Wild Trout Safaris Alaska Trips

The Extreme Class is going great! So far the, *fly fishing club,* what we are called on the road, has been on two trips. On the first trip we went to Big Sky Montana to fish the Gallatin River. It was a blast! The weather could not have been better. We had 46 degrees in February, in Montana, both days, well, that is unheard of temperatures. 21 people joined us and we sure had a good time. Everybody caught fish and I think had a really good time. Some were into double figures before lunch. I was behind the curve in fish totals the first day, only landing 12. The fish were not real large but the scenery unparallel. It is the most beautiful river we fish, in my opinion. The accommodations were perfect as well. We stayed at Bucks T4 Ranch which is located less than one mile from our fishing hole. We could walk to the river from our hotel rooms.

The Gang just returned from trip number two to Aspen Colorado yesterday. There, we fished for two days on the Roaring Fork of the Colorado River. The Roaring Fork fished well. The Roaring Fork is a beautiful river that flows between Aspen and Glennwood Springs Colorado. It a fast moving freestone river that winds down a fairly steep canyon thick with trees that line the banks. It was our third year to fish this river. This year, the river banks were still covered with snow. In fact, it snowed on us for most of the day on day one. Day two however, was bright and sunny, tee shirt weather. Like Gene said, "You could lay down and take a nap." Man, the Roaring Fork is a cool river to look at on a sunny day. The submerged rocks are both large and small with beautiful coloring, however slippery. The river is also full of much larger rocks, near bolder in size, causing the river to have lots of drops and pockets that twist it's way downward at a fast pace. These pockets are loaded with fish, and fun to try to access from a distant cast. Hiding behind a bolder affords one a good chance to catch more fish because the gin clear water makes the fish much more skittish than other rivers we fish. Assuming you don't spook em, there are plenty of fat Browns and Rainbows to be had. They are all good size ranging from about 15" to 21'' but way fat, with very vibrantly rich coloring.

Jay was high man with 40 fish in the net. Ed finished a close second with 36. (But who's counting?) As a group, everybody caught fish. Most everybody was in double figures, and for the first time Max out fished Lucy. (We'll see if that ever happens again.) I personally hooked 23 but only put 19 of them in the net on day one. Mickey got 8 in the net. I wished I could have gotten up and down the river more to take more photos of the gang and all their fish. Moving up and down the river is difficult. I used my walking stick with every step. I got a few photos of Mickey but he fished near me most of the day. (Send me some more photos gang, and I'll put some on the page. I want more photos from the Gallatin trip too.) All in all, I'd say it was a great trip. Fishing was good, really good for some. Other's who divulged their day one fish totals were Nate with 13, Jeff with 15 and Pete with 16, but like I said, who's counting? We all had good fun in this amazing fishery that in fact very few in fishing circles know about. In fact, I don't think we saw another angler that wasn't with us the whole trip.

     I was relaxed now. This was fun! I kept my rod tip high and reeled when the fish let me and allowed the drag to roar out when the Steely made a run. I was trying to take a mental picture of the whole scenario. A memory that Mickey and I will always share. Even if we lost the fish, Mickey had a good look at it, so I was just having a fun trying to reel it in. It was all good. The only thing that was left to do was to get a photo. If that happed then it was perfect!
We had moved quite a ways down river when it appeared the fish was tiring. After I had more than half of my line back in my reel, I yelled to Mickey that I thought he could take him with the net. He responded with, "but he won't fit in the net." I told Mick, to let me try to get him in the shallows and, "you try to take him headfirst," with the net. Eventually I did work him into the shallower water where Mickey could reach him. He came from behind and under the fish, moving the net past the fish and over its head. He raised the net around the fish with only the bottom third not fitting. Just then the fly pulled out of the fish. But, Mickey still had him.
     Pete had waded down to us, just as Bob and Tom arrived on the scene. Max and Lucy also made their way to the landed fish and we took lots of photos. The adipose fin had never been clipped, saying that this was a "wild fish," not a hatchery fish or "B run" fish which explained his larger size. I didn't have a tape measure, but I'd say that he was about 35 inches long. A nice fish, my first Steelhead and, really the only fish I saw on the trip.
     We had missed the biggest part of the run, but as a group we did OK. Everyone I have talked to so far, has said it was a great trip. Some never saw a Steely but still had a great time. Lucy who didn't catch one still gave the trip, an A+. But Lucy likes all of our trips.
    On Sunday, Pete and Tom both got a Steelhead. That made 17 in the net for the group. I know everyone wanted a photo of a fish that was worthy of that screen saver at work. As the group's leader, I truly wanted everyone to catch a Steelhead too, but I knew going in that, that was not going to happen. Nevertheless, I hoped that it would. So I try to keep in mind that in the words of Sun Valley's own, Ernest Hemingway that the "old Man," was no less fulfilled, was with no less glory, having returned to shore without the big fish, than if he had returned with the big fish. For the victory is not in the fish, but rather in the battle, in the hunt, in the wilderness, and in the challenge!
   Fish or not, the reward for the group, is the Saw Tooth Mountains range, the many bear tracks of the bank of the Salmon River, the town of Sun Valley, the soaking in the huge hot pool at the lodge, the laughing at breakfast, the belly full of pizza, and all the BS between friends. And that is what we have become; friends! It was a weekend away from home with friends. It doesn't get better then that!
     Tight lines, mike.
.

