Day two of our Wyoming fly fishing trip actually started off Wednesday evening. Our guide contacted us and we finally got back to him and texted a few times back and forth getting all the particulars down. But when he said he would meet us at 7:45 am Shifty and I thought well half the day is over by then and we aren’t going to catch anything. A phone call followed. Jimmy Kofoed, our guide, answered the phone and we discussed the trip for a few minutes. He told us that we didn’t need to arrive any earlier but he did agree to meet us at 7:30 am. He told us “it’s going off and that fishing would be great.” Shifty and I both thought, yeah right. We went back to the hotel hit the hot tub and crashed after watching Smokey and the Bandit.
Thursday morning came quicker than we thought. We woke up at 6:00 am, had breakfast at the hotel got our stuff packed and made our way to the rendezvous point. We met Jimmy at the appointed time and followed him and his dog Shadow to the water. We arrived at the put in around 8:00 am and readied ourselves for the day on the water. We watched as Jimmy set up our poles and readied his boat for the day. We talked and got to know one another including his first mate Shadow a very well behaved dog.
Jimmy had things set up and ready by 8:10 but then he stepped out behind the boat and started giving pointers, as to what he expected from us when working the poles and lines while on the water. It was honestly a great lesson session. He showed us exactly what he wanted to see us do with the pole and line. He showed us how we were to mend our lines so that we could keep the flies in the water the greatest amount of time. He then let Shifty have a try at what he had just demonstrated, and started giving pointers to him so he had an efficient set and cast of the line. He was turning out to be excellent from the beginning and he only got better as the day progressed!
After the short intro to the pole and line he unloaded the boat, then he and Shifty took the truck and trailer to the take out for our return trip at half-day. Shadow and I stayed with the boat, Shadow took his place on the rear deck and didn’t move. We got to know each other a little better while waiting for them to return which was only 10 minutes. Shifty and Jimmy were back and we launched.
Jimmy immediately started telling us about the water we were on and that he generally started out in area that wasn’t accessible today, but he was optimistic about the rest of the water. He paddled us to the main stream and gave us our poles and said “ready yourselves, you will be casting to the left and put the line in the seam.” We did just that, Jimmy coaching us the entire time as we set our first cast in the current. The seam was along the bank and water was clear, the outside of the seam was quick and the inside was slow, making us mend our line often. Jimmy was coaching the entire time to get us on the fish.
Shifty was on the front of the boat and I on the back. Shifty hadn’t really fly fished for a number of years and was relearning what he knew. However, it didn’t take long with the coaching of Jimmy each step of the way, on his second cast he got hit. He got hit hard, his line sizzled out of his hand and went directly to the reel. Jimmy continued to coach knowing he had a great fish. “Keep your hand off the reel!” “Let him run”, were the words coming from Jimmy and Shifty did just that. After a nice battle Shifty brought the first of many great looking Brown trout to the boat. With whoops and hollers we all rejoiced in the accomplishment we just saw. Shifty was smiling and I knew right away what Jimmy had said the night before was true “it’s going off”. We took pictures and released the big brown trout for someone else to enjoy. Jimmy went into teaching mode and explained how the fish were stacked up behind the Kokanee that had traveled upstream and the trout were stacked in behind them waiting for eggs to come floating out.
During the picture taking time is when Shifty learned he had lost his camera. We searched the boat hard but couldn’t see it. Shifty asked to be dropped off to go to his truck to look for it. Jimmy paddled upstream and across the stream to the other bank and let Shifty out. He took off on a run. I stayed in the boat and continued to cast. It only took Shifty a couple minutes to return again on a full run. He had found the camera in his truck.
We set off for the other bank and started fishing again in the same pattern. After a few more cast Shifty hooked up another nice fish, this time a Rainbow trout. Good fighter and Shifty followed the coaching of Jimmy and landed it without problem. A couple pictures and it was returned. I fished and kept close visual on the indicator for a fish hitting my fly. After a couple minutes I had my first hit and it was a “whopper” all of 5 inches but it was a beautifully colored Cutthroat trout. Quickly releasing it, I set my next cast. Mending a couple times and listening the prompting of Jimmy, I started to pull in slack and I got another hit and fish online. This time it was a White Fish, my first ever. We got it unhooked and back in the water quickly. No pictures for me yet. A few minutes later Shifty was again on a nice fish, another Rainbow and he got it to the boat quickly for a couple pics and returned it.
