Extreme 2009

Wow! Extreme Class 2009 far exceeded any past years by bunches. I'm saying the best ever!
Let me start by apologizing for not keeping the updates consistently for this web page. I did shirk on my responsibilities; nevertheless I will make a grave attempt to redeem myself by trying to recant it all. Unfortunately I'm writing this is November of 2009, three weeks after we have returned from our last trip, the 9th trip of the year. So, let's look back at the Extreme Class 2009 by starting in January.
Trip #1 like every year so far, we started with the Gallatin River in Big Sky, Montana. In the beginning I thought the Gallatin was a one-time Extreme Class experience. I felt that the students would enjoy the trip but knew going in that the fishing would not compare with the many world class fisheries on our list. Well, I was mistaken. It's true that we catch more and bigger fish in other destinations, but the Gallatin still seems to make the "must save" list every year. Usually with a 5th or 6th place ranking, but this year it made it all the way to #3 over-all. Amazing consideration knowing the tough competition of this year's lineup and the fish we caught. I could try to examine why the Gallatin keeps making the list but I will not be able to say why for sure. So you know, it is our first trip every year and that may give it a sentimental edge because of the first timers; it's when they meet everybody. It is also affected positively by Bob and Ellen's cabin where we stay the first night, as well as the two large hot tubs in which we soak together at the end of the first fishing day. I know it's not the food; we eat in better places and I really don't think it's the fishing either. I don't know why it ranks high but I'm thinking it's a combination of those factors. I can say that I personally Love going to the Gallatin and for whatever reason so do the students. Note: it has made the list again for next year.

Trip # 2 was to the San Juan River in New Mexico. We drove to Durango Colorado and used the Double Tree Hotel as a base. The fishing was okay, large Rainbows but "the Juan," wasn't fishing like it has in years past. Nevertheless, we really enjoyed ourselves, how could we not with such a nice hotel and the very cool town of Durango. Fishing placed a close second to the fun we had in town. I'd say that gathering at the Mexican restaurant was the highlight of the trip. Don't get me wrong we caught some nice fish, but we didn't do well enough to warrant returning next year.

Trip #3 was to Sun Valley, Idaho and it was the best ever. In the rankings, it scored #1 overall. That #1 ranking marked the first time ever, in the history of the Extreme class, that any other river, other than the Big Horn finished #1. The Big Horn has not only finished #1 every year it has been on the list, this year the Big Horn fished, in my mind, better than it ever has ever fished in all the years we have fished it. Yes, in regards to the fishing, this was the best Big Horn trip we have ever taken. Here is what I am saying; the Big Horn has always been number one and yet, this year it finished number two. That's right; the Big Horn was the best it's ever been and still, the Big Horn ranked number two this year! That should give you some idea as to how good the year was and more specifically how good the Sun Valley trip was!

Sun Valley/Salmon River was ranked #1 for 2009. I do realize that the spouses skew the voting. I do know that many were told, by their wives, to vote the Sun Valley trip high, so it would be back on the list. Well, that is because the spouses really like going there. (We have really great, in fact, better than great lodging and at such a reasonable price too, that's why the ladies like it). Well, there was no doubt that the Sun Valley trip would be back on the list, but for it to take the number one spot had to mean that it was more of a trip than, just great lodging.
Yep! It was the fishing too! We netted sick numbers of Steelhead. I mean truly ridicules fish numbers! We all know how hard it is to catch a Steelhead, right? They are known as the "fish of a thousand casts." Well, to say that we did well would be an understatement. There were about 25 students that showed up to fish the Salmon River, and well, from that 25, we put 148 Steelhead in the net in two days! Maybe that is why the Salmon River/Sun Valley trip made it to number one. Twenty five Steelhead for the group would have great but 148 are you kidding me? It was outstanding! Here are some of the many, many photos.

I arrived, with my family into Sun Valley a few days before the group, with hopes of getting in a few days of skiing (spring break). We skied for two days but then the boys, Mickey and Finn, wanted to do some fishing. We headed over Galina Pass on Thursday and found some fish. We only fished in the afternoon but we still put 11 Steelies in the net, including my youngest, Finn, who caught his first Steelhead ever.

