Two Kinds Of Rainbows

Two different types of beautiful rainbows this evening. I picked up a few fish on the indicator / leech rig. Storms rolled by to the north and south but only hit me with good views and painted skies.

Beating The Storm... Impossible

I went out intent on getting in some good water time this evening and ended up fishing the majority of the time in a constant downpour. The bit of lightning generated by the thunderstorm was out over the mountains but I paid close attention while waving the fly rod around as I was by far the highest point on the dam of the lake. The fish were very cooperative this evening and were feeding voraciously on midges just off the dam. I was able to connect with quite a few fish making the soaking rain tolerable. Before I left for the evening, the setting sun undercut the storm and produced several nice rainbows. A gorgeous ending to another beautiful, spring Wyoming day.

The storm after the major downpour had passed

Rainbow trout that fought well

The darkness of the storm made my camera kick in the autoflash

Back Country Is Open

The first real hike in high country trip of the year was a beautiful day spent amongst the high peaks outside of town. Ice still held firm and in drifting floes on many of the lakes. Plenty of open water was available and we were able to fish four major lakes and some other side stream connected minor water. We found trout willing to entertain our offerings in almost all the water we spent time on... however some were surprisingly picky fish. Cutthroat, brook, and rainbow trout were all found scattered across the various waters making for a terrific time traveling between lakes to see what the next one held in store for us.

Back Country Is Open

Midge Emergers In The Afternoon

I took off for the afternoon to check on a high country lake that was still working its way out of the ice. There was enough water to fish so I worked dries to the risers which produced a decent three species day with rainbows, brook trout, and even a willing cutthroat. The cutt was the nicest fish of the day. They were taking tiny midges on and just under the surface making for a challenging time of trying to tell just where your fly was in relation to the risers.

Rainbows On The Plains

Explored a few local lakes this evening. The first lake didn't seem to have much of anything going on so I decided to move on and try another spot. The second lake was choked with thick mats of algae but fish were working the outside edge of the mats. Takes on a big cicada up top brought back memories of evening smallmouth fishing but these were rainbows boiling on the fly. Actually landing fish was a bit hard with all the algae and cleaning the gear in between almost every cast. It would have been nice to have the pontoon out this evening, but I made do with wading as far out as possible. I ended up keeping two fat fish with the result being a delicious dinner of freshly grilled rainbow trout.

Moon rising over the plains lake


Rainbows for the grill

Hunting Open Water

A nice quick trip into the mountains to check out the current snow situation and scout open water provided a little action for rainbows on dries. One lake had about 25 or 30 feet of open water that had some hungry trout working the surface. The three weight was perfect for a quick hour of high country nirvana. Only a little while longer and the backcountry season will be here.