Cathey and I Completing our "Out West Trip"





Cathey and I got back home late yesterday, tired but happy we made a trip of a lifetime for us. We traveled over 4000 miles saw some amazing scenery and didn’t wet a fly on the trip. Time was the factor that kept me out of the streams in the Black Hills and Yellowstone.

As some of you know I am a huge western fan and finding out we could see the actual props used in Dances with Wolves was a plus!!!

The headquarters building of Fort Hayes build for the movie, in fact, all the buildings in the Fort Hayes prop village were all built for the movie. The movie went way over budget but won numerous Oscars at the academy awards in 1989.

 The Black Hills

So majestic is all I can say!!!!

French Creek in the Black Hills, Alan I thought of you when I snapped this image.

Monument located atop Monument Hill at the Little Big Horn Battle Field. We spent the afternoon at this site, because of all the history.

Some of Custer’s Calvary using markers showing where they fell in battle----I want  go into all the information about the battle, but a lot that was seen in all the Custer movies were false.

Custer is not buried here; his remains are buried in West Point Cemetery in New York

Awesome rock mountains at the Buffalo Bill Dam going into Yellowstone

The Shoshone River flowing from the base of the dam

One of the many buffalo we spotted in the park, notice all the burn area in the background. The only negative for Yellowstone was the thousands of acres of burn timber in the park, in fact, there was a fire burning in the park while we there.

Old Faithful

One of many waterfalls in the park; these are a few of the images from the places we visited, there are many more, but I won't bore you with the rest. I will close by saying it was a trip Cathey and I will never forget.

Fishing Against the Odds

Never think you have this great sport of trout fishing figured out. That is what I find out every time I set foot on the waters of the Sipsey Tailrace. The trout may be wiling to take a certain pattern one day and the next it could be something completely different. I know the holidays always bring out a lot of fishermen either on the lake or on the tailrace. The tailrace was covered on Labor Day with fly fishermen from all over the state, not a good day for a retiree to fish anywhere near the place. Neither is the day right after the holiday, but Tuesday was the only day I had to fish this week, so I gave it a try this morning. I did the walked up to access seven, which is right at the dam to set up for my first cast around 9 AM. I knew I was fishing against the odds today. No activity at all  as I approached the waters edge so I started with a size 18 Zebra Midge, which produced a couple of rainbow early. I like to use smaller flies on days when no activity is present. After landing the two rainbow the drought set in and didn’t let up until right before I left at twelve.  

As I made my way back to access five to leave, I saw this nice rainbow moving in some pocket water right below where I was standing. I started casting my nymph trying to get a decent drift to entice a take; but the rainbow was having nothing to do with the indicator nymph combo. Time to change patterns and method of presentation. I decided to tight line my nymph down and across the pocket which allowed the nymph to pass through the pocket with less time for the trout to inspect the fly. On my second cast I saw the rainbow slam the nymph in the super clear water. The take was savage, and the fight was a stretch for my 3 wt. One of the fly fishermen near me was kind enough to take the shot of this beauty. This fish was one of my better trout from the Sipsey this year. Seeing this nice rainbow take my nymph was an awesome experience and a fitting way to end my morning outing.

 

Speaking of pocket, I will be out of pocket for the next couple of weeks; Cathey and I will be making a trip out west starting tomorrow; so no post for a while. I will be carrying my fly rod and hope to wet a fly especially in Yellowstone.

 

Tight Lining Using the Microlight Combo

A fantastic day on Smith using the 7 1/2 ft. Microlight fishing in 30 to 35 feet down under. When the fly rod won't get to the fish try the next best combo to the fly rod, the Microlight!!!
                                                                            

The lake is very low now and the fish are in the deepwater and very finicky; adapting to the conditions and making the best of the situation is a must if one is going to land fish this time of the year on Smith. I used a technique yesterday that will work on any water one may fish. Tight lining using a microlight spinning rod rigged with a slip shot, 20" above a bluegill hook. A bobber stopper is used to stop the slip sinker from sliding down the line while the rest of the line with the hook float along the bottom. The hook is tagged with a cricket and tipped with white crappie nibblet. A slow retrieve will usually get the take and most all the hits are on the fall as the cricket falls back to the bottom. There is no mistaking the hit, most of the time the fish will take the cricket and swim away franticly, that is when you merely lift the rod and set the hook. I have found that 4 lb. test Vanish line is the best choice for fishing this technique. The above group was the best of the best for yesterday's outing. Got to love it!!!!