By Friday morning about a dozen students had arrived in an effort to get a jump on the Steelhead fishing. After breakfast I lead the new arrivals out to the river. It was amazing. We started lower in the river near the Metal Bridge where we had found them the year before. Collectively, we caught about 6 Steelhead before splitting up and leaving at about 11am. I left in my car with one of the new guys, Jerry and Mickey. We wanted to find a new spot.
We found a small space sandwiched between a mass of local spin fishermen near Yankee Creek. I hooked two wild ones casting clear to the other side of the river, a difficult cast, but they both broke off. Mickey tried a different strategy by navigating his way across the torrid Yankee Creek, a tributary of the Salmon, and before I knew it he had one on. I yelled some instructions over the noise from the raging Yankee where Mickey was trying to get a fat one onto the bank. He was all alone over there and worse still without a net.

Mickey continued to tangle with the fish but without a helper or a net it didn't look good. The fish was literally on the bank twice but as soon as he made an attempt to grab the fish it swam away. Eventually the fish got off and Mickey slumped with obvious pain and disappointment. Quickly I yelled back to him, "that's OK, you did everything right," he still stared at me hopelessly. I yelled again, "Come on; there is more in there, hurry cast!" Mickey stood up and made quick cast back into the angry current and just like that, bang!, he had another one on the line. With this fish he stayed focused and learned from the last fight and got it in! I snapped a photo from where I was across the creek from him and then he released it. All the local spin boys were watching with envy. After another cast and again, bang, he had on another, and then another.

Now casting into the creek myself, I also put two quick ones into the net on my side of the creek. Keep in mind these are Steelhead ranging from 25 to 30 inches, big strong fish. I'd say Mickey was working on landing his 5th or 6th Steelhead when I could here over a crackling radio that the other boys, in Chief's truck, were looking for us. I answered back that we were, "into them," and to get their butts down here. I told them over the radio where we were and moments later the gang rolled down the hill on to Mickey's side of the creek. The gang arrived just in time to witness Mickey drag in another big fish. I walked out into the creek and made a big throw with the net and Mickey caught it. I told him to put down his rod and let these boys catch some fish.

The guys began to cast into what was a creek, teaming with Steelhead and that's when, the may-lay began. Those boys were whooping and hollering as they all began to catch Steelhead. Mickey netted them as they reeled-em in, one after another. We had many doubles and even a few triples, again as the wader less locals dressed in cart hart jump suits looked on with curious interest. The fishing remained fast for the next three hours. After Mickey netted a good number of these monsters for the guys he realized that his hole was no longer his so he picked up his rod and moved up stream.

My side of the creek was also fishing well as Jerry, Tonto and I reeled fish in too. It wasn't long before Mickey could be heard screaming that he had one on. Sure enough Mickey was being pulled down the bank with a feisty Steely on the line. One of the students grabbed the net and the fish was landed. About half of the group joined Mickey now fishing in the main current of the Salmon and fish were being caught everywhere. Well, after talking to the gang over dinner, back in Sun Valley, we estimated that we, about 12 guys plus Mickey and I, netted somewhere around 54 Steelhead, in 4.5 hours. Crazy!

The students slammed them all day long, we just couldn't miss. Like I said, with the 11 fish taken on Thursday, with the 54 on Friday and the 83ish we caught on Saturday, I'd bet our total was at or near 148 fish for three days. That is a conservative estimate, I tried to keep track. For example, if twenty five fishermen only averaged 4 fish for Saturday we'd have those numbers. In truth, I think just between Mickey and I we had 30 to 35 in the net in three days.

The rest of the gang arrived to fish Saturday and the river did not disappoint. Lloyd, who was spending the night in Stanley, got up early before light and saved the spot for us. When I arrived at Yankee Creek, there was a man fishing nearby who told me that when he arrived, just after light, "that guy," gesturing toward Lloyd, was already fishing on that point? Furthermore, he said, that he watched Lloyd lose what he said was, "maybe 25 Steelhead." I inquired of Lloyd, after I talked to that gentleman, as to how many he had in the net. Lloyd told me, "none." "None, I said, "Wow, how many do you think you have hooked?" Lloyd said about 25.

Trip 4, was to Lee's Ferry down on the Colorado River, below Glenn Canyon Dam, not far from Page Arizona. This was a new destination for the Extreme Class, but a destination that has been on my personal list for quite some time. This trip marked the first time the Extreme Class has ever camped on the bank of a river. We have for a long time wanted to do this and, well it worked out just fine.

