There are no good trout streams near the Yellowstone Lake Hotel. The guys at Blue Ribbon Flies suggested that I check out Middle Creek because it is the best trout stream near the Lake Hotel. Middle Creek is a steep small stream, it drops one hundred feet per mile as it descends towards its mouth. Much of the stream runs parallel with the East Entrance road as the stream flows towards the park boundry. I read that the head waters are full of brook trout, but the lower section of the stream held cutthroats. I had to drive all the way to the East Entrance to fish the section that contained cutthroat, that is, if Middle Creek held cutthroat inside the park. The East entrance was as far as I could go with the limited schedule and only possessing a Yellowstone Fishing license. I guessed and hoped there would be cutthroat there. Why else would the guys at Blue Ribbon Flies direct me there?
When I hit the road it was dark as night. After about a little while dawn had broken. I was racing towards the East Entrance. On a mission. No time to stop and look around or take pictures. The road follows the shore of Yellowstone Lake East before it heads through the Sylvan Pass, then down towards the East Entrance. As soon as the East Entrance was in view I pulled over and parked the car at the first pull off I came to.
The rod was already rigged. I put on my pack and carefully removed the rod from the trunk. A little extra caution was warranted after breaking a rod the first day in Yellowstone. I scurried down the slope from the road to the creek and began working a fishy looking stretch of water. The water was cold, my feet were numb. The stream was small and tight, the current was swift. It was difficult to get a good drift in the conflicting currents. Middle Creek is a beautiful little mountain stream.
I had a fish make a quick slash at my fly shortly after I began fishing, unfortunately, I missed it. Good. That was no tiny brook trout. There were some decent size fish in this water. I didn't know if it was a cutty or brook trout, but I would have been happy landing that fish either way. I hoped it was a cutthroat. I really wanted to catch a few more cutthroats before I left for the airport, but I would take some decent brookies too.
I worked my way up into the next pool and missed another good fish along the right bank in a small eddy on the seem of the main current. Damn. I was a bit trigger happy because I was so eager to catch a few fish before making the trip back to Ohio. After my day on the Yellowstone and Tower Creek, the concern of getting skunked the last time on the amazing waters of Yellowstone National Park was very real. This feeling had been nagging at me since I missed the first fish. I desperately wanted to score one more trout my last time on these legendary waters. I persistently kept working every fishy spot. I saw the fish rise... wait, wait, strike, the line tightened up, the rod bent and began dancing as the fish shook its head and pulled in an effort to free itself. Fish on! I quickly worked the fish into the net and got a picture. It was a beautiful, wild, native, cutthroat trout. I felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment and relief.
Time was ticking. My internal clock was ringing, I knew the alarm on my phone was going to go off at any moment. I fished with purpose hoping I could bag one more cutthroat before I had to depart from this beautiful mountain stream. I snagged my fly in a tree and had to break it off. I re-rigged as quickly as I could with a flying ant. After a few casts it was clear that the fly was too small to get any attention from these trout. I cut the fly off to change it out. As I was reaching into my pack to dig out my fly box the alarm went off. It was just not meant to be.
I reeled up the leader hiked up the bank and back to the car. It was time to race back to the hotel. I didn't have much time to pack up and get back. I threw my gear in the car and I was off. I made good time on the way back and had about ten minutes to spare as I approached Fishing Bridge. We had not gone to see this famous landmark so I used the spare to time to stop and grab a few pics on the way. I made it back five minutes early. I cleaned up and we went to breakfast.
We ate quickly so we could go down to the lake for a few pictures before packing the car and departing Yellowstone.
We made good time despite some traffic as we drove through Grand Teton National Park. We ditched the car and made it to the airport exactly when we had planned to arrive. The airport was packed with travelers. We hunted down some seats and joined the crowd. We still had an hour before our plane was set to board. We grabbed some lunch and watched as new arrivals were deplaning and passengers were gawking at the view of the Tetons that had captivated us seven days earlier. Seeing this made me wish we were not waiting to board a plane back to Cleveland. I love my home town. I'm a die hard Clevelander, but I wish we had a few more days in beautiful trout heaven.
