![]() ![]() ![]() Tim hooked a smaller rainbow so Bob and I tied on the pattern he was using with no luck. We all threw variations of callibaetis dry fly patterns with little success. Three past/present fly fishing guides in a boat should equal immediate success, right? Well no, not initially. I was floating amidst the Gulpers heaven! Success The dimples turned to a succession of rings seemingly everywhere. No sooner had I uttered the phrase, the dimples on the water began. Shaken, I let thoughts slip from of my mouth – “ Maybe we shouldn’t have come“. We motored several hundred yards offshore. Parking the car, I grabbed the pups and scurried to the waiting boat. We unloaded gear at lightning speed and I steered away from the ramp to park my rig.Īs I passed the woman, who must surely be named Karen, the insults spewed from her as she waved angry hand gestures at me. Pulling, prying, kicking, and praying, the weld finally broke, leaving gel coat on the bow stop, and the boat slid to the water. Taken aback and a little afraid, our efforts to get the boat off the trailer reached a fever pitch. She was hard to understand but her angry looks told the story. The small, older woman’s verbal assault was a mix of English and her native tongue. The fiberglass gel coat had welded to the rubber bow stop. The three of us were tugging, pushing, pleading with the boat to no avail. A small, Asian-American woman peered down the ramp in disgust. The boat should slide off and splash in the water. Was there a strap still attached? What could be holding it so firmly in place? The boat and trailer were at a much steeper angle. I put the car in park and got out to help. Both men were tugging and pushing on the boat so violently the Tahoe rocked back and forth. I reach the new incline and stop, but the boat won’t budge. A truck with an empty trailer was positioned to collect the incoming boat. I drove up a little, then back down again (maybe more than once) to give a steeper gradient. OK – let’s come in at a steeper angle so the boat will slide off. Another boat was motoring up to the launch. The bowline was hooked on, the straps removed, the anchor attached it was time to launch the boat.īut the boat didn’t budge. Tim and Bob guided me to the water, then hollered for me to stop. Not a big deal, it was mid-morning so there was no one at the launch. I needed to correct the approach a few times while getting the boat down the ramp to the water. Always calm and never fussed, as I know that’s when things can go wrong. ![]() I’m fairly skilled at backing up a driftboat trailer. I paid the $15 launch fee and proceeded to back the driftboat down the narrow, paved ramp. The folks in the office at Madison Arm Resort were smiling and kind. It was a washboard, combined with deep ruts, in an ancient volcanic-ash muck. Actually, it was like nothing I had ever driven on – and I’ve driven a LOT of dirt roads in my life. Our friend, Bob Duport of Western Mountains Guide Serice in Maine, joined us for that fateful first day on Hebgen. Out came the atlas and our destination became the Madison Arm Resort which offered the only launch near the hotspot. The fishing report mentioned the Madison Arm of Hebgen Lake as being the most productive top-water fishing spot. MARCH BROWN HIDDEN WATER TRAVEL FLY ROD HOW TOA well-timed email fishing report (keep reading to learn about a well-written fishing report that you should sign up for!) arrived that offered a few paragraphs about the Gulpers and how to fish them now. Tim and I were about to conclude a visit with friends in Last Chance, Idaho where we fished the Henry’s Fork. The article told tales of big trout feeding on small to mid-sized mayflies with abandon all over the lake’s surface. One article from back-in-the-day I have never forgotten was of the “Gulpers of Hebgen Lake”. ![]() The stories of big trout in beautiful, mountainous regions were always a favorite read. If you like stories of big trout, combined with some weird, life drama, this story is for you!Īs a young woman new to fly fishing in the 1990s, I read every issue of Fly Rod and Reel or Fly Fisherman Magazine that arrived in the mail. August of 2020 will go down in the books as some of the best fishing of that year, but it was not without hiccups. I’ll be the first to admit I lead a semi-charmed life. ![]()
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