Austin's Trip to Yellowstone

If you frequent this site, you have probably seen pictures and stories about Austin.  He has been featured in carp fishing posts and won the first year anniversary give-away.  He also recently went on a two week trip to Yellowstone National Park and documented his trip for this website.  I am incredibly proud of him as a fisherman, a person, and a writer.  I have told him for years now that he could make a career of fishing and writing and I am proud to have him be this site's first guest writer.  I hope you enjoy hearing as much about his trip as much as I did.  It sounds like a trip of a lifetime!

Intro: A few weeks ago, I left for a 2 week trip to Yellowstone National Park with Lillard Fly Fishing Expeditions, an adventure education company specializing in wilderness fly fishing trips for teens. The trip started with 12 teens, including me, meeting up at Jackson Hole Airport. From there we spent a night at a local campsite before the long drive to Yellowstone National Park. The following rivers and lakes were locations that the group and I fished during the trip:

Madison River: The first location we fished was the Madison River where we caught Whitefish and Brown trout with streamers and dries. An incoming storm left us with little time, so we did the best we could in the short, windy period.

Grebe Lake: Next, after a hike up to Grebe Lake, we waded into waist deep water to throw streamers, nymphs, and small dries to rising Grayling and Rainbow trout. We arrived around noon and fished the rest of the day. The strong winds made dry fly fishing almost impossible so we stripped in wooly buggers and hares ear nymphs to entice the small Rainbows and Grayling hiding in the lake. Later that evening, the wind died down and the bugs came out, causing the fish to start rising. As a result, we tied on Griffith's Gnats and Elk Hair Caddis' to match the hatch. After pulling out tons of little Grayling, we crawled into our tents before hiking back the next morning.

Tower Creek: The following location was Tower Creek, a small stream filled with hungry little Brook and Rainbow trout. We threw small stimulators and Elk Hair Caddis' all day with fish rising to them almost every cast.

Cache Creek/Lamar River: Later we hiked up to a backcountry campsite near the confluence of Cache Creek and the Lamar River. Here we caught our first Native Yellowstone Cutthroats, a beautiful little trout with bright orange slashes under its gills. The smaller fish were hiding in the pocket water of Cache creek, anxious to hit dries while the bigger fish were sitting at the bottom of the deep pools of the Lamar River, waiting for a big streamer to cross their path. We stayed at this campsite for 2 nights before heading to our next location.

Pebble Creek: At Pebble Creek we caught more hungry little cutthroats in the middle of a deep, rocky canyon. The next morning, half of the group left for Slough Creek while the other half would stay at Pebble Creek another night.

Soda Butte: While the other half of the group hiked up to Slough, my half stayed at the campsite and fished the Soda Butte. The Soda Butte was filled with deep pools where I was anxious to throw some of the articulated streamers I had been tying. I picked out a big fly and started to strip it near logs and other structures and pulled out lots of big cutthroats. One big fish even jumped out of the water after my fly right when it hit the water.

Slough Creek: The next day, my half of the group made the long and steep hike up to the second meadow at Slough. After setting up my tent, I walked down to the stream and tied on the black streamer that I had caught fish on the previous day (The fly earned the name "Blackie Chan"). I caught a fish on my first cast and I knew that it was going to be an incredible day. Fish after fish swiped at our flies and everyone caught some very large fish. At the end of the day, everyone was telling stories of all the fish they had caught and we couldn't wait to the float the Snake River.

Snake River: The last fishing trip of the expedition was a guided float on the Snake River by World Cast Anglers. We fished from drift boats and caught lots of Fine-Spotted Cutthroats. All of the fish were caught on hoppers and s​treamers and the trip could not have ended in a better way.