As I rolled south out of Sun Valley Idaho my thoughts were as varied as the weather. Brilliantly warm sunshine interrupted with flurries of snow. At one moment I thought of that 35 inch monster rainbow they call a Steelhead that I had landed. Then my mind turned to thoughts of how many of us went fishless. I remembered the endless numbers of 12 inch rainbow, smolt, that we took on every cast. But then I noticed the Big Wood River, with its splendid drops, turns and riffles flowing alongside and under the road as I made my way out of town, and was saddened again. It was the Big Wood that brought us to Sun Valley, and what a river it was. Nonetheless, due to a silly and frankly poor fishing regulation we were unable to fish the Big Wood River. I watched it's perfectly shaped ripples flow from the road and salivated. The Big Wood was the river I wanted to fish. The Steelhead part of the trip was only secondary. However, it became the focus of our journey after we were informed about the policy.
Sun Valley was the summer mecca for the late great Ernest Hemmingway. His sleeping body still lies in what is, for many anglers, hollowed ground not far from the Big Wood. As is the case in the Extreme Class, the town itself is in many ways the luminary of the trip. That was never truer than in this case, where the town of Sun Valley was the star of the weekend. That theme meshed perfectly with our marvelous
accommodations- the Sun Valley Lodge! (Thanks so much Bob, for hooking us up with the lodge at such an incredible rate!) The Sun Valley Lodge, built in 1936, has an illustrious history. Sun Valley was the very first ski resort in North America and, the Sun Valley Lodge, with its rustic elegance and huge ice skating rink, only furthered this town's appeal as a destination. Hollywood came rushing to the lodge both to frolic and to make movies. The first of which, stared Sonja Henie and was released in 1941, forever placing Sun Valley on the map. The lodge is still a major attractor of Hollywood and its stars as well as world dignitaries dating from its heyday in the 30s 40s and 50s and continuing to today. The walls of this magnificent building are adorned with nostalgic photos of Hollywood's celluloid elite. More photos than I could name including the likes of John Kenney, the Shaw of Iran, Lucile Ball, Ginger Rogers, Gary Cooper and of course Ernest (Pappy) Hemingway to name just a few. The lodge was truly a delight, and a major factor in the success of the trip.
With the Big Wood no longer a possibility, the goal for most on this trip, was to hook and possibly land a large Steelhead in the Salmon River, located just over the pass from Sun Valley in Stanley Idaho. It was a 50 minute drive to the Salmon River over Galena Pass and into the Saw Tooth Wilderness. The sights enroute were astounding. The view of the Saw Tooth Mountain range ranks with any view the Extreme class has ever encountered.

