Lake fishing…

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Late May can be a tough time to find fishy water around Jackson Hole. Temperatures have been warm and snow melt has made most of our favorite trout waters high and unfishable. Time to get out the extra spools of sinking fly line and boxes of leeches and wooly buggers.

I had some fun friends join me last week for a few days of lake fly fishing. We headed south, taking the drift boat out and targeted cruising browns, rainbows and lake trout. While we didn’t catch tons of fish, we did hook up enough to stay interested and managed a handful of pretty nice size trout. Olive, black and brown beadhead leech patterns worked best (great spring lake flies!) but we also threw some streamers with a little more flash and got some aggressive takes too. Each day ended with beer, whiskey and grilled meat. Not a bad way to enjoy spring. The guys got out of town just in time for more rain and snow; the makings of which made it easier to hunker down and replumb the fishing cabin.

Seth B with a nice brown trout

seth and brown trout

Raph with one of his chunky rainbows

raf and rainbow

In the coming days, i have a few fishing trips on the books. We’ll most likely continue to target still waters with leech patterns.

Spring adventures in fly fishing

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It’s May and I’m getting excited for fishing here in Wyoming! Seems like we didn’t have much in the way of pre runoff fly fishing the past few months. Weather was lousy and then when things got nice, the water came up and dirtied. I did get out a bit, floating some great folks on the Snake before things went down hill. A lot of time over the past month and half though was spent pursuing bonefish in the Bahamas; first on Abaco, then on Andros.

Unexpectedly, I got a last minute invite from a friend to join him and other friends at the Abaco Lodge for 5 days. I jumped at the opportunity and in less than 24 hours was on a flats boat looking for bonefish. I’ve never been on a trip like this- guides every day, meals, drinks, everything taken care of. It was incredible! The best part of the trip was the group of guys I was with; just top notch folk, all appreciative and enjoying the special trip we were on.

The guides and staff at the lodge were fantastic and worked hard to put us on fish. The highlight for me was fishing with Marty Sawyer, a character and expert Abaco guide. Marty was full of stories, area history and fishing passion. His enthusiasm was contagious and my boat mate, Jim, and I had a blast!

Kurt hooked up on Andros

Kurt hooked up with the first bonefish of the trip. 

Oh barracuda

I love the toothy critters! Barracuda are a fun fish to target with the fly rod. This guys ran like hell and jumped like a brown trout!

andros bonefish

Nothing better than hooking one of these guys while wading white sand flats

After returning from Abaco, my attention focused on Andros, a trip in the making for a while. Jamie and I flew to Nassau, met up with our good friends Kurt and Kelly, and flew in a six-seat Piper to North Andros. Once there, we settled into island life, renting a house on a protected cove and generally having a blast. Kurt and I fished hard everyday on the vast white sand flats, catching some nice bonefish and other species. We also all went snorkeling and kayaking together, spending the evenings cooking and drinking too much Kalik and Rum.

While always hard leaving the Bahamas, it is nice coming home to Tetons and the many trout waters here in western Wyoming. I can’t wait to get out on them!

april hookup on the Snake river

Tyler hooked up on the Snake pre runoff. Conditions were good but we had to fight or our fish.