Every year about this time I like to make a trip to Slough Creek in Yellowstone National Park to try my hand at catching a late season Yellowstone Cutthroat. The fall is a special time to visit anywhere in Yellowstone but I especially like to visit the northeast corner of the park and fish not only Slough Creek but also the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek. The visiting fishermen have mostly left for their homes in faraway places and the locals are either hunting or concentrating on fishing for fall spawning brown trout, which do not occupy the waters in this part of Yellowstone. I have grown accustomed to having the creek pretty much to myself at this time of year. This by itself makes the four and a half hour round trip drive from my home more than worth it since solitude has always been an important part of the fly fishing experience for me. If I manage to catch a fish or two it pretty much makes for a perfect day. That ‘s not to say that I find myself completely alone since the lower end of Slough Creek has become a popular gathering place in the fall for a handful of avid wildlife watchers hoping to catch a glimpse of a wolf or grizzly bear that frequent the area. When I arrive at the creek at this time of year I am always amazed at how little water seems to be running down the creek bed and every year I carry on a mental debate with myself about the ethics of fishing for these beautiful fish in such skinny water.
It doesn’t take a very experienced angler to figure out just where these fish are holding at this time of year and I worry about the additional stress I might subject these fish to so late in the season if I am lucky enough to hook a few. Every year I convince myself that the cooler water temperatures and lack of overall fishing pressure in the fall allow me to catch and release a few fish without detriment. So I gear up and head down to the river’s edge with mostly a clear conscience. When I arrive I observe an occasional fish rising to some imperceptible food source either on or very near the surface. I figure the fish are probably taking some form of midge so I tie on a size 20 adult midge imitation with a midge pupa trailer. After about an hour all I have to show for my efforts is a couple of refusals from two different respectable cutthroats. I decide to take a break and remind myself to look around and take in the splendor of fall in Yellowstone. As I sat on the bank I began to notice something moving around in the grass, among the rocks and even in the shallow water margins of the creek. A closer look revealed a number of small frogs hoping and swimming around in the warm sun of a fall afternoon.
The frogs were about the same size as a couple of black foam cicada patterns I had in a box of flies in my vest. It seemed plausible to me that if one those frogs were to stray too far astream that an opportunistic cutthroat looking to consume as many calories as possible late in the season wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to feed on one. I decided a change of tactics was in order so I tied on a size 10 black foam cicada and started to fish the closest pool. I didn’t make three casts before I found myself hooked up to a nice Slough Creek Yellowstone Cutthroat.
Now I can’t say that I continued to fish that pool and a number of others taking one fish after another but I was able to fool several more fish before I decided to call it a day and head back home. The combination of solitude and a few cutthroats on a beautiful fall day made for that perfect fishing experience I had hoped I would find on yet another fall trip to Slough Creek.
Tags: Fall Flyfishing in Yellowstone Park, Flyfishing in Yellowstone Park, Slough Creek
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