The first part of day one, we split up to try to find the fish. About a third of the class stayed high in the river above Stanley. The other two thirds went down river insearch of an alleged second wave of Steelhead that had yet to arrive, but to no avail. After lunch we rejoined the top group and discovered that they had taken a few Steelys. Jeff, Kyle, Todd and Leland all had landed some nice fish. The balance of the group without fish, had occupied their time with literally hundreds of Steelhead smolt headed out to sea that would not stay off the hook. Some caught them two at a time. We fished as a group in the upper stretches the rest of the afternoon.
Most of our hopes of seeing a Steelhead, never mind catching a Steelhead, had long since been dashed. We focused on the ubiquitous smolt and the amazing scenery. Matt and my 12 year old son Mickey however, ventured further up river on foot.

After a while, knowing that Matt and Mickey were without a radio, I made chase up river to find them and look after Mickey. When I reached them, I discovered that Matt had located 5 Steelhead in the river and had caught and netted three of them! I radioed back to the gang down river to spread the news and they too began walking up river. I told them to keep their eyes peeled for any of these sea run Rainbows that, it seems, were still lurking in the area. Moments later, Mickey, tied into one! He hooked it while nymphing blindly in a deeper ripple. The fish bolted quickly up river as Mickey tried to hang on. But the fish threw the hook before any of us could get a look at the fish.

As I crossed the river I did spook another one that moved away from me like a bullet to my left. It was large, with a beautiful red stripe from his gill plate to his tail. Wow! I now saw why so many anglers spend so many fruitless hours trying to catch these behemoths. It is said that a Steelhead is a "thousand cast fish."
But the fish I saw was far from me and moving away too quickly to have even a chance to cast for him. But, my confidence soared that I might actually see another one that I could catch. I fished and scouted with my son and others that had joined us for maybe an hour more.
Finally, Bob radioed from down stream that he had just seen two moving up river. I thought I should maybe try to work my way back down stream and try possibly to intercept them. I had barley began to work my way down stream when I thought I saw a large fish toward the middle of the river in a deeper pool. I moved further out into the river and closer to that riffle. Yes, it did appear that a fish was on the edge of the pool. I crept up closer and closer so not to spook it if it was in fact a fish. It seemed like it could be a fish, but, I wasn't convinced that it was. It had the look of a fish, but I had seen so many shadows that day that turned out not to be a fish that I really wasn*t sure. "Could this be a Steel head," I whispered aloud to myself. It looked long; way more than two feet in length. "Are those spots," I asked quietly to myself. If it was a fish, it had a blue green back. I had yet to see anything like that all day. If it was a fish, there was only one way to find out, and that was to make a cast. I was about 12 to15 feet away from the alleged fish and about 10 feet down river from it. I made a cast above the spot that looked like a fish and my line drifted past on the upper side of the spot. The spot did not move; I still wasn't sure. I casted again, this time short of the spot and drifted down on the underside past the spot. If it wasn't a fish, it looked more like a fish than any other shadow that I had seen all day, save that one that was fast moving earlier.

As I went to cast a third time the shadow moved. Not a lot, but it did move! The spot was no longer where I first located it in the river. It had slid down river, maybe a foot and a little more to the middle of the pool. It was a fish for sure! I struggled to contain my excitement. I casted again and hit the spot to where I was aiming. The line drifted right toward the fish. The fish lurched and snapped at the attractor fly, my purple eggsucking leach. In response, I quickly set the hook, but the fish seemed to miss the fly because I could see the fly be pulled past the fishes head. "Dang!" I shouted loudly, but still under my breath so not to spook the fish.
But wait, no, what's this? He's there! I felt a tug and the weight of the fish on the line. The fish then rolled and darted to the left across the pool and the line followed! "I got him," I shouted now loudly, "I got him!" The fish was on my dropper! My dropper fly was a simple pattern made of pink chenille coated around a dumbbell eye in the shape of a ball with a chartreuse flashabou tail. The fly is sort of my own creation, similar to what is commonly called a "Thunder Egg."

The fish was hooked, my dropper worked. The Steelhead, with a grand yank that I'll never forget, made a mad dash out of the hole and headed up river. With my rod now bending over and my drag screaming the most melodious sound an angler has ever heard, I again shouted to Pete, Tom, Mickey and anyone else within shouting distance, "I got one, I got one!"
Mickey, standing waist deep in the river some 50 yards above me came running down river toward me. "Give me the net," Mickey shouted, as he struggled to navigate his way through the large rocks in the river between us. I kept my 8wt rod high as the fish continued to take line. I did reel some line back by the time Mickey finally reached me, but the fish was still near the bank on the opposite side of the river.

