowed. We also spotted many moose prints and some bear scat! After hiking around 5 miles in we turned around at a bridge-less creek passage. We moved on to check out a few other areas and left the park for the long drive around the park and home.

Trip Report: Fool Me Once...

Today the brother, his girlfriend, the wife, and I took another trip to our happy place at Glacier National Park. We hiked one of the most popular trails in the park in search of native Westslope Cutthroat Trout!  I struck first with a little cuttie. The brothers girlfriend struck next with another little cuttie. Then I moved deeper into the misty glacial cirque in search of bigger and better prey.

 The forecast called for rain and snow in the park but we saw very little of either. Check out the waterfalls in the bottom picture. It was hard to focus on the task at hand but broseph overcame his beautiful surroundings to haul in a few cutties.

I also managed a dozen or so.

 

When my bro and I were young we learned to fish from my mom and dad. Dad was patient enough to relinquish his rod any time I got a tangle and I usually pulled in a fish while he struggled with my rats nest. Today, the wife was the one getting tangled. I taught her how to do a short roll cast (10 feet or so). She ended up catching 3 little cutties by the time I fixed her up.

The wife definitely had the fastest catch rate, hauling in three in about 5 minutes. She still won't touch 'em though.

Trip Report: Last Minute Ling Ling

So my brother and his girlfriend are in town for the Memorial Day weekend and expressed an interest in hooking up with a few fishies. The forecast has doomed the valley and surrounding mountains to a fate of wind, rain, and snow for the entirety of their visit, but upon their arrival the weather cleared; all except for the wind. They pulled in around 400 but with the resisting to set until around 10:00 we decided we had plenty of time to get out and do something. Glacier and a few of the surrounding lakes were options mulled over. Without a decisive one in the bunch I made the executive decision to head to a local lake (largely unknown) for its great populations of Arctic Grayling and Cutthroat Trout. By around 5:30 we got on the water and began casting. Of course I was the first to draw blood!

The brothers girlfriend then hooked into her first Grayling, a stout 13 or 14 incher. We fished shallow and were rewarded with many Grayling and a few Cutties. Then my wife pulled one in. During the excitement I hooked into another fish. He pulled and pulled leaving me believing I had hooked into a beast of a Grayling. But nope...

This 15 or 16 inch Cuttie is the biggest Cutthroat I've caught on the fly thus far! At this point The brothers girlfriend as well as my wife and I were out fishing my brother pretty bad. But I could see the gears turning in his head and eventually he began pulling them in at an astonishing pace.

While posting these pictures I realized we didn't get many of the bro with the ling ling. But yes, he did catch a load of 'em and a few little cutties. Before the end of the trip I also managed to hook into a beastly Grayling.

 

This guy sucked down a prince nymph and took off, but after a short lived battle he came to hand.

This guy too!

Gray hares ears, prince nymphs, and caddis dries were effective today as well as spinners. We'll have to see if we can't entice a few cutties on some alpine lakes if the weather clears.

Trip Report: Montana Grayling

Today the wife and I headed out kayaking on one of only a few lakes in Montana that hold Arctic Grayling. They are not a trout but a char, like the Eastern Brook Trout. I've hit this lake once before with spinning gear and spotted many risers, but no takers. I've also never caught a Grayling before. Today was refreshingly different.

I caught a couple around 14 inches but most were right around this size. They leaped for a salad of midges and mayflies swarming near the surface, but were easily caught on a gray hares ear fished under a foam hopper. (lately I've had a lot of fish hit my indicator when nymph fishing so I use a foam hopper almost exclusively as my indicator.) 

Here's another mid sized fella. The way the blue comes out in their fins when under water does not compare to the picture.

The wife even got in on the fun! She caught three Grayling all on a dark little spinner. She missed a few other nibbles as well.

I  believe Montana is the only state in the lower 48 that still harbors the Arctic Grayling so this lake is a treat. Next week I won't be doing much fishing but I hope to return really soon!

Trip Report: To My Happy Place

Today the wife and I went to our happy place!

We encountered a good amount of snow after a two mile hike in. As you can see from the right side of the picture there were quite a few people on the trail and at the lake. Bears can be pretty active in this area during spring so the crowd was comforting. My new Fenwick Eagle GT, a worthy investment for anyone looking for a solid inexpensive rod, accompanied us on the journey.

 Just before this guy came to hand a fella at the lake asked if he could get footage of my casting. I gave him the ok and on the next cast a chunky Westslope Cutthroat bit my homespun prince nymph. Somewhere out there the footage exists! I didn't snap a pic but rather held the fish in front of the camera for the guy.

This is the last victim of the day. He his a gray hares ear skated near the surface. A few struck my foam hopper indicator but none were big enough to suck it down. While casting I noticed some movement from above.

 The picture on the left shows some white mountain goats. One the left the camera is zoomed way in. They spent the whole time we were up at the lake climbing around those steep rocky ledges. Neat to see!

I can't wait to take my bro up to this spot in a few weeks! I'll be fishing here a lot this summer...

Trip Report: Quattro De Mayo

I decided to celebrate early and headed out to a local hot spot!

Look at the mug on the cuttbow on the lower right. I caught some stout little ones and some heafty buggers! Today they seemed to like the gray or brown hares ear. A couple big ones came to hand at the mercy of the prince nymph.

 After a decent little fight this guy submitted to the mighty St. Croix! One of the last fish she would ever defeat. A few days later I packed the car and headed out for an evening with the fishes. Upon my arrival at the lake I found my rod fractured in a few places. As I strung it up it just snapped in three pieces...

Trip Report: Post Storm Prince Nymph

Today saw rain, a little hail, and a flurry or two...and then sun!

 

I met a fellow angler at the parking lot and learned that the fish were running large and fighting hard. Full of expectation I tied on a pink pookie foam hopper with a prince nymph dropper. The trout took notice. First I hauled in a foot long cutthroat with distinct red slash marks under it's gills. I decided against a picture and continued fishing.

 This beat up bow was the biggest of the first hour of fishing.

After an initial burst of enthusiasm most of the foot longs came in without fuss. I missed or hooked for a short moment a number of hefty buggers but only brought one bigger fishy to hand.

He put up such a good fight I only hefted him out of the water for a quick photo. I wish I would have gotten a better shot but I'm glad he was able to swim away strong. He munched a brown hares ear.

A lot of water is opening up and I'm looking forward to hitting some higher elevation waters soon!