Long summer of trout fishing.

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Dell Despain
Posts: 542
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:08 pm
Location: Montana

Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by Dell Despain »

A lot of trout fishing went on this year, but I've found myself w/ a few days off in a row, and I thought I'd show a few photos from the year.

Early spring Bighorn river Brown trout.
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Later in the year when things warmed up I netted this Crotalus v. crossing the river while fishing w/ a pair of my dudes. Be glad you didn't hear the whining, and crying from them that I had to listen to when I told them I was going to net the viridis and place it on shore. All I will say is that I'm tired of the "Pussification of the American male" these days. It's not like I asked them to put it around their neck like a women's feather boa.
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Caught this strange looking Salamander on the Bighorn. Really it's a fresh water Ling or Burbot, and not caught in cold trout water to often.
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Close up of it's chin barbel.
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Here's my chin barbel shot w/ the Ling.
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Another trout from the Bighorn.
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The fishing was really exceptional on the Bighorn this year, and this little bug really helped bring the trout to the surface for some celebrated fishing.
Yellow Sally, stonefly.
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Males are all yellow, females have a red posterior.
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This young man has been fishing w/ me since he was 10 years old, he's 15 now and we found ourselves in one of the best Yellow-sally hatches of the year.
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We also had a few Mayflies mixed in to keep it interesting.
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Mid-summer I found myself working on the Madison on an overnight trip of 4 days, w/ a little weather involved for a few days.
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Here we all are at lunch watching the rain move in.
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Oh, and it's coming too.
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After the storm and in camp we had a "double rainbow all the way across the sky".
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A little drinking in camp is always a good thing.
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Sphinx Mountain never looked better.
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Next mornings coffee under Sphinx Mt. seemed like a good idea.
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Loading gear for the camp move, and the day of fishing.
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While fishing we came up on this rodent w/ the wide tail.
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Later in the day we camped near this Great-horned owl.
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After the Madison river trip, the Yellowstone river in Paradise Valley was next on my calendar.
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The above photo is of DePuy's spring creek, which parallels the Yellowstone River. DePuy's has these little huts on the creek if you need to get out of the sun, or the cold.
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The creek has a little hut fly store if an angler needs to buy a fly du jour, but the hours are some what humors if not confusing.
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We really did have a tough time catching trout on DePuy's, but the moon that evening was spectacular.
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We found a place to drown our sorrows. And it was good.
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But a few to many drinks can make things seem strange even in a cow town.
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The next day on the Yellowstone the Grasshopper fishing was pretty good, a bit fuzzy and hungover but the hangover was soon forgotten.
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After the Yellowstone it was back to the Bighorn, and it's wonderful trout fishing. On the way and off the beaten path back to the Horn there was this strange sight. I don't know what got her up there, and we never saw her come down.
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After the Mountain Lion, it was nice to be back on the Bighorn again.
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But things were still strange at times. I found this Osprey floating along in the river to water logged to fly off, so I netted it and dropped it on bank until it dried off. After 10 minutes it shook itself like a wet dog and off it flew.
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After saving the Osprey the gods rewarded us.
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I've still got a few trips left this month but if your still w/ me, that's my year in short.
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-Dell
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Kent VanSooy
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:51 am
Location: Oceanside

Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by Kent VanSooy »

Beautiful! Thanks - I really enjoyed that.
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Gary2sons
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:44 pm
Location: Camden County, Missouri

Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by Gary2sons »

Dang Dell! That was a fantastic post, lots of good fish and scenery!

I have never seen a burbot before but they occasionally show up in the Missouri River here. A really different looking fish.

Would have to say the swimming crotalus, the mountain lion up the telephone pole, and the floating osprey really added something extra! :thumb:

Gary
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Cole Grover
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Joined: June 8th, 2010, 10:06 am
Location: Montana

Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by Cole Grover »

Good stuff, Dell! You were damn busy this summer, no doubt about it. Hell of a nice post, man. It's cool to see photo from all of the experiences you've told me about over the summer.

-Cole
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Ted
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Joined: December 30th, 2010, 10:02 am
Location: SoCal and Cape Cod

Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by Ted »

Amazing! Isn't it funny how you see the best things when you aren't looking for them? Whenever I'm looking for birds, I find herps. Whenever I'm looking for herps, I find birds. And when you're fishing, you find a mountain lion on a telephone pole. you ought to win the prize for weirdest animal picture of the year with that!
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Dell Despain
Posts: 542
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:08 pm
Location: Montana

Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by Dell Despain »

Kent: Thanks, hope you were able to get on the water this summer.

Gary: Glad you enjoyed the post. I bet if you fished bait on the Missouri you'd catch more Ling, I'm pretty sure they are all over the river, at least that's what I hear.

Cole: ;)

Ted: Yeah Ted, serendipity is a wonderful thing.

-Dell
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Tim Borski
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Location: FL Keys
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Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by Tim Borski »

Great post as always Dell! Love the cat on the pole, crazy-cool scenics and of course the fish...If there were Ling down here, I'd be chasin'em! :mrgreen:

Tim
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Bob
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Joined: November 1st, 2011, 1:35 pm
Location: livingston MT

Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by Bob »

Great pics. I guide out of Livingston and get to the Horn quite a bit each spring. Was the ling on a fly? If so wow.
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Dell Despain
Posts: 542
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:08 pm
Location: Montana

Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by Dell Despain »

Bob wrote:Great pics. I guide out of Livingston and get to the Horn quite a bit each spring. Was the ling on a fly? If so wow.
Bob, the Ling ate a size 20 Royal Wulff. :shock:
Only kidding, it was snagged, of course, by a nymph rig in a slow piece of water.

Next time your headed to the Horn drop me a PM and I'll try and meet up w/ you, I'm down there plenty.

-Dell
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monklet
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Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by monklet »

Fantasy come true eh? WOW! just dreamy.

Interesting how similar in form that fish is to a salamander. The cat on the pole is surreal!

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :shock: :shock: :shock: 8-) 8-) 8-) :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes:
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Bob
Posts: 127
Joined: November 1st, 2011, 1:35 pm
Location: livingston MT

Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by Bob »

Dell Despain wrote:
Bob wrote:Great pics. I guide out of Livingston and get to the Horn quite a bit each spring. Was the ling on a fly? If so wow.
Bob, the Ling ate a size 20 Royal Wulff. :shock:
Only kidding, it was snagged, of course, by a nymph rig in a slow piece of water.

Next time your headed to the Horn drop me a PM and I'll try and meet up w/ you, I'm down there plenty.

-Dell
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Will do. I'm there quite a bit in the spring and we may get over later this month. Right now we are beating up some massive browns over this way. :beer:
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-EJ
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Joined: June 10th, 2010, 12:17 pm

Re: Long summer of trout fishing.

Post by -EJ »

This is one seriously cool post. The photos really seem to pinpoint the feeling of the trip.
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