"The net is tied in a knot Dad," Mickey gasped as he tried to free the oversized net that I had bungeed to the back of my fishing vest. That big net had been a pain all day and I had contemplated dumping it many times earlier, but I was glad that I had it now. Mickey struggled for a time freeing the net but after it was lose he ran out into deeper water after the fish. The fish had moved down stream now but was still nearly all of my line away from me. I only had a few turns before I was at my backing. Throughout the fight I kept trying to remind myself that I was supposed to relax and enjoy, what might be my first Steelhead. In truth I was setting myself up for possible disappointment by saying stuff to myself, like, "even if he gets off, it was still
fun." In truth, I still hoped I'd get him in for a photo, or at least to show the rest of the gang. With my left hand I took the radio and announced that I had one on and that I was moving down river. Many like Max and Bob said they would try to head up stream and help out.
The fished moved back toward the middle of the river and headed right toward Mickey. My son was now in netting distanced, and I feared he would make a stab at what was still a green fish. However, he didn*t make a try, he only yelled back to me, "It is HUGE! It will never fit in the net." The fish moved past Mickey and back to the near side of the river as Mickey gave chase. Mickey then headed down river to maneuver below the fish as the fish headed for the other side again with Mickey in hot pursuit. This continued, with me reeling and letting him run again and again. This was how it went, as we both moved down river with the fish. Mickey and the fish were zigzagging their way back and forth, further and further down river.

     It's not too early to start to talk about next year's Extreme Class line-up, 2008. Mickey and I have lots of research to do this summer. In fact we are planning to leave directly from our final outing to Slough Creek. I will have the whole family in tow. We have as a goal to fish all the major rivers in southern Alberta and British Columbia. However, we will still hit the Missouri as we plow our way thru Montana in route to the border. I have always longed to fish the rivers of our neighbors to the north. If it goes the way I think its gonna, you had all better get a passport by next summer. (You will need one by December if you joining me in the Yucatan because I'm taking some anglers to Tarpon Town the week before Christmas.)
     Yes, it appears the Extreme class is going international. Rivers in my sights in Canada are the Oldman, the Bow, the Crowsnest, the Elk and any other I can find that will be worth our time. The rivers I have listed at least on paper fit the bill for our group because of the beauty and fishability. I'll let you know how it goes.
     I do want to keep mixing it up for years to come. For example the Old Man in Alberta offers excellent possibilities to catch Bull trout, something we need to try. Also the Crowsnest and Elk rivers are world renown dry fly destinations and we need more like that too. We have done little dry fly because of the time of year we fish. I plan to remedy that. One dilemma that I think I have resolved is which trips to dump to make way for the new.
    Well here it is: Why dump any? Just add new! I'm looking very seriously at adding two possibly three trips without losing any. Making the class year around. We skip November and May because of my Advanced classes. And maybe December assuming the Tarpon trip works out. But that's a trip every month of the year. That makes this a year around class. Cool huh? Let me know what you think.
      Well that's it. Don't wait to get those passports, there is a huge back log. Start today. I'll give you a heads up on the Slough Creek Class time and location. It's likely to be after I return from Alaska. Till next time, tight lines. -mike

Here it finally is: "The Big Horn Write Up!" It has taken me some time to recover from the trip, and part of the reason for the delay in writing. The other reason is, I now have a summer job- running a fly shop!
The Big Horn Trip was amazing! Let me give you some insight as to how good the trip really was. So far I have only polled only 11 of the 24 persons who attended the trip to the Big Horn. However, of those 11 persons, every-single-one of them has ranked this last trip, the Big Horn Trip, as the number one trip for the year. I know I still need to poll the balance of the class, but my son Mickey is on record as proclaiming, that not only was the Big Horn Trip the best trip of the year, but quite possibly the best trip we have ever taken as the Extreme Class!
I know opinions vary, therefore I need more info. Send me an e-mail ranking all the trips thus far. I know we still have one more Extreme Class trip to go, but I kinda need to know now. You see, I am in the process in figuring out next year's line-up. So, just be candid. I know everyone's opinion varies greatly, that's OK.. Try to rank them from:1-5. Line them up one thru five with # 1 being the best. If you didn't attend all the trips, that is fine too, just put them in order as you see them. I'll post the results in a future e-mail. Now here is the recap you've all been waiting for.

