The Final Four: Day One, October 15th

Xanterra employment ended this morning. Freedom from the work schedule is oh-so sweet. As of 11 am, my new job description is full-time trout bum. Twenty-somethings aren't the only ones who can get away with this. 

My game plan was completed days ago: convenient camp at Madison Campground; simple/quick meals; fish early and late, relax mid-days.

Campsite in A Loop, surrounded by RVs

Remaining challenges are all fishing-related…bring ‘em on. The Madison River is crawling with anglers now; it’s the annual pilgrimage to fish here for the run-up trout. Besides the competition, there is also so much river…where to fish? In addition to the sixteen miles of road-accessible river along West Entrance Road, the many miles of river downstream from Barns Pools all the way to Bakers Hole are now in play. Then, there is the forecast of cold overnight low temperatures…I have the layers for cold-weather fishing, but can I stick it out tent camping?

I set up camp early on this calm, mild afternoon, savoring my unfettered timetable. Only two of eight campground loops in Madison Campground are left open this time of year, virtually all of the campers are anglers in RVs.

Sheer lava-rock wall at bottom of Firehole Canyon

Done with that. I set out to fish, first working two beautiful deep runs I had discovered at the bottom of Firehole Canyon. Drew a blank on both, but thoroughly enjoyed every minute of working a nymph rig through the water. It continues to amaze me how the water in these steep-gradient places pillow up softly, almost aquarium-like, along the rock-rough edges of fast water. I don’t have to catch fish to enjoy the magic of the river.

Barns Pool at dusk, Oct 15th

For the evening, I joined the dance line at Barns Pool. Again, no crowd. Not much catching either. I caught two nice whitefish, saw only one good trout taken. The day’s fishing performance cemented the plan for tomorrow. I would have to figure out how to join the crowd fishing the Madison further upstream.

At dusk, I joined another angler to walk back to the parking lot. He had caught a 21-inch brown trout working a streamer in the fast riffle below. Storing that in my mental file of fishing forensics, I drove back to camp.

The promise of good fishing weather tomorrow

I felt rich, fabulously wealthy with my timely possession.  Or, possession of time: two full days of Madison River fishing lay before me, together with the forecast of a good weather system.  

Work’s Done, Fish to the End

Last day of the Inn's 2012 season, October 14th

Sunday, October 14^th, was the last morning of the Old Faithful Inn’s season. I worked the last shift. Guests trickled down to the Front Desk to check out, and the Inn’s doors were locked promptly at 11:00 am. Housekeeping and Maintenance had already started to winterize the Inn (plumbing, bedding, kitchens, storm windows), work that would go on through mid-November. The Inn will sit idle for five months until next April, when work will begin to re-open for the 2013 season.

My Yellowstone work began back on May 5^th. It is a sense of accomplishment to have lasted the entire season. Twenty people were on the Front Desk Team when it started; only ten of us finished the full season to the end. Attrition came from early contract end dates, health/family issues, termination, transfer to other departments.

Final Hour for the Front Desk Team

The employee release procedure covered the basics: turn in my cash drawer; clean/return bedding; clean dorm room; turn in employee ID card and keys. I had been packing and loading my car for a couple of days in order to make a quick departure..

At 11:00 am on Monday morning, I had the final signature on my release paperwork. Ahead of  me lay four straight days of camping and fishing in the Park before I would have to start heading for home. 

It was an exhilarating feeling. Fall’s big fish season was here, I was a free man, and a weather system was moving into the Park over the next two days.

The promise of good fishing weather hangs over the Madison River

I headed for Madison Campground to set-up my tent, then on to the river to find the big fish.

Double Rainbow on the Madison

October 9^th was a full day off from work. I camped at Madison Campground for the night so I could spend more of my time fishing in search of those run-up trout from Hebgen Lake. From the campground, you can walk to Junction Pool just a few hundred yards away where the Firehole joins the Gibbon to form the Madison. A short twenty minute drive from the campground takes you down to the Barns Pools.

Chilly Dawn on the Madison River, Oct 9th

Another week had gone by in Yellowstone country, and still no ‘fishing weather.’ No rain or snow; still bluebird cloudless skies. Very unseasonal. At least, it had stayed colder, that should help move the fish.

