As an outfitter and guide one of the most common comments I get is ”your so lucky to hunt and fish every day” or something to the effect of how nice it would be to be in the hunting and fishing industry, and I don’t disagree, other than I’m not really in the hunting and fishing business, I’m in the people business it just happens the people we are blessed to be in business with are hunters and anglers.
We recently had a great group of fathers and daughters come to fly-fish Yellowstone cutthroat trout in our Wyoming fly fishing wilderness camp.
They toughed out the 20-mile horseback ride into camp. if you want to fish amazing fisheries free from crowds, you have to take the road less traveled and put in the work! and we are as far from the road as you can get in the lower 48!!
The fishing was a little different this year, as the winter snows were melting much faster than normal and the consensus was we were 30 days off for the season. Late June is usually the Yellowstone cutthroats spawn and we are fishing big mature spawning trout. they were there of course, just not in the usual numbers for this time of year, as many had already returned to Yellowstone lake after spawning earlier in the spring.
We made the best of the situation at hand and went on the hunt for trout. what we found would be many fly-fishers’ dream, big mature 18-plus-inch cutthroat risers. a dry-fly fisher’s dream.
A trophy Yellowstone cutthroat caught on the Yellowstone river with a dry fly.
We fished the next few days on the Thorofare River and the Yellowstone River. with great success. with fish feeding both on top and bottom making it a great week of fishing in the backcountry of Wyoming.
a Wyoming wilderness tug a war
Having three daughters at home myself made this Wyoming fly fishing trip extra special. Watching a father who took the time to teach a young girl to fish, be rewarded with a friendship and bond later in life, turn into adventure and memories that will be cherished by the two of them forever. that’s the business I’m really in!!!
So all you fathers out there, teach your daughters the love of fishing. it may just be the best investment you ever make.
