What a week in the great state of Wyoming! We were out there shooting for one of our national programs, Destination Polaris. Our week started with a video camera that broke down on us on the third shot into the trip. We ended up driving all the way south of Denver to find a rental. Made for a very long first night and kind of a dirty feeling swapping an expensive hd camera with a stranger in the parking lot of Orange Julius.
Schultzie thinkin', "Where's our darn camera?"
We rode ATVs up to about 11,200 feet in the Snowy Range with area fishing guide Michael "Hack" Patterson. What a whoot to spend a few days with him! Look at the mountain wildflowers in FULL bloom! Mule's Ear everywhere! Anyone remember what the blue flower is?
We fished some pretty small water. Three weights worked well in the wind. More brook trout on tiny bwos than you could count.
I think our biggest was right around 10 inches.
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Too bad we found ourselves ducking out of afternoon storms each day. We actually ran into several pretty bad storms and found ourselves ducking for shelter away from severe lightning and hail. Temps would drop from the mid 70s down to the low 40s. Bad hypo weather....
?__ Hiding Out!
?__ The view from under our rock ledge and tree....
__The aftermath...
__Home for the first few days was Centennial, Wyoming's historic hotel. Lots of small water close by. The smoked salmon and feta omelette rocks. Days three and four we moved across the range to Saratoga where we fished the North Platte and its tributaries.
__Even though the river was up and a bit milky, we still had plenty of luck catching nice brown trout under the "guidance" of local fishing guide and our friend, Michael "Hack" Patterson.
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Lots of cool stuff to see on this trip.
Highlights included coming upon an old trapper's cabin at 11,500.
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Also ran into (well, not quite, but you know what I mean) a big bull moose. Quite intimidating staring down that big guy. Fortunately, he wasn't too interested in us. He was too busy chompin' on the alders..
This week I'm off to Wiley Point up on Lake of the Woods to chase a few walleyes and smallies.
I hope this hot weather hasn't shut down the fish!