From my series of outings on the Madison River in recent weeks, I have noticed a distinct morning and evening bite to the fishing. My plan was to be at Barns Pool to take advantage of that, and to be a little less intense about it midday.

I arrived at the parking lot before sunrise. It was cold, about 20 degrees, clear, calm. I would share the spot with about half a dozen other anglers, still not the crowd I had anticipated.

Rainbow Trout, Barns Pool

I had my 7 weight rod this time, rigged for nymphing.  I was in a take-no-prisoners mood. It was fall on the Madison, big fish were being caught, and I was down to my last handful of days to fish before my Yellowstone season would end. I joined the line of anglers at the top of the hole, four of us, and began fishing.

Did I say it was cold? It was cold…think steelhead fishing in Michigan. Iced-up rod guides grabbing at the line, numb fingers. After months of cursing the cloudless skies and bright Rocky Mountain sun, I was coaching the sun to climb over the hilltop this morning. Other than numb fingers and the pesky ice on the rod, though, I was very comfortable in my cold weather layers.

The sun was on the water by the third rotation down the three hundred yard run of Barns Pool #1 (takes about half an hour when done at the right pace). Its warmth cleared the rod guides and warmed my fingers. I had missed a nice strike by a good fish, but otherwise it was already a great fishing morning. There I was…at the zenith of my Yellowstone trip in terms of the fishing, working Barns Pool in October.

Landing fish with new ghost net, so much easier

The bigger rod was working great, easily throwing the floppy nymph rig and mending long drifts through the pool. I felt the confidence of being a regular, familiar now with how to fish here.

Barns Pool has several sweet spots to it, one being at the bottom of the run and on the far side. Many guys walk out of the run before they get down there, but I had seen a lot of good fish taken there. It takes a little extra effort to fish it; a farther cast and across a current differential.

I was working that piece of water when I got another nice strike. This time, the hook set. Immediately, a big trout came leaping out of the water heading upstream. Rainbow trout, no doubt! What a great feeling to have a big trout on, the payoff when time, effort, skill, and chance finally intersect.

Barns Pool is a great place to fight a big fish. There is space to play the fish, no snags, and the depth gives way gradually up to a shallow gravel bar. I have learned from all my Yellowstone fishing to just be patient landing a good fish. Let the rod and the reel drag do their job rather than pull too hard. It was a great fight with a strong fish. After the usual last nervous moments right at the net, there she was in my net, a gorgeous Hebgen Lake rainbow trout. Crimson gills, rainbow flank, coal-black spots on silver and olive body. It was 10 am on a bright, cloudless morning…boy, do I Iove Rocky Mountain trout fishing!

That was the only fish I saw taken that morning. Walking back up the bank, I struck up a conversation with a fellow angler, a local resident with years of experience fishing the fall run on the Madison. He said the big run of fish still had not happened yet, that when it does, the entire Barns Pool fills with fish. As evidence, he wore only hip boots and worked the water virtually from the bank rather than wading midway across. He suggested I watch Walter, another local angler, who was working Cable Car Run, the next hole upriver. I did so, and found Walter in the same mode…in hip boots, walking within feet of the bank, casual quarter-downstream casts swinging the fly.

Midday cloud cover...finally!

I spent midday running into town for a sandwich, then exploring a favorite spot below Grasshopper Bank to see if any fish had showed up in the past week. Sure enough, I found a pod of rising fish. From the look of some of the riseforms, they looked to be more than just dinks going after a tiny mayfly on the water. I was completely unprepared to fish dry flies, though, and my attempts at these fish showed it. An inadequate leader plus the confounding matrix of cross-currents quickly taxed my patience. My mind was fixed on fishing the evening at Barns Pool, and a shot at another fish like the one this morning.

I arrived there about 5 pm. Several anglers were working the run. While suiting up, I noticed this group of anglers started fishing the run below the very top where the main current curls around a rock corner on the far bank. They were ignoring a piece of slack water there at the top.

