Day 7: Fishing at Whitehall and a Long Drive to Meeteetse, Wyoming.

I got on the water at 10:30 AM. Fish were rising, sporadically, in the middle of the pond. I tried my rig from the previous evening to no avail. I changed to a single bead body PT midge 6 inches under the indicator. Fish were rising close to me, so of course I flipped the rig to their area. My indicator went down twice, with nothing at the end of the line each time. Giving up on nymphing, I pulled out my 5 weight, intermediate line for stripping flies through the lake.

Just a little side note. The hiking staff / chair I bought for the trip has already paid for itself. After driving and sleeping in a cramped van for 7 days, my back starts cramping after standing for a couple of minutes. I was able to fish “all day” sitting on this chair, casting away like a happy idiot.

Back to the story: After switching to a stripping line (cast out, let it sink, strip the line back to entice a fish), I remembered the #1 fly for lakes and ponds——The Sheep Creek Special.

I put on a gold bead headed version and started casting and stripping for another half hour. I finally gave up and decided to drive to another water to fish. I reeled in my line to leave and BAM, a 7 inch fish grabbed the fly. I brought it to shore only to lose it after fumbling to get my net. AARRGGHH

I continued casting, with little luck, changing my retrieves to see what worked. Success occurred when I decided to suggesting a reeling in of the line: two foot strips at a 1-1.5 ft/sec rate. Bang, they took the fly near the shore.

Montana only allows fish caught for the Western Native Trout Challenge to come from stocked ponds and lakes within the state. I normally would not fish a stocked pond for this challenge, but it was the only way to qualify this species for the challenge.

I ended up landing another three before driving 4.5 hours (LONG DRIVE) to Meeteetse Wyoming to try to catch a Yellowstone Cutthroat for the challenge. Also, I plan to catch all four cutthroat species in Wyoming for the medallion they give for their Wyoming Cutt-Slam program.

Tight Lines!