I was fortunate enough to meet a good friend named Mark. He guided for years and is a long time Bozemanite. Mark and I have traveled and fished on many outings and I've learned a ton from the guy. Its just been great. Mark and I planned on hitting the creek on a Sunday, and of course the day before the weather reports turned bad, real bad. The predicted forecast went from forty five degrees down to thirty. To pay good money at a challenging place on such a crappy day, it hadn't phased me, we were still thinking about the trout!. Two in our party backed out when they saw the fresh snow on the ground. Also, Paradise Valley is notorious for its heavy winds. Putting the two together was going to make for a miserable day, but still, WE WERE STOKED!
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| Depuy House, late summer |
We arrived at the creek at nine o'clock am. To pay we entered the mansion. This thing was elegant as hell, one of the factors of this great experience were its luxuries. Betty is the elderly woman who lives in the house. Her dad owned the property, three miles of spring creek, and has kept it open to the public. While chatting with Betty we saw a few other people canceled so we were going to share the three beautiful miles with only six or so fisherman. We were the first to arrive, first to pick our place on the river.
The creek has four or five warming huts, all equipped with wood burning stove, wood, newspaper, fishing magazines, and other small things to utilize if youre crazy enough to not be fishing. We had a fire going within 3 minutes while we got our waders on. The weather outside was frightful, but we new the water was warm for the fish. Since spring fed it always stays between 42-52 degrees. Simply put, the fish don't care how cold it is above them, that's for the fisherman to deal with.
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| Inside "Evas" warming hut. |
Mark has fished the placed several times so in a way I had a free guide service, and he got me on fish! In the first ten minutes, within twenty feet of our hut, Mark put me on a nice rainbow. Third cast and I knew it was going to be a good day. The snow was sideways in the air along with the trout. We hooked into many fish. We both started nymphing with eggs and small size 20 black midge pupa. I had my luck on the egg and Mark was killing it with the small dropper pupa.
A few hook ups later, we decided to walk down to the outlet to the Yellowstone. Mark knew of a spot where some fat rainbows would be eating eggs and or making their beds. Anything that comes across their "redd" will quickly become disposed of, in their mouths. Now this is where I learned a life lesson of fly fishing. This part of my day was the most intense part of the whole trip for me. It is also one of the most exhilarating and adrenaline pumping moments of my life. We were about twenty yards downstream from some big rainbows cleaning off their redds. They were already in eight to ten inches of water so a few rolls on the redd and they eventually show a big dorsal, producing loud splashes. I had my eye on them. In predator mode, I slowly stalked up to within casting range. My feet in a few inches of water and the trout on the same line as me. I cast my pink salmon egg just a foot or two upstream of her mouth. My indicator instantly went down and I set the hook! BAM! She showed me her football sized head and that was the last time I saw her. The hook flew out. Jeopardizing my chances of catching another, I finally calmed down and walk back down stream to let them relax a bit. I was so pumped! I smoked a cigarette and talked to Mark about the approach. Everything was perfect. I was still seeing the fat sows rolling around. They were all over, probably fifteen of them within a fifteen foot radius. This was sight fishing at its most intense! Now I know pulling spawning rainbows off their beds may be considered easy, but we found them and I saw an opportunity to get me a personal best. I told Mark to get up there and he relieved me for a try. He made a second cast and WOOSH, fat mama rainbow showed herself and once again, that was the last we were going to see her today as well. The fish was so hefty she broke his 6x dropper just like that. They were taking whatever we threw at them, first cast every time if we got it in the zone. It was amazing. Mark retreated to retie and I knew I had another chance to land one! We may have known right where they were and giving them what they wanted but it never seemed easy. Just when you think youre doing well theyll remind you that theyre very keen to fisherman.
We each had hooked into one, and we both made mistakes. I knew I hadn't set the rod straight up, I set it horizontally and to my right. That will cause the hook to naturally come right out. Mark probably set the hook too hard or the knot was weak. We both knew they were going to catch a glimpse of our fly line or look back and see us just to dart forward and spook the rest. We had one or two chances left. I slowly walked forward knowing what I had to do. I cast a few times to let some line out and guessed right where that egg would land. Within one second that indicator went down and I gently but swiftly set that damn rod straight up. I got her and I had her after the head shakes and a few leaps into the air. She immediately came down stream and I was stripping the line as fast as I could. Now I have done a lot of cool things that would raise the adrenaline of any normal person to high levels. This trumps any I can think of. She ran and took line and I got it back, I didnt want to fatigue her to death. Eventually I was able to get her into calm water. My personal best fish on a fly rod. A beautiful, FAT, wild rainbow trout. She was the days biggest. We werent able to hook anymore of these fat babies after this, they got spooked.
All in all it was an excellent day. Depuy's offers a lot. Its hard to say its the best place to fish. The only way you can get a glimpse of the glory to be had here is to spend a day fishing it. Rain or shine, snow, and wind..the fish are always eating. One thing I'm trying to share with the readers one step at time is how majestic the sport of fly fishing is. Majestic is a word I believe fits well. Once you dive into it and see that its not just fishing, it is an art, youll enjoy it or you wont, but you risk getting hooked. Im amazed at the way some guys can manipulate their line, and whip it around like its an extension of them. Add this knowing you dont just pick up your crappie jigs and hit the water. Theres an infinite amount of types and patterns of flies. People are making new ones everyday, and trust me you do have to be specific with certain patterns, at certain times. If youre off, youre not going to have a productive day. It will drive a man crazy, and it will make a man obsessed. The bottom line is, we are always having fun and learning. The places we fish are just as great as the fish we catch. A moment like I had at Depuys is what keeps me going back. Fish on!
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