Joining the Extreme Class on this trip was the other two hosts of the radio show I do every Saturday called KSL Outdoors. The plan was to purchase rides from Lee's Ferry to the spillway of Glenn Canyon Dam where we would set up camp. There are rafts carrying tourists down the river from the dam. We rode back up on them after they unloaded the tourists. The jet boat ride was amazing. We jetted against the Colorado River's current and arrived at a camp site not far down river from the dam. There, our group set up camp; we had about 16 of us in all. We fished before dark but only landed maybe 5 or 6 fish; Rainbows averaging 17 inches.

It started to get dark so we made camp, cooked dinner and then BSed around the fire. People need to do this more often. Staring at a fire with people you care about is important; we don't do it enough in our "modern lives." I think that it is evolutionarily programmed into all of us, from centuries ago, to rest after the day and chat as we gaze into a crackling fire. I think it strikes a chord in our makeup; it causes one to do a mental inventory as we move through life. It connects us with some of life's real meaning and with our "current tribe." By doing this we learn that it's "all good" as we reflect on our journey, it causes us to conclude that we are just fine! As people, we crave this kind of a moment, maybe that's why we, as a people stare at the glow of the mindless TV. I think we are longing for that comfort after the day has passed. Unfortunately the TV falls short of the comfort we desire. What does provide that deep comfort is a fire with friends and family? I will stop waxing philosophic and say, the fire was good! The moon was full that night, I mean amazingly full! (Unfortunately, a full moon is bad for fishing)! The night sky was so bright that Randy was able to read his book by moon light.

The next morning Tim, Russ and I broadcast live on KSL from the river. It was fun. (The podcast is still available at KSL.com.) When we finished the show, we ate breakfast and began our float down river. The scenery of the canyon was breathtaking. Truly breathtaking! The steep red toned walls rise up from the aqua colored waters of the Colorado for more than 1000 feet straight up. My wife, who joined us but never fishes, liked this Colorado trip the best. But the fishing was a little slow. It could have been the full moon or that we were unable to figure-em out! Don't get me wrong we caught fish; it's just that we didn't get the big numbers we have come to know in the Extreme Class. I personally ended up with 11 in the net. Jerry was the high man with 12 fish. If we did it again, I know we would do better with the fishing. I think I know where, on that river, to spend the most time casting. I was hoping the fishing would be more forgiving because I had the KSL boys; Russ and Tim they are still learning. The river had a steep fish learning curve and I struggled to get them on fish. I was sad because I really wanted them to have a good experience.

Some of the group lagged back as we moved down river toward the bottom of the canyon. The fishing was heating up and the light was still good, so we fished a little too long. Unfortunately, we encountered some pretty strong headwinds that blew up the canyon as evening came. No worries, I felt it posed a memorable encounter for the balance of the group although some would say, like Jerry, that the last part was, "no fun." We all made it out just fine although I had to tie a few up to my raft as I rowed out. Crazy yes, but it was really kind of fun; I love the adventure of all these trips we take. Knowing now that this is nightly event, next time we float the Colorado we will come out a little earlier.

The Lee's Ferry trip was fun and truly beautiful and we hope to get back there someday. It was very different, we wore shorts and spent time looking at ancient petroglyphs and stuff that was fun, away from fishing. However, when we did the ranking and the end of the year, this trip, Lee's Ferry, finished last. I think it was the fishing that gave it that ranking, but the fact that we didn't have a full group was another reason it got hurt it in votes. Nevertheless we are going back there at some point.

Trip #5, back to the Big Horn River!
The Big Horn has been a juggernaut in Extreme Class ranking over the years and the 2009 trip did not disappoint! Even though the Big Horn finished 2nd in ranking for the first time, with a close 18 to 19 number 1 score, losing to Sun Valley, it was still in my mind the best Big Horn trip in Extreme Class history. It was amazing! The fishing could not have been better.

We started the Big Horn trip the way we do every year and that is in Yellowstone National Park, where we fish with the Spring Advanced Class. This year the Spring Advanced Class fished the Fire Hole River. The fishing on the Fire Hole was fast! I put 26 Rainbows/ Browns in the net in under four hours. The students also did very well. I always enjoy this trip because my Advanced guys meet the Extreme guys and the transition into the Extreme class is made easier. When the Advanced students get to meet the Extreme students they find them as they really are, friendly, willing to help and very approachable. Every new person in the Extreme Class is always made to feel welcome.

