Link: https://www.wyomingtroutguides.com/
Following a guided fishing trip down the North Fork of the Shoshone River, I was fortunate enough to spend another day on the water with Wyoming Trout Guides just two days later. This trip consisted of a smaller crew which consisted of my father in law Mark, his brother in law Kris, and myself. The rest of the group that was vacationing with us in Wyoming had decided to go horseback riding rather than fish. I was informed later in the day that they took a steep path up a mountain and encountered a bear which spooked a couple of horses. While that sounded like an eventful and interesting trip, I was happy to be on the water and in a bear-free environment.
When we arrived at the Wyoming Trout Guides Fly Shop at 7 AM, it was quickly decided by the guides that Mark and Kris would be joining A.J. in his raft and that Nolan and I would be fishing together. Nolan had acquired a two-person raft from a friend of his and seemed excited to have a solo client as well as a vessel that was easier to maneuver. We hopped in the trucks and drove a little ways to our put-in spot but that’s as specific as I can get. I was informed that I was not allowed to share any of the specifics about our fishing location. A total of three guides told me that this was a special section of water to them and while it wasn’t a secret spot by any means, it was a spot that didn’t receive a lot of attention and they hoped to keep it that way. I feel compelled to keep their spot sacred just as I would want others to do for me if the situation was reversed.
Mark, Kris, and A.J. launched first and Nolan let them drift downstream until they were almost out of sight before we launched. While we waited, Nolan showed me the rig that we were going to be drifting. His strategy consisted of a strike indicator, a fairly large crawfish fly and a nymph called a Duracell trailing behind. He said that the streamer fishing in this area was also an option and would produce fewer but larger catches. This idea intrigued me as I hadn’t thrown streamers for trout on many occasions and had a minimal amount of success with the strategy. I decided that I wanted to stick with the nymphing setup to get a few fish in the boat and then maybe get a little more adventurous with the streamer a little later. Nolan was happy to accommodate my wishes and said that it sounded like a good plan.
Immediately after starting our float, we passed through a set of rapids and the bites started almost immediately. I caught a total of 6 small rainbows and probably should have caught 12. The takes were aggressive at times and as quick as they were subtle at others. Nolan back-rowed a few times to keep us on the fish until we felt like we had exhausted the water. We then continued our float downstream where I hooked my first brown trout of the trip. Nolan informed me that we had the opportunity to catch rainbows, browns, and a few different species of cutthroats on our trip. I was extremely excited to hear about such a diverse population of trout but I couldn’t help but inquire about whether whitefish were present as well.
To most folks, whitefish are an unwanted bycatch while trout
fishing. From what I had heard, they are
stinky, slimy, and not particularly attractive.
While I wasn’t going to argue about something that I had never
experienced, I was still interested in experiencing a whitefish catch firsthand
and thus, add another species to the list of fish that I have caught on a fly
rod. As luck would have it, I hooked and
landed my first whitefish about 30 minutes into the trip. If early success is an indicator that this
was going to be a special day, then this was (and is) foreshadowing.
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