I recalled the advice of an angler the week before, ‘if you’re the first one in the hole, always work that slack piece of water before you wade into it…fish like to hold there.’  Heeding that advice, I stopped short of that spot and threw into the slack water. On just my second cast of the evening, I was tied to another strong fish. It ran straight down the river, nearly to the bottom of the pool. Working the fish around another angler, I netted it on the shallow gravel bar. It was another beautiful rainbow trout, male and a little bigger than the morning fish.

Campsite at Madison Campground...Oct 9th, still dry as a bone

I fished until sunset, content with the day. With one last week of fishing to look forward to, my Yellowstone season was coming to a very satisfying end.

Yellowstone’s Geysers

I haven’t said enough about Yellowstone’s geothermal features. Everyone knows that Old Faithful geyser is here. The typical Park visit includes seeing it erupt. Drive up to the Old Faithful complex, sit for the next eruption (every ninety minutes, plus or minus ten), then move on.

Castle Geyser eruption, June

Yet, there is so much more to it. Nearly half the geothermal features on the planet are here in Yellowstone National Park.  A concentration of them is strung along ten miles of the Firehole River in full view as you drive the Grand Loop Road.

Old Faithful sits at the head of Upper Geyser Basin, a two-mile long band of geysers, hot springs and pools. A pathway system weaves through them all, taking you out into a majestic other-world. Nowhere else have I felt the presence of the earth, our one and only Planet Earth, so strongly.

Thermal vents, Biscuit Basin along Firehole River

In the cool, still air of Rocky Mountain mornings, steam rising from geysers and vents lingers all around. Not just the named, designated geothermals…I mean everywhere. In the field beyond a main parking lot; all along the entrance road to Old Faithful Inn. You feel the dynamic presence of a living, active planet.

Powerful, too, is this immense source of heat that still boils water at the Earth’s surface 640,000 years after Yellowstone’s last cataclysmic eruption. Forty miles to the north on the road to Mammoth Hot Springs, this heat has literally torn a mountain apart. The broad flank of Roaring Mountain, several hundred feet tall, is little more than a steaming pile of rock rubble. It is a great reminder of Earth’s connections with the cosmos, and the sheer improbability of life as we know it.

Evening rainbow in a Riverside Geyser eruption

Many of the geothermals have descriptive names, derived from a unique feature, formation, or pattern of activity. Castle…Riverside…Grotto…Morning Glory Pool…Sawmill…Artemesia…Grand Prismatic Spring…Ojo Caliente…Tangled Creek…Anemone.

Chinese Pool, Upper Geyser Basin

An evening’s walk along the boardwalk in one of the Firehole’s geyser basins is a real treat. You are surrounded by the beauty of Earth’s elemental geology, wrapped in the silent power of the planet’s dynamic presence. What a blessing to be alive. Here. Now.

Float Trip on the Madison, September 11th

Ted working a seam, just below Lyons Bridge

The Madison River becomes a tailwater below Hebgen Lake, a huge impoundment just outside Yellowstone’s western border. Ted and I fished it from a driftboat last month. Geoff Unger from Blue Ribbon Flies was our guide. Martin Van Fossan and I did this trip with Geoff in 2004 when Martin introduced me to Yellowstone country. It was Ted’s first driftboat trip, he was as excited as a kid at Christmas.

Tailwater trout fishing is a welcome byproduct of dams built for flood control and irrigation. The constant release of cold water from a reservoir’s depths creates great trout habitat. On this stretch of the Madison, nature adds miles of steep gradient. The result is ‘the fifty mile riffle’ all the way to Ennis, its fast water and boulder bottom full of trout.

Brown trout under a cloudless sky

We fished the stretch from Lyons Bridge to the Palisades about an hour northwest of West Yellowstone. Lyons Bridge is the upstream limit for driftboat fishing, the stretch above is reserved for wade fishing all the way to Quake Lake. Close to ten boats launched from the ramp while we were getting ready, but the river’s wide expanse and fast current quickly dispersed all the anglers.