     We got a slow start. We opened with Henry's Lake in Idaho, where I had my Advanced students fishing on their final fishing day. I invited my Extreme class, as I always do, to join us for a day of float tubing with the Advanced Class. This is a great opportunity for my Advanced students to meet the Extreme people.
    This year we met at Henry's Lake. It was a nice day. Maybe too nice, the thermometer was up and the fishing was down. It was a bust! Only one of my students caught fish. By noon the whole lake was vacated. Not just us either. In the morning, the lake was covered with all manner of boats and pontoons. But by noon everyone was gone, and I mean the whole lake! We too gave up on what was a lousy fishing day. But no worries, we went to Subway got some sandwiches and went to Bob's cabin to eat them. Quite a few Advanced students joined us at Bob's. It was nice. It appears we have some fun people ready to join our Extreme Class next year from this year's Advanced class. There were some great people that are going to fit into the Extreme class nicely.
    After we said farewell to the Advanced students the Extremers headed out in a car caravan into Yellowstone Park. It was a great drive, with good friends and good music on CD. We stopped near Mt. Washburn to watch a big sow Grizzly with two cubs. Amazing viewing! Close distance but safe too. The mom Grizzly seemed to have no cares about us watching her, the cubs on the other hand were perched up with front paws on a rock and trying to give us a big sniff. I got some photos but I only had my close-up underwater camera with me (fish camera).

The next morning we met for breakfast (eating is our other sport, well maybe, eating is our sport and fishing is our "other" sport.) at a mountain caf� at the end of town. (Good too!) After we took our first group photo we started on what is, far and away, the best drive we do as a class. Words cannot do justice in describing the route we take over Bear Tooth Pass and down into Red Lodge Montana. It is more than amazing, you will just have to see it for yourself! We stopped lots and took lots of photos along the way. There were lots of skiers, this year, hiking and sliding on all the glaciers. The weather was good too, maybe mid-80s, with visibility unlimited! Wow! what a drive.

After descending to the other side of the divide, we had designs on fishing Rock Creek at the bottom of the canyon maybe 10 miles above Red Lodge MT. The water was very clear but still running a little too high. We took a screening and found lots of bugs. Good size Stone Flies with Free-living Caddis in large numbers, truly a healthy stream. However, we were unable to find the "right" stretch to fish. We continued the drive down river, looking for a hole with a quieter riffle to make a cast. But we never found a good place and before you know it, we were driving down main street in Red Lodge MT. Oh well, we stopped for gas and ended up participating in the, "eating sport." We found a great place in the middle of town right on main street. It was an old 1880's bar that is now a Mexican restaurant, called Bogart's. Lunch was a blast! Fishing wasn't even on anybody's mind! However, I did get the scoop on where to fish while in Red Lodge from a local in the bar. It seems that below town, the river widens and offers better and more wadeable stretches. He said Rock Creek has good numbers of both Brookies and Rainbows. In fact, he said it was "awesome," fishing. But the fishing in Red Lodge will have to be another day, kuz on that afternoon, we were chowing hard and toasting everything. i.e. Each other and frankly Montana in general! I love toasting Montana. In fact: Here's to Montana Right NOW! Cheers!

These farming hamlets with one store, one gas station and three bars are very cool in their own way. These people must feel so removed from "main stream" America. Or, maybe this is "main stream" America, and we are removed. In one of them, I can't recall the hamlets name, we take a hard turn right that leads to a short cut down a long, I mean long dirt road across the Crow Indian Reservation to a village called St Xavier. The key to enjoying this part of the drive is to go fast enough so you don't feel the bumps, but not too fast so you aren't in the dust cloud of the guy in front of you and you must have great tunes on the CD player blasting at max volume. The drive is also made more pleasurable by participating in all the wise cracks that are being transmitted over our walkie talkies from the Extremers as we roll across the prairie. No, it's not a bad time after all, it's way fun!

