Our first Day of Fly Fishing and another Trip to the Park

I watched Renita cast and as her fly drifted through the hole. A huge Bonneville cutthroat trout rose and inhaled the fly. She set the hook and the fish started downstream, as large trout often do. Before she could chase it the five-pound test leader snapped, the fish was gone, and she now had a great fish story to tell of the big one that got away.

A cattle drive was going on as we reached our parking spot on the stream. We had decided to take a break from bear watching and instead go fish one of our favorite streams. Arriving we saw a truck from Nevada parked at the lot and sure enough another fly fisherman had beaten us to the spot. Its never good to follow a good fisherman as they can work the holes so thoroughly that the fish are spooked.

Walking downstream I cast to several spots and nothing rose. They were good spots and they must have been fished. Renita and I took turns fishing spots and finally I caught a small cutthroat. She missed several as she was having problems keeping her line tight enough to set the hook and so I watched her and gave her advice on how to mend and strip her fly line.

The other fisherman left, we had kept a social distance of a hundred yards, and we headed upstream hoping to get past where he/she had been fishing. Fishing places where there were not any boot prints, we started to catch fish and in one place caught three trout at the tail of a large hole.

It was a good day and returning to the car we drove to the Salt Pass where we stopped to have lunch before returning home. It rained for the next two days and so we stayed home waiting for a break in the weather.

The rain finally stopped, a friend had remarked that we had move to Seattle, and we decided to make another trip to the Grand Teton National Park. Driving to our usual spots, we stopped to glass the forest and the meadows but only spotted a few elk.

The bears were elusive, and we hit spot after spot without seeing anything. After stopping for lunch at a picnic area we turned back south and suddenly we both spotted a two large Trumpeter swans walking along the road. We had to stop to keep from running them over and the reason for the daring road crossing was that they were escorting their brood of signets.

Renita managed to get a close shot of the birds and we drove on. The rest of the day was lots of pretty scenery. We drove to String and Jenny Lakes, but the parking lots were so full that we could not find any place to park. The park is getting busy and on the way home, we decided to take a break from bear watching till the berries ripen in the fall.

It had been a good week, fishing, swans, and we even played a couple of games of pickleball, (we lost both games, but we played surprisingly good for not picking up a paddle in nine months). Our friends George and Val are returning today, they have been haying, and we hope they bring a change of weather with them.

Normally we would be participating in shows now but the shows have all been canceled. We do keep social distance and always wear masks when we do have to go into a grocery store or do anything where we are near people. Because of the increase in covid cases in our state new rules are coming out. There are few who wear masks here and we see people hugging and forming large groups. Fools all. Clear skies