We headed out from the Fire Hole about 2:00 in the afternoon leaving the Advanced Class at the river. We made our way to Cooke City located in the north east corner of the park and arrived just before dark (but we did try a few casts in what was a muddy and flooded Soda Butte Creek before landing in Cooke). There, the group bound for the Big Horn all went to dinner, as always, we had a blast eating and reacquainting," ourselves (that means giving each other a lot of friendly crap) at the restaurant. We headed off to bed some time after 10pm, in what was a pretty good snow storm; cozy!

The next morning we woke and brushed off about 15"of snow from our cars. After, we gathered for breakfast we started our drive east. The snow the night before was big, and the road over Beartooth Pass was closed due to the snow depth. Therefore, we were forced to veer to the southeast toward Wyoming via the Chief Joseph Highway. The road was snow covered, and the flakes kept falling so we took our time, eventually we arrived at the junction just north of Cody, Wyoming and from there we turned north. We were much lower in altitude now so the roads were only wet with a few sprinkles remaining from what was a pretty snowy drive. We made our way to a small village just west of, "our big right turn," on to the Crow Indian Reservation. We stopped and had a nice lunch. It was kinda fun, we dined in an "old school" cafe and we were the only ones in the joint. We ate 50s style burgers and malts too. The gang was having fun, like we always do.

We continued the drive, now out of the mountains, onto the great prairie and across the Crow Nation's hauntingly desolate land. That drive gets shorter every year, but you still feel far from anywhere when on that prairie. We arrived in Ft. Smith in plenty of time to do some fishing. So we rigged our rods and wet our waders (in the river, mind you) at the A section pullout. The fishing was great; everybody caught lots of nice fish. I don't remember how many exactly, but lots! Pig Rainbows.

The next day we fished the A section and did very well. I will spare the details and just show some photos. It was great fishing. I personally was over 30 in the net; I'm sure most everybody had similar results. That night we all met in the bigger cabin where we dined on spaghetti. The next day we opted to fish the B section. This turned out to be a great idea! We put in where we left off the day before, at the A section pullout and began a great day of fishing. I'm getting too old to recall how many fish, but I guess more than 40 in the net for me anyway. Everybody did really, really well with what are quite large Browns and Rainbows. There is no question we are fishing the B section next year, maybe both days! It was a blast, one of the better fishing days we have ever experienced as an Extreme Class.

The majority of the group had already reached the pullout when I arrived at the bottom. Gene was there he asked if I had seen Nate. I replied, "No, why is he missing?" "Not missing," Gene said, "but he should have been ahead of you." "I didn't see him," I said. We called him on the walkie-talkie but no Nate. We waited and after a half hour, or so, I decided to call the sheriff. We had lost Nate.

Gene and I loaded or boats and began the drive from the pullout back up to the put-in. We rowed downstream with the current and made good time. All the while we were shouting Nate's name. Gene stayed in the main channel while I took all the side streams, yahoos and back waters, just in case he had got back somewhere out of site. We continued to row quickly hurrying down the river. We were just about back to the pullout when a call came crackling over the radio; he was found!

It seems Nate had rowed past the pullout and found himself having to row another 11 miles to the next pullout. The problem stemmed from a call that was made over the radio to Nate earlier in the day. What happened was this; Nate called out over the radio asking how far he was from the pullout. Now Gene, who was already at the pullout but wanting to give his buddy some crap, answered back with, "You still have two miles to go!" Unfortunately Nate believed him and turned his pontoon down river and began to row hard. Well he blew right past the pullout and never noticed what he was missing. Sadly, no one at the pullout saw him pass either.

Well, Nate made his way down river to the next pullout, some 11 miles and knocked on a farmer's door. The farmer gave him a ride back to where he was supposed to be, where our gang was waiting. The Sheriff met him there too. Whew, I guess, "all's well that ends well." Gene and I finished our drift back to the pullout and standing there with a big cheesy grin was Nate. What we learned from this ordeal is that one: everyone always has a walkie-talkie and two: to go easy on the crap over the radio!

We finished loading our pontoons and began the drive to Bozeman, Mt. We arrived in Bozeman where we were all booked into the Hampton Inn. That night we went to a pizza joint and had a real good time. After breakfast most of us drove to the Ruby River just outside of Alder, Mt. We fished the Ruby River until about 4pm. The fishing was outstanding! Just like the good ole' days. Man we caught a lot of fish. I personally put 43 in the net in only 4 hours. Then we loaded up the cars and drove back to Utah. What a great trip!

