Grayling

Spent the past weekend traveling around Yellowstone National
Park and the surrounding area. Every year about this time Jamie
and I make a run north, spending a day or two in Yellowstone
together before the summer gets nutty. This year we added to the
getaway and drove over the Beartooth Pass, spending a night in
Red Lodge, MT, before returning through the Lamar Valley and
Mammoth Hot Springs.

We had a great time, and in addition seeing lots of wildlife
and cool country, we also managed some hiking and fishing. We
hiked to two lakes in Yellowstone. One skunked me. I saw plenty
of fish, but, save one, they wanted nothing to do with my flies.
Too make matters worse, thunderstorms rolled in and forced us to
retreat down the mountain.

The lake we fished today though treated us much better. We
decided on a lake that holds Grayling; a rare treat for a fly angler.
I’ve been fortunate to have caught grayling before (there are some
accessible lakes around if you know where to go), but I’m always
excited to pursue this rare Salmonid. After a good hike, I strung up
my rod and began casting. As you can see from the pictures below,
a few fish were caught. 

One of several Grayling fooled today with a leech
pattern

Jamie standing along a small spawning stream. No, we
didn’t fish the stream, just observed.

Close up of some of the many spawning grayling in this
tiny stream. It was really cool to walk this stream that was all of 3
feet wide at its widest point; like a big aquarium. It’s finds like this
that make backcountry fishing so cool!

Close up of another fish.