The next morning we opted to do breakfast in our own kitchens with "quick," being the fair. We met at the "put in," at 6:30am. With all the team work, blowing up rafts and carrying them to waters edge, we were returning in the shuttle truck by 7:30.am. We were way ahead of the guides and floating before they were even with clients. Most everybody was hooked up within minutes. Not trusting Mickey to float himself I had his pontoon again tethered to my raft and I paddled. He was on fish within three casts. We took a few more fish while floating before reaching "First Hole." In First Hole, the whole group was on fire. I was in double figures within no time. That included a 28 inch Rainbow that took me way down river. Tom hiked down from First Hole to lend a hand with the net. Sorry, he got away before I could get a photo. But he was all of 28" with great colors. A photo would have been good for the web page and the shop. Tom and I walked back to First Hole where the gang was lighting them up. We had lots of doubles and a few triples.

The river fished a bit slower on day two, but that could have been me just wearing out. Nevertheless, it still fished quite well and I got all my fish count numbers up in Flying Fish Hole. We pulled off the river early on day two, as was the plan and began the drive back.
For the last three years we have only fished the top three miles of the river. There are lots of fish in the top three miles, and I mean lots. However, down river there are bigger fish. These fish tend to be in the second half of the seven mile float. Some of our people like Peter, Lupita, Lee, Sue and Blaine just wade fished the river the second day, mostly due to fatigue from the first day. They fished near the first day's pullout and tended to catch larger fish. There a lots of hogs in this river and we would see more of them if we fished down river. Next year our plan is to float the upper stretch the first day like we have been, then put in at the first day's pull out and float the lower four miles to a pullout further down river. Never mind the bigger fish, this way we can see more of the river.

This year was no exception, we didn't make it again. But what a great drive that is; the 90. This year we encountered big rain. So big, the wipers couldn't keep up.
We got to Bozeman about 7:30 and checked into the Hampton Inn. Within minutes of our arrival we went for a swim in the indoor pool, followed that with a little soak in the hot tub. Bozeman is another great stop that will be forever placed on the Extreme Class line up. It is a perfect town, I'm quite sure I will live in Bozeman someday. That evening we went out on the town to do some chatting over some appetizers and drinks at a local haunt- truly fun.

The next morning we headed off to the Ruby River. It was raining and snow was expected. The drive again was great. We crossed the Gallitin River heading west and then followed the Madison River south to Ennis MT. Ennis has a large metal statue of a fly fisherman landing a fish in the heart of the village, a real fly fishing town if there ever was one. From Ennis we turned right and westward over a pass to Alder MT., by way of Virginia City MT. In the 1880s, Virginia City was the site of the purest gold ore strike in the whole world. A boom town in it's day, today is a cute tourist town with shops and caf�s.

The one coming in from the east, they named after the secretary of War; Gallitin. The middle one they named after the vice President; Madison and the one they followed west they named after the President; Jefferson.
The Ruby is chuck full of Browns and Rainbows. We fished a few miles down river from the spillway in the Brown trout section. Fishing was good but the weather had really moved in and dampened the spirits of some of our anglers. I fished, much of the day without weights and a low strike indicator. It fished well in that fashion, kind of a summer strategy, similar to a hopper dropper scenario. My best pattern was a Mean Gene and an orange San Juan worm. Later I tried, with good success, a Crane Fly Larva, Irish Springs also worked well. The group was spread-out down the river. Mickey and I fished with Randy. We had a good time and the fishing really started to heat up as the day wore on. Via walkie-talkie I kept tabs on everybody else. Most had headed out by early afternoon. Some needed to drive all the way back to Utah. Others headed to Bob's warm and dry cabin to get out of the severe weather we were facing.

Eventually we called it quits. All that was left on the Ruby was Pete, Lupita, Randy, Cindy, Mickey and I.. It was all good, we went to the Alder Steakhouse, to grub. After we faced more than a foot of snow on the road over the pass headed to Bob's. The flakes were big but it was still a beautiful drive. There was a bear, Black I think, in the Madison River as we drove to the cabin.
Bob's cabin is really nice and roomy, with high ceilings made of lodge pole pines. We warmed by the fire, drank hot chocolate and played cards. It was perfect! Wow, what an end to a great trip! As I said, if you missed this one, you may have missed the best ever!