Saturday, January 17, 2009

Beautiful Winter Day On The River

Adam and I headed out early under the stars and the hint of a sunrise to get a full day on the river. The forecast appeared perfect for a day out in mid-January. Upon arrival we found no fellow fishermen and a trackless snow covered shoreline. It was surprising to see very few people out on such a nice day. We fought a little ice in the guides early, and the fishing wasn't lightning fast but it did produce quality fish when a fish was hooked. I stuck to my big fly theory, fishing nothing under size 10, and was rewarded with some stout fish and my first brown trout ever from this particular stretch. It is heavily dominated by rainbows making the browns a very nice novelty and they also tend to be decent sized when found. We fished, enjoyed some good beer (Duvel and Slow Elk among others) and had a tremendous winter day of no wind and temperatures approaching the 50s. Wildlife sightings of mule deer, white tail, antelope, bald eagles, hawks and plenty of waterfowl kept the day interesting with many encounters. On the way back from the river we stopped in one of the least light polluted places in Wyoming to get a good look at the milky way in all its glory. It was quite a way to end the day and a perfect finish for Adam's first trip of the year.

Moon setting in the morning over the cliffs


Adam starts the year right with a nice wild rainbow


Icy guides and gnarly jaws


Mule deer crossing the river


Wild rainbow with a kype jaw


Video of rainbow being released


Brown trout taken on a leech


Adam finishing the day on a nice run

4 comments:

E Dub said...

Looks like a great day in Wyoming. It's surprising how most winter days in Wyoming are in the 50s with no wind. Don't tell anybody.

BLUEANGLER said...

What a great outing! Nice fish and cool place to live! Keep them coming! : )

BDL said...

Fantastic as always boys. Miss winter fishing back home. The Missouri is nice, but it's not the N. Platte.

BG said...

Love the Kype on that bad boy!