Spring

Spring is perhaps the most anticipated time of the year for me. Finally the colds of winter disappear. The dark gloomy skies and lifeless plant life are on the way out. In southeast TN, GREEN comes on and it comes on fast! The green begins to pop everywhere! New life is born! It is a beautiful time to be outside. Coupled with these delights the fishing also ramps up to be, what I consider, the best of the year! For the last two months I have been up on the Hiwassee river at least once or twice a week. And I have been killing it!!!! One day I recall catching more than 50 fish in an afternoon! Last week the fishing had slowed down considerably since those big fish days but a solid day of fishing can still bring many fish to hand if you are in the right water. This is the first year in several years that I didn’t catch an absolute pig in the spring. My largest fish length wise was probably 18 or 19 inches but lacked the girth that some of the ones I have caught in the past. On the bright side I caught several well built browns and rainbows in the 15-16 inch class. Brook trout were stocked in more abundance this year and some days I caught upwards of 20 brook trout in a day!!! Maybe they replaced some of the bigger stockers with more brook trout this year? I’ll have to check into that! Regardless, get out and enjoy the fishing before it is too late!!! Until next time...

-Dreamcatchers

First Fall Trip

The time had finally come to take a fall trip out west. I had made several trips in spring and summer but the fall trip had been eluding me for years. For 8 days I was planning to be in Hungry Horse, MT, right next to the famed Glacier National Park. I had visited and backpacked Glacier National Park several years before and it was incredible. On that trip I did minimal fishing, but this trip would put me right next to the South Fork of the Flathead River, perhaps one of the best remaining Westslope Cutthroat trout fisheries in the world. I was thrilled and excited to see what I could get into, however it should be mentioned, the purpose of this trip was not to fish or backpack, so I knew time would be limited. I was able to get up to the North Fork, Middle Fork, and South Fork of the Flathead river on my trip. I had mixed success. Some mornings the air was so cold I could barely cast without my guides freezing up. The crisp fall air made fishing quite a challenge! One afternoon I enjoyed tremendous success on the South Fork fishing beetle patterns. These were some of the finest cutthroats I have caught to date! Outside of fishing, I spent a few days hiking and exploring Glacier National Park. The beauty there is absolutely unreal! On one day-hike a friend and I bit off a little more than we could chew and ended up walking several miles on the trail in the dark. Any one who has been to Glacier NP knows one of the main guidelines is hike in groups of 3 or more and never hike at night! Well we broke both of those and came stumbling across something huge. Whether it was a Grizz, Moose, or huge elk, I will never know. but it was massive. Sounded like a tree was going to fall down on our heads. That was the scariest 2 to 4 miles I have ever hiked in my life. Bear spray pulled, shouting to make my presence known well in advance, praying for help. Lesson learned!!! Exploring Glacier NP was an absolute thrill. I was late enough in the year, that the crowds were completely gone. Just me and wilderness!! It made for a truly enjoyable and RELAXING trip to a national Park,which sometimes it hard to say with all the people! After spending time in Hungry Horse I had decided to travel down to West Yellowstone, MT to fish for big migrating brown trout on the Madison for a few days. The first day I arrived and geared up it was dumping snow. I sat on the river all day in heavy snow without even the slightest tug on my line. The next day I spent scouting new areas to fish. I wanted to drive up to the northeast corner of the park to see how the cutthroat fisheries were looking this late in the year. What I found was amazing. There was absolutely no one fishing and the fish were abundant, hungry, and willing! I decided to forego my big brown mission to travel up to the northeast corner the next day. I had it all to myself! Cutt after Cutt I pulled in on hopper patterns, grey wolfs, and almost anything I threw. By far my best day fishing in Yellowstone to date! I had some unfinished business on Soda Butte creek, since a year earlier I had lost a massive Cutt there. So after tearing up the Lamar River for awhile I visited that same place on Soda Butte creek that had conquered me before. I didn't find the same fish but I found numerous willing large trout. There is something about watching a large trout feed on the surface in about 5 inches of water that is truly unforgettable. That image has repeated in my mind several times since then and it continues to build the anticipation for my next visit! The day was a smashing success and I was glad I made the call to skip the brown trout fishing for a day in Cutthroat waters. This trip had come to an end all too soon, but I felt somewhat more confident that I would be back. It had taken 5 years between my first trip to Yellowstone and my second. And now it seems like I go every year! I hope the trend can continue! Enjoy the pics and til next til.

-Dreamcatchers

Stopping in to see a Glacier

Overlook at the top of one of my dayhikes

The long trail up! 

Dumped some snow while I hiked today!

Beautiful scene as the sun went down

South Fork of the Flathead

Up high in Glacier National Park

Exploring a road deep in Glacier NP

Day Hike!

Getting DUMPED on snow travelling to the East side of Glacier

Fall colors are OUT!!!

Sunset!

Beetle and Cutt!

Got em!

