Curtis Wright Outfitters 2013 Hosted Yellowstone Trip

So after an early breakfast and a late night for some, we headed up to Slough Creek for our horseback trip. Everyone was very eager to get in and fish. We got all of our gear stowed and got matched up with our trusty steeds. Climbed in the saddle and headed up the hill.

We finally made it into the meadow and after getting off the horses we only hurt minimally simply because our minds were on fishing. Actually today approached “Catching” instead of fishing. Gray Drakes, PMD’s, and caddis were all on the move with fish. The most important thing is you get a good drift. Here are some of the fish that were wrangled from Slough.

Check back tomorrow for the wrap up of the trip!

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Curtis Wright Outfitters 2013 Hosted Yellowstone Trip

July 17th part 2

This is the follow up for our July 17th blog post. Our whole crew finally got back home about 12:30am on Thursday morning. The reports that I received were of a true Yellowstone adventure. Fishing was going great until the weather set in with fish rising with abandonment. Most fish were coming to the surface for both of our groups and then the sky opened up.

Both boats experienced almost the complete gambit of weather in the afternoon with intense rain and various size hail coming down as well. Then the lightning started. Mark, Linda, and wally were able to jump out a bit earlier than expected and were able to take a service road to avoid the rock slide. It was closed down soon after due to conditions.

Ben, Dick, and David were not so lucky. They were tapped below the slide but made the most of it by checking out Chico Hot Springs. Here is a picture of where one of the mudslides was entering the river.

Check out tomorrows post to check in on Slough Creek!

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Curtis Wright Outfitters Hosted Yellowstone Trip

So this is my 10th year coming out to Yellowstone and every year I see something new or get to have a new experience. Today was no different. First of all, Lee and I fished a stretch of the Lamar that I have not fished before and had good success. Second Paradise valley experience a landslide that closed the main road in and out of Gardiner. The major significance of that is that we had 2 float trips out today that were floating below that point. One of our groups came back and reported a stellar day of fishing until the rain/hail set in. The other group also reported good success but were unable to bypass the slide. With having the only option of waiting it out the guys made the most of situation by exploring Chico Hot Springs. So I will will be doing a second blog entry for today before tomorrows.Lee and I started off fishing hoppers and had some great success early on and then noticed a good number of PMD’s flying around so with a quick change fish were eagerly tracking our flies and were ready to eat.

The hatch tapered  and as we reached the canyon we decided to fish some nymphs and Golden Stone Dry’s and we were greatly rewarded.

Check back with us tomorrow for the reports from the others in the group!

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Curtis Wright Outfitters Yellowstone Hosted Trip July 2013

Sometimes you have to turn lemons into lemonade, and that is exactly what we did today. Our horseback trip had to be postponed until Thursday due to a truck breaking down. Although it was disappointing, Everyone regrouped and came up with a game plan. Phil, Steve, Linda, and Mark were going into Stream X,  While David, Dick, Lee, my dad fished the lower canyon section of Slough Creek.

After the 3 mile hike into stream x, the folks were greeted to bugs flying and fish feeding. Mark and Linda worked their way down River and Steve and Phil went up. The action was great with fish were feeding on about any well drifted flies.

Meanwhile on Slough Creek we found ourselves in the middle of a trout nursery. Literally almost every cast early was eaten with abandonment by a 2-4″ fish. On an occasion you would see one in the 10″ range. As we continued to work up river and try different things I was treated to a surprise. Actually, two surprises, One a really nice fish and the other was a 200yd dash to land the fish over rock and boulders. But it was well worth it.

Lee managed to pull in a couple of nice ones too.

All in all it was a great day and we look forward to tomorrow!

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2013 Curtis Wright Outfitters Hosted Yellowstone Trip

Well another gorgeous day has come and gone here in Yellowstone. Today, 6 of our guests took the first float trips from our group. With water level almost prime, and the good bugs being everywhere, A great day on the water was in the forecast.

The rest of the group was going to split up. Dick, Mark, and Linda went over to fish the lower meadow of Slough Creek and were faced with some tougher fishing but were able to rustle up some success!

David, My Dad, and myself decided to hit a couple stretches of the Gardner and we were blessed with some really good fishing on both stretches.

All float trips came back reporting good actions and good numbers also.

Check back in with us tomorrow and see how our horseback trip into the third meadow goes!

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Curtis Wright Outfitters Yellowstone Blog

So there was no trouble getting folks up and going this morning with the anticipation of our first official day on the water, and my first cast in Yellowstone this year all together. The smell of biscuits and gravy didn’t hurt either. Today we had decided to go up to Soda Butte area as a group and when we got there we were greeted by heavily stained water coming down from a storm that must have happened in the North East corner of the park. It was not what we were looking for but we weren’t afraid to give it a go. Fishing was slow to say the least but a couple of people did have some action. Mark, Linda, and Lee all hooked up but were unable to get them in a net.

We all decided to regroup for lunch and to reconfigure our game plan. We all decided to test out different water. Mark and Linda stayed and fished Pebble creek which was crystal clear and spent sometime at the end of the day on the Gardiner..Steve, David, and Lee went to the Lamar and ended on the Gardiner. The Lanes’ went to Tower Creek, and my dad and myself went to The Gardiner. Dick who had started on Soda Butte moved over to the lower meadows of Slough Creek

The Lane’s made quick work of the fish in tower with fish rising steadily to a dry fly. Lee had some luck on the Lamar with a golden Stonefly nymph.

Mark and Linda pierced several lips on Pebble and proceeded to catch some nice fish on the Gardiner as well.

My dad and I decided to swing by the Gardiner to make a few more cast before heading back to the house and that is where I was totally caught off guard by this rascal. Well maybe not totally.

What were that all eating?

Stonefles!

Check back with us tomorrow to see how the first 3 float trips go and to keep track of the rest of the groups adventures!

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Curtis Wright Outfitters Hosted Yellowstone Trip Blog

Well the time has come again for us to be lucky enough to spend some more time in the great Yellowstone National Park. We arrived in Montana on July 8th and decided to sneak in some sight seeing before the rest of the group joined in on the fun. This year we have a few new recruits to help with the feeding of the troops. They are spectacular cooks even though I am a bit prejudice. They are Doris Garris, my mother, and Donna Clayton, my aunt. Neither had been to Yellowstone before so  and they joined my father making his 4th trip out.

We had set a goal to hit all of the entrances to the park and the neighboring cities (West Yellowstone, Jackson, and Cody) and we are  staying in Gardiner for our hosted trip. That covers 4 of the 5, and we hope to get up to Cooke city to round out the entrances. Here are some pictures from our travels:

When we finally made our way over to Gardiner to check in our house, our guests slowly but surely started to show as well. We have a total of 10 folks joining us for our July trip. and they are from all over. Once we got everyone checked in and licensed up, we headed out to town to do our grocery shopping for the week.

The Phil, Beth, Christopher, and Justin of the Lane family went out fishing with our good friend Walter Weise, and Ben Jewell from Park’s Fly Shop and had a spectacular day fishing the Yellowstone. Lee whitehead, Steve Herring, and David Eaton went out to explore the Gardiner and try their luck. Mark and Linda Byington hit up a favorite brookie stream and proceeded to rack up some serious numbers. Dick Schaad got in a little late to fish today but is itching to go and I could have sworn I could hear the fish trembling. In order to insure everybody was full of energy for our first official day of fishing, we made sure to eat well.

Check back with us tomorrow to see how the fishing starts off. we will be heading north toward the Lamar and Soda Butte to give those cutthroat trout a hard time.

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