Back to the bench was the plan for this morning when I hit the sack last night. I started my day with a bit of breakfast and the usual caous that consumes our household every morning. Reece wanted to wear the same clothes as he did the day before and my wife was upset with him and the fact she was running late. In the midst of the situation the phone rang and it was Jason on the other end of the line. He started the conversation with "don't you ever check your voicemail ? " I am not one that cares much for his cell phone and I do at times find my mailbox full, especially in the winter when the only ones calling are friends looking to pull me away from my fly tying and household duties. His second question inquired if I would be ready by 8:30 to go and get recertified on my First Aid, which expired two days ago. I had totally forgot about the challenge course and I told him I would get Reece to school and be ready when he got here.
I sent the wife off to work and had Reece get his shoes and coat on so that we could drop him off on our way down to the Red Cross office. Jason arrived at the house and we jumped in the truck on our way to daycare. Reece loves to see Jason because he likes to rough house and what 5 year boy doesn't like to do that. We made it to the Red Cross office and the test went off without any hitches. I was Fifty bucks lighter in the wallet but at least I was in compliance and did not have to deal with the Red Cross for another three years. After the certification class we headed to Sportsman's Whorehouse because Jason needed to pick up another cot and bed roll for the lodge. We also made a quick stop at IHOP for some breakfast, which also gave Jason time to convince me my fly orders could wait and that we needed to fish. Jason is having his shoulder operated on and this would be his last day to get out before the surgery. With fourty degree weather it is hard to make an argument about staying indoors and not getting out to enjoy the weather.
After a quick stop at the house to pick up the dog, waders and the rest of my gear we headed to the lodge. We discussed wether to just fish at the "trench" or wether we should take a drive up the canyon and check out the "Hog Hole." The "trench" is the home hole and we guide and fish it all the time so we decided to head up the canyon and try and catch one of the escapees in the "Hog Hole." As we drove up the canyon the river looked very tasty and I noted several spots to fish in case there was someone in the spot we wanted. There were only a couple of other anglers out on the Gallatin and we fiqured our chances were pretty good that the "Hog Hole" would be open. As we rounded the corner into Big Sky there was a car parked in the parking spot along the road and we had to make a decision about where we wanted to fish. We turned the truck around and as we were going heading back to the parking area I recognized the car and told Jason we could walk down to one of the lower holes, which holds the Ancency monsters on occassion as well.
We had already put on our waders back at the lodge so we just needed to grab our rods and take the short walk along the guard rail to get to the river. When we got down to the hole Charlie was releasing a nice rainbow and Ben was re rigging his rod. Ben was stuck fishing on the road side of the river because he had caught his waders on one of the guard rail bolts and tore an "L" shape hole in his waders that was probably 5 inches by 8 inches long and right above his boot. He was not in the mood to wet wade in the 30 degree water. They mentioned catching a couple of fish on a Sculpin and after shooting the breeze for a few minutes Jason and I headed down river to ply a few fish from under the bridge. Unfortunately the deep hole only produced one 13 inch Yellowstone Cutthroat for me and a skunking for Jason. We fished the hole for about an hour and I ran the gammet of flies trying to ping a good one. After catching the cutthroat we made the decision to head back up and see if Charlie and John had done any better. They both had a couple of more fish but it was still very slow for them as well.
Charlie offered up his spot on the opposite bank, I had my fill of fishing for the day but Jason decided to give it a go. John and I sat on the bank shooting the breeze about our days spent living in Colorado and Charlie joined in on the conversation a short time later. Jason stung a couple of fish on the opposite shore and after sitting on the snowy bank for twenty minutes my rear end started to get a bit cold. Jason waded back across the river and we headed for the truck. The fishing was great but the catching was pretty slow so we headed back down the canyon and called it a day. The warmer weather this past week does have the juices flowing and I am really looking forward to the next couple of months and all the great spring fishing that is just around the corner.
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