I woke up about 6:00 in the morning needing to piss like a racehorse! After sipping beers for most of the day before, my bladder needed a reprieve. My liver could have used one, too, but it was fine. The hotel had a continental breakfast, but it wasn’t available until 7:00. I jumped in the shower and started to get ready for the day. I usually don’t eat breakfast, but since it was complimentary, Dustin and I figured we would give it a shot. Simple breakfast of pancakes and hot coffee, good enough for me. I enjoyed our stay at Cabin Creek in Thayne, Wyoming. It was clean and friendly. It consists of single log cabins in a horseshoe shape with a pool and main office in the middle. I always prefer to stay in a detached cabin over a hotel where you can hear people walking down the hall, or every time a door closes. 

We met Kevin and Mark at the boat ramp. My first impression of the river was its beauty. It wasn’t in a high mountain setting, but it sure felt like it was—lots of pine trees and quakies. The water was cold and crystal clear, with fish feeding all over a slow run where we launched the boat. I could tell it was going to be a good day. 

I started with a hopper. I don’t always put a dropper on with it at first. I like to be able to get tight to the banks and see if fish are there. With a dropper, it’s hard to get very close without tangling the dropper. I missed a few fish on the hopper right off the bat. But to be honest, they were so little that I don’t think they could get their mouths around the fly if they wanted to. We pulled over and fished a run that was a perfect spot for fish to hold in. First cast, with the water running from shallow rocks into a deep pool, a fish takes a swipe at the hopper but misses it, or maybe I pulled it out of his mouth. Dustin was giving me a hard time for most of the weekend about reacting too fast to the topwater eats. What can I say, I get excited. After casting into that spot enough times, we put the fish down on top, then we decided to put a dropper on that we bought the day before. I’m just going to put it out there, I’m cheap! Paying $3.75 for a tiny beadhead nymph doesn’t sit well. When you walk into a fly shop, you know you are going to be paying more for flies. But even though I know I can catch fish with what I have in my boxes already. There is that little thought that goes through your head that the flies the kid in the fly shop shows you are going to work better. 

I tied that $3.75 fly on and cast it into the hole. Sure enough, it caught a fish, a whitefish. My experience is that beadhead flies are whitefish slayers. I kept fishing that rig down the river with success. But after a while, it went noticeably cold. Out of curiosity, I checked the dropper. And sure enough, the hook was broken off. Somewhere, I hit a snag and broke the hook, pulling it off. No wonder I wasn’t catching any fish! In general, I’m not a complainer, or at least I don’t think I am. But I’ve bought $.89 flies that held up better than that. The hooks will bend before they break. And even at that, you can bend it back and catch more fish. Despite their weakness, we kept using them. I was going to get our money out of them. And they continued to catch many more whitefish, with a few beautiful cutthroat mixed in.

We ended the day back at Kevin’s, and Mark fed us a grilled steak with baked sweet potatoes and perfectly cooked corn on the cob!. Perfect way to end the day!!