Trip #6. The John Day River was as good as a trip can get. Unfortunately, we only had a few make the journey to Oregon. In fact only nine of us came. Too bad, it sure was fun, and the fishing was outstanding. A one hundred (100) fish day was not only realistic it was achieved by most everyone in our group. It really only took throwing your line in to catch fish. It was crazy good. We took Small Mouth both on the surface and underneath both drifting and striping. In fact, I had four times where I reeled in two fish at one time. The river water was also very beautiful and warm, no waders.

In retrospect the float was a little ambitious; we floated a little too long. Well, maybe it was the catching that made us get behind, you see we caught so many fish that it was hard to keep floating. We caught fish after fish. There was fish everywhere, nice ones too. We never really got any true pigs, nice size fish, we took nothing over 17". But hey, a 12 to 16" Small Mouth is a serious fight. These fish, flat-out, give you the business. They hit it like a ton of bricks and then rattle and roll the whole way back to the raft. They were a total blast; I am sold on Smallie fishing. Put me down for Small Mouth fishing anytime, anywhere.

We stayed both nights at a really cool house overlooking the river. It was our second time to the John Day, if you include the research trip the year before. The house has a huge back porch that not only overlooks the river it overlooks an amazing valley. The John Day River makes a lazy flow thru that valley and finds its way just below our porch (a good fishing hole). The house has everything we need to make some great meals. We used the BBQ grill on the back porch to grill up some Tri-tip steaks and made Fajitas', it was really fun. The porch has a large table and some old wooden beach chairs; truly a relaxed environment. We made all the meals at the house, including a pancake and eggs breakfast as well as lunches that we took with us for the float. If and when we go back to the John Day, we will stay at this rental house again. Even though there is only two bedrooms there are 4 beds and a pullout coach. The weather is warm so sleeping bags and mats are a good option if we need to bring a lot of people; also there are two bungalows for rent on the same property, nevertheless the house is still quite roomy, with a large grass lawn and shade trees for tents.

This was my boys' favorite trip of the year. My wife enjoyed the float as well. In fact everyone who went on this trip voted it number one. The vote however was to no avail because there weren't enough people on the trip to give it a high ranking. Associated with this trip, we had an outstanding research trip to the Owyhee River in eastern Oregon en route to the John Day. (You can read about that trip at the end of this Extreme class re-cap. The Owyhee River is a Brown Trout fishery that has now been scheduled for the 2010 Extreme Class.)

Trip #7, was to BC Canada. We were in pursuit of giant Bull Trout. The story goes like this. My family, while researching Alberta and British Columbia, Canada for an upcoming Extreme Class trip kept encountering these amazing photos of giant Bull Trout. Bull trout are an endangered species in the United States. In fact no angler is allowed to target them while fishing in the US. This isn't the case in Canada. In Canada anglers can actually fish for them. I'm not saying that they are plentiful, they're not, but there are still a few Bull Trout out there and in some rivers of BC even quite common.

My son, after reading about them on-line became obsessed with the idea of catching one. I have caught one once, it was in the Salmon River in Idaho while Steelhead fishing. However, that fish was very small and I put it back before I could even take a photo. I didn't need any hassles with the law. But when we were in Canada we kept seeing these photos of giant fish on the walls in various fly shops as we traveled. Unfortunately we never caught a Bull Trout on that research trip. But again, after we got home my son continued to watch videos on U-Tube of Bull trout being caught. Well, not caught, actually most the videos were of Cutthroat Trout being gobbled by these behemoths as they were being reeled in by an angler. Yah, it seems these Bullies, as the Canadians call them, eat mostly Cutthroat Trout. Yes, Cutthroat are the main forage for these fish. I don't mean 8 to 12 inch Cutts either; I mean the larger 18 to 20" fish! Cool stuff! The Bull Trout bite the heads of these Cutts as anglers are trying to land them and then, steal the fish off the line. Even though we never saw a Bully that summer we returned with the Extreme class to do some fishing the following summer. This time my son had renewed hope of seeing and hopefully catching one of these leviathans.

We were with my Extreme Fly Fishing Class, 2008 and on this trip the class was targeting Cutts on dry flies. On this summer's trip however a few of my guys did catch a few Bull Trout, but nothing of any great size. Nevertheless, my son did have an encounter with one of these monsters just before dark, not too far from the pullout on the Elk River. We had been floating the Elk River most of the day and doing very well fishing dry flies, mostly foam terrestrials, when I heard my son Mickey start to yell. The story goes like this.