First day fishing for browns in Yellowstone

Firehole river!

Back Home on the Lamar

Fun day!

Soda Butte Creek

West Again

After much wait I am finally getting around to posting the rest of my summer 2017 stories.

August 2017,

As usual, I had been frantically trying to find a backpacking destination for late August. It is always difficult matching up reasonably priced flights with backpacking destinations that fit our schedule and permits. We had initially settled on a trail in Olympic National Park - really there were two trails we were discussing. One option was a remote hike following one of the major rivers in the park. The other was one of the more popular hikes up to a glacier. We eventually settled on the hike to the glacier, but flight prices would not cooperate to get us near our destination. As the trip grew closer and closer I started to look at alternative destinations. Burnt into my mind was the hike I had done the year before through Kings Canyon National Park. Rugged and jagged peaks! Beautiful alpine lakes! Fantastic fishing! The Sierras were calling my name once again. I found good deals into Sacramento and I started planning. We were too late to acquire a permit for Yosemite and many other places, so I started to explore an area that had always intrigued me. Years ago when I looked at my Yosemite map this area beyond the park border had always struck an interest from me. I had daydreamed about trips to Thousand Island lake and what it might be like. So I started explore trailhead options in the area. Permits were hard to match up, but I finally found an opening beginning in Inyo National Forest along the pacific crest trail. We booked it and our journey was set. But this was only the beginning we would soon find out! 

We touched down late in Sacramento with plans to travel all the way to Mammoth, CA some 5 hours away. We made our stop at the local In and Out burger and started our trek to Lake Tahoe. Somewhere past Lake Tahoe we encountered our first obstacle. We had turned off and started traveling south toward mammoth when all of the sudden we came to a road block and sirens flashing. The road was closed due to wildfire. After consulting our map we found the only way to get where we needed was to drive back towards Tahoe and cut into Nevada. Knowing we wouldn’t make our destination at any sort of reasonable time, we stopped in the early hours of the morning in a small hotel in Nevada. Not my ideal first trip to Nevada! But the next day we awoke and travelled south to Mammoth. After picking up our permit and bear cans we were all set. We hit the trail in the early afternoon and started our longest trek of the trip. The first part was grueling as we climbed up high on the ridge side above the tree line almost immediately. This vantage point offered impressive views, that were somewhat clouded with smoke from wildfires. As the day progressed we ran into a spot up shower or two. Enough for me to put on the rain gear only to take it right back off. I was a bit bummed that the smoke had obscured some of our views and I didn’t know what lied ahead for the rest of the trip. Would it all be that smoky? Would it become a problem? We would soon find out. We made the most of the long hike spending some time on an exposed cliff face for lunch. As evening came we arrived at thousand island lake. As is the case with many alpine lakes, the scenery was unreal. Towering in the background was Mt Ritter and Banner Peak. We set up camp at a beautiful exposed piece of land overlooking the lake. It was then that we found out we forgot tent stakes. Had this of been last year in the Beartooths this would have been a major issue, but we made due with sticks and it worked just fine. Awaking in the morning the skies and smoke had cleared! It was a new day! We would hike to Garnet lake next. This trek was not overly hard, but choosing a campsite on the far end of the lake made our trek a bit further. It was worth it to get to the far side of the lake though. After setting up camp we walked to the top of the Ridge that was saddled in-between thousand island lake and garnet lake. It was a beautiful scene to see. We soon realized that the mosquitos were horrendous and they were relentless. Constantly attacking one after the other. To get my mind off the struggle I strung up the fly rod and went hunting. I found a few willing brook trout that had good meat on them but none exceeded 12-14 inches. I was using my new echo 3 weight rod, which I really liked. We wrapped up the day there and started hiking to Ediza Lake which would be our last stop for two nights. Once we crossed over the outlet of Garnet Lake we blindly followed a group of people down a trail we thought was ours. We had talked to them earlier and they were going the same way. After climbing down some sketchy terrain we realized we were going the wrong way! Simple lesson in being careful who you follow! And don’t trust other people’s map reading skills! We climbed our way back out and got set up the right direction. Lake Ediza was a climb. But we made it there and picked out a high campsite on the far end of the lake with Mt Ritter on one side and the Minerets on the other!! There was a small meadow stream that ran nearby our site and we had an overlooking view of Lake Ediza and the canyon below. Perfect and ideal to spend the next two days. I hiked up through the small meadow stream and found several willing rainbows. All were small, but still fun in the setting. The next day we hiked right up to the base of Mt Ritter. It was an awesome view! We looked over the ridge at the lakes we had initially considered staying at. Beautiful, but I was glad we stayed were we did! The next day we packed out the canyon and shuttled back to mammoth. It was another awesome trip that I will add to the list of favorites. Maybe someday I will be able to return again!

First Night Camp

High on a ridge between the lakes

Making our way

High Sierra

Lake Ediza

View from Camp