Yellowstone Trip - Part 2

On Aug 30th, Sunday, I fished Gallatin within Yellowstone Park. I fished here two months ago on my way home of the June trip. But it was still in the middle of ice-cold run-off. So this was pretty much the first time. As most of everyone say, Gallatin is the little Madison. Very pretty. Then, these were my ego and attitude (Pinocchio's nose): Gall is easy, just toss some attractors, maybe with a dropper nymph, later on tie on spruce moth and terrestrials, etc, etc...... I did observe good spots and hatches (midges and spruce moths). But I didn't see any rises or shadow of trout. I even swang tiny midge pupa patterns, yet nothing. First one I finally saw was a 6-incher on a spruce moth at 11:30am. This was all the action I got in the morning.

In the afternoon, I moved above Specimen Creek confluence. I found some nice cutbanks toward upstream. I finally got one, the first time Cut-bow on a hopper.

Total, I got about a dozen rises and landed two in the afternoon. But I was not happy at all about what I got. There were some very nice looking spots that I betted my fly-fishing experince but I didn't get any actions. Later, local fishermen and people at the shop told me that Gallatin can be very unpredictable, etc, etc,....... This was the first lesson of this trip.

Then on Monday, 31st, I floated Madison with a guide from Blue Ribbon Flies. Though we caught lots of trout, they were about 10-inch ranges. We only saw some shadows of big ones. It was just a tough day. This does not mean the day was not fun. Mike is a very easy going person, yet his guiding is very intense. I want to learn things from him and want him to correct my vices and problems. As a reminesce, here are two out of many nice fish he got me hooked with last summer.

So where was this trip heading??