The daylight was getting quite low by this time and I really could not make out what exactly Mickey was saying and from a distance it appeared that he was waving. What I did see was that he was kicking his boat as fast as he could toward the shore. I decided to go ahead and release my 19" fish that I had in the net and take hold of my ores and row toward Mickey. As I neared the shore where Mickey was beached along with my wife Gail and youngest Finn, I saw Mickey running up the shore, back up river. I beached my boat and asked Gail what happened. "Did Mickey catch a Bully, I asked? Finn then yelled to me that a Bull Trout had "attacked Mickey," "What?" I said, "Attacked Mickey?" Gail then said, "A Bull Trout hit his leg." Hit his leg, I asked?

I grabbed my rod and ran upstream toward Mickey to find out what had truly happened. When I caught up with him, he was knelling on the ground and breathing hard while trying to tie on a huge salt water streamer pattern, but his hands were shaking too severely with excitement. I asked what had happened. With a winded and cracking voice, he could barely contain himself as he spoke. He said that he had caught a White Fish, and was reeling it in when a "three foot," Bull Trout grabbed it! It seems that Mickey pulled the Whitey out of the big fish's mouth but the Bully came at it again and again and then basically jumped into Mickey's lap. Wow! I exclaimed, "where did that happen," looking toward the river. "Right there," Mickey pointed to a spot with his elbow, as he wet the knot connecting his fly with his mouth. After biting off the knot tag he ran out into the river already casting as he ran. I also tied on a large streamer, almost Cutthroat in length, and the two of us began to cast and strip or lines thru the deep stretch. I stripped in my line and casted as quickly as I could, but deep down, I really hoped that it would be Mickey who got a strike. After about ten minutes of fruitless stripping, I told Mickey that we needed to move on. "No," he said as he wiped a tear with his arm, "not yet," as he quickly casted again anxiously trying to cover his emotion.

"Come on Mickey," I gently pleaded, "it is getting dark." Even though I felt his pain, I admired his passion. I began to walk back to the boats knowing that he had no alternative but to follow. Reluctantly he dragged himself out of the water and started to walk back. I stopped so he could catch up I put my arm around him and then I talked to him in a sympathetic voice. I told him that he will catch a Bull Trout! Someday, I promise! I said that we will come back here and that time we will only fish for Bull Trout. Well, we did come back!

I tried to do some research about Bull Trout, but frankly there isn't much out there. I needed to know what patterns work and when should Bull Trout be targeted. It was hard to find anything. One thing I did have was some photos of some boys holding Bullies. We met these two kids while fishing the Elk River. We had pulled our pontoons over to the bank and were working a stretch of river when the two boys came up and said hello. They were walking up the river wearing shorts and tennis shoes carried fly rods. They saw Mickey and Finn and stopped to say hello. The boys chatted about fishing and then skiing and so on. There was no question these boys were kindred spirits with Mickey. They loved skiing and fly fishing. Eventually the boys started talking about Bull Trout. The local boys both said that they had caught Bull Trout. Mickey was jealous and amazed. I asked the boys if they had pictures and they said they did. After exchanging e-mail addresses the boys promised to mail some photos to Mickey. Well, they did.

They said that the Wigwam River had more Bull Trout than any other river in the area so I knew where but I still needed to know when. The photos those boys mailed showed snow in the mountain tops and the fish the boys were holding had spawning colors. The photos really gave me a lot of information. Bull Trout are Char (Salvelinus confluentus) and Char spawn in the fall, but when is it Fall in BC Canada. Well I decided that it would be the second week of October. Why the second week of October? Well, that is when my boys had a fall break from school; UEA. That is when we go fishing after Bullies! I had where and when so I booked us some flights to northern Montana rented a car and loaded the rods.

We got Ferine BC and wasted no time, we got a license and some info at a fly shop, a crude hand drawn map to the Wigwam and we were off. Let me tell you it was beautiful! Just gorgeous! Fall trees, aqua blue water and Bear scat everywhere. We had to hike from the dirt road but we found them. Bullies! Over the next three days we got 11 in the net. Here are some photos. My best pattern was my interpretation of a Cutthroat Trout, a fly I call a "Double Stranger." There really are a whole lot of details from this trip that I'm leaving out. I will write about it on another day, hopefully in the near future. I will call it, "My family Bull Trout Adventure. Stay tuned.
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