Jimmy took us back upstream so we could fish the stretch again. After a couple cast I got a nice hit, set the hook and the battle was on. Not but a second later Shifty hooked into a nice fish as well. Our first of many double ups for the day. Shifty was the first to land his fish and got a quick pic and put his back in the net so I could land mine and we got pictures of the double up, both nice Rainbow trout. Shifty’s was bigger than mine with great color. After a pic with mine we released them and set our lines. This all took place in the first hour of our trip.
Epic was already being used to describe the day. We continued fish the same stretch. Jimmy working us upstream to float the same line over and over again. I caught two nice fat trout one Rainbow and one Brown that were fighting and jumping the whole time. Shifty caught a couple more as well. We fished the stretch until the fish tired of us and quit hitting. We moved downstream a couple hundred feet and started the process all over again. Shifty caught a nice buck, in full color, Kokanee Salmon in this stretch, it was fun to watch this battle as it ran and jumped all over the surface. Shifty won out and got the picture for it. Catching and releasing fish for about an hour and then moved down stream to the next hole and repeated.
Jimmy guided us to a stretch where there were a number of fisher wading the stream. I caught a quick trout in the new stretch and Jimmy worked the boat over to the shoreline and landed the fish after a fun battle. We got out of the boat and waded for an hour or so and kept catching fish. Working the foam line and deep holes that presented themselves. All the while as we waded through multiple fish in the stream moving them around and watching them scurry away from us as we took steps.
Jimmy landed them and released them with efficiency so that we were back in the water quickly. We fished until we were famished. Getting water, we looked at the clock for the first time that morning. Seeing that it was noon and we had yet to cross midway of the upper stretch that we were fishing we determined that we would make it a full day in this section and not worry about a re-launch. Again the words of the evening before rang true, “It’s going off”.
Jimmy set up lunch and Shifty I continued to fish, catching a couple and trading net time with each other to land and release the fish. Jimmy had a great spread for us on the bank of the river. It was like watching a fly fishing show on the outdoor channel, watching the other fishers while we ate lunch streamside. After lunch we were back at it. Shifty working the lower and I the upper section of the stretch, I landed one, two, shifty landed one, two and while I was catching my third my arm cramped up!! I walked toward Shifty telling him he needed to land this one. All three of us laughed hard knowing that I had caught enough fish to wear out my arm!! Shifty landed this fish and it was a bruiser. Big thick shoulders and girth. Shifty took his pole back and proceeded to land another Kokanee in full color. I on the other hand let Jimmy fish for a while so I could rest my arm and thumb.
Watching Jimmy work the pole and line was like art. He cast without effort and made the fly land where he wanted and then started mending, one, two, three and wham, he had a fish on. Bringing it in quickly so not to tire the fish and quickly releasing it, he was back in the water working the seam. Mending again one, two and bam another fish, to watch him work his pole was great! He came back and told me you’ve had enough time off, your turn. I started casting onto the same water and tried to imitate what I had just witnessed, it didn’t quite work the same for me, recasting and recasting again I finally got the hit I was looking for and nice big Brown answered the dinner bell. Landing it and getting a picture we released it. Shifty got a fish about the same time and Jimmy was running back and forth to assist us both. Yep all day he kept us at the top of his priority list, it was great!!
Jimmy decided it was time to move after a brief rain burst had driven the other fishers off the water and we took their spots out in the middle of the stream. Catching fish immediately and my arm cramping up again I let Jimmy work his magic and watched him bring in two more fish very quickly. Shifty was upstream casting and catching fish I took over net duty and attempted to be as efficient as Jimmy on net duty but it was a comical sight. One fisher across from us was cracking up watching me try to land these feisty trout as they danced in and out my legs trying to free themselves from the hooks. Jimmy came back into the picture and took over as I went back the pole. We fished here for another bit and caught more fish.
Jimmy decided we better move down stream and as we did we kept catching fish. We made it to our take out ramp around 5:00 pm, loaded the boat and made our way back to the launch ramp to get our truck. After we parted ways and thanked Jimmy for the greatest fly fishing day ever we loaded up and headed for home. Well almost, we were lost, gladly Jimmy was there to get us back in the right direction. We made it home after stopping and eating in Evanston around 9:30 pm. We were beat but still smiling from our day’s adventure!!
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