Conditions were with us. Water temperatures had dropped from summer highs thanks to cooler daytime temperatures (Geoff said that water temperatures are the critical factor in fish and insect activity). A cool breeze all day had the river’s insect population active. Though a cloudless day, smoke from all the western wildfires put a haze in the air.

Ted with a nice rainbow trout

Big mountain whitefish, good fight

A driftboat is a great fishing tool, especially in the hands of a capable guide like Geoff who knows a river’s fishing so well. The boat gives casting and fish-fighting advantages that wade fishing doesn’t, and you cover so much more prime fish-holding cover. On the Madison, fishing from a driftboat is like nature’s video game…constant action on a current speed of six miles an hour that carries the boat along at a fast clip (“Cast here! Cast there!”). We fished indicator rigs the whole day using a big stonefly nymph along with something small to imitate the small mayflies that were on the water.

It was a banner day of fishing, nearly constant action from ten until five. We caught nice brown and rainbow trout, mountain whitefish, even two beautiful cutthroat trout. Ted and I each had a couple of chances at big fish, but they got back to the bottom before getting to the net. I muffed the hookset on a beautiful rainbow right off the bank within five minutes of launching. What seemed like minutes later, Ted lost a big brown that came barreling out of a deep run the moment it felt the hook. Later in the day, we each lost a nice fish after fighting it for a while. Each time, Geoff chided us for dropping the rod tip too much.

Ted & Geoff, end of a great day

It was the kind of fishing day that makes the price of guide and boat so worth it. I can’t wait to go again.

Fisherman's Postcard, October 5th

Cold weather finally arrived in Yellowstone. Through to the end of September, daytime highs always made it to the upper 60s, even 70s, despite overnight lows near freezing. All that changed two days ago.  

Evening over the Madison River and the Gallatin Range

Fall weather is truly here. For the next several days, daytime highs will struggle to the 40s, nighttime lows in the upper teens. Even so, it remains unseasonably dry. The last significant rain was early September, and amazingly, still no snow.

Morning on the River, Madison Campground

I have camped the past two weekends as a break from the dorm/cafeteria routine and to be closer to the fishing. A new goose down sleeping bag and plenty of layers has made it very comfortable.  Sub-freezing nights, though, will really put my equipment to the test.  

Nighttime at Madison Campground two nights ago was spectacular. Moonlight from the full moon and a starry sky illuminated National Park Mountain that towers above the junction where the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers meet to form the Madison River. A bull elk serenaded his harem starting about 4 AM, its bugling quite a sound in the middle of the night. 

Brown Trout on a streamer, Firehole River

Fishing has been both good and not so good. I have caught two of the nicest fish of the season in the past week, both large brown trout that took a streamer (Bakers Hole Bugger) bought custom-tied from Jason Davis (thanks, Jason!). One came from a classic brown trout lie (log in the water just off the riverbank, a soft pocket of water next to fast water) on the Firehole River.  

The other big trout came from Barns Pool #1 on the Madison, an iconic fishing spot just inside the Park’s west boundary where anglers go to intercept the trout running up the river out of Hebgen Lake. Anglers come from around the country to fish this in the fall. Pleasantly, it is not nearly crowded as I feared. Camaraderie comes easily among a half dozen or so anglers who take turns working down the 200 yard run of deep water, a slow dance line that follows an unwritten etiquette taking turns and not ‘sitting on the hole.’ 

Brown Trout at Barns Pool #1, Madison River

Barns Pool is top-drawer fly fishing, you really have to be on your game. Both brown and rainbow trout are to be had. Good anglers catch the fish, average anglers don’t.  Little mistakes in presentation leave you empty-handed, and the big trout are exceedingly difficult to get well-hooked and keep on the line. Two totally different techniques are employed; swinging streamers and soft hackles, or nymphing under an indicator. So far, I’d say that nymphing has the upper hand. 

Despite the two nice fish, fishing has not been what I expected for the fall, the fish elusive. I attribute it to bluebird, cloudless days and the lack of rain/snow keeping the rivers low and gin clear.  

The dance line at sunset, Barns Pool on the Madison

Optimism distinguishes fishing from catching. I have two more weeks here to witness it to turn on. My dreams are of cloudy days and some rain or snow in the air.