This years Frenzy was one to remember, the fishing was a little up and down, but that only makes up a fraction of the reason why 10 friends from ID and UT meet together each year. The true reason for the Frenzy runs deep inside all those that participate. I can’t really explain it, but some words that drive home are; tradition, friendship, being a kid again, new experiences, the unknown and being truly happy.  Unlike last years theme of “Big Fish“, this year the theme would have to be “Roughing It”.  The Frenzy started off weeks before our official kick off on July 14th. In anticipation of this years 6 day trip countless emails were sent,  trash talk was given and received, and plans were set and reset as water and hatch conditions changed. The big day finally came and like a kid on Christmas eve, the UT boys met early to take advantage of all the time we had. The plan was to leave at 3 am, so that we would get to our first destination just in time to meet the sun and hopefully some old streamer eating Snake River Cutthroats. 

 (Note: Out of respect of the water and local fishermen. I will not give the names of the waters fished online, but if you are interested email me at tgillespie8@hotmail.com) 

As the four of us (Hancey, Hoss, Mikey, Dr) split up some fished the big deep holes and others decided to try and bring up some of the piggies with over-sized terrestrials and a dropper. Neither worked very well as the smaller fish attacked our flies and ruined the water before a larger fish could slam it. As the day and water heated up, so did the emergence of smaller PMDs. In minutes a run went from a few smaller rising fish to hundreds of smaller to medium fish focused on PMDs, making them easy targets to a well (or poor in my case) presented fly. Its was amazing to see the life cycle of the hatch as well as bug crazed trout.  The larger fish never showed, but that was ok , because the beauty of the meadow stream and the unknown filled our morning. Afternoon found us on the road heading north to meet up with the ID boys. The plan was to float some of the locals favorite water that is known to have monster browns that lurk its undercut banks. With three boats and 10 guys we had a mini cirrcus floating down the river. The fishing started out hot as browns and cutts slammed our PMDs in the riffles. Our luck was short lived as the hatch died off and the trout refocused to sub-surface. Searching for bigger fish found the group hucking meat and getting down deep with big nymphs. In all our 4 mile float (You mean 8 Chubbs) produced lots of nice trout and some great dry fly fishing with the now famous SOS fly. Day 1 was topped off with a kick off dinner at Craigos – All You Can Eat Pizza and Pasta. It was much needed. The group kicked it in Chubbs’s sweet shag carpet basement for the night.

Day 2. Was by far the toughest day of the trip. Half of the group tied up there hiking boots and tackled a be-otch of a hike down a 1000 ft canyon to a crystal clear stream full of native cutthroat. The group had a great morning fishing top water and were rewarded nicely by a handful of healthy cutthroats. The group almost died as they scrambled their way back up and out. Hoss, Hancey and I decided to try some of most technical fly fishing in the world. This section of river is known to have big picky fish. We were all excited for the challenge and hoped to just get at least one chance at a hook up. The morning was surreal as thick fog engulfed the stream making it impossible to see the water or any of its weary fish. The first catch of the day was a fly rod left by a sorry angler the night before. We met up with him and put the rod in its rightful place as well as hopefully gaining a little karma. The morning fishing started off slow as a few smaller fish keyed on the caddis that were sprinkling the water. As the cold morning air made way for the the afternoon heat the PMD hatch we had been waiting for got underway.  It started as a monster 20+ bow swam with in feet of the bank I was standing and sipped two PMDs. I woke right up, tried not to move as I stung up my rod and tied on a dun. The fished moved around the hole munching every pmd it could see as well as a few of its buddies. I finally calmed down enough to cast, spotted the fish and guessed on the line it was going to take. With the dun floating past the fishes head I thought crap, it not the right size or color. Then like a dream the fish doubled back and engulfed my dun. It all happened so fast that I waited to set the hook. (Which was a good thing) As the monster felt the steel, it instantly leaped out of the water and spit my hook, like an old tobacco spitting farmer. Wow! That was a rush. Now with shaky hands, I continue to spot and fish for these over-sized trout. After three more strikes outs. I turned the hole over to Hoss, but it was too late the wind had picked up and put down the bugs and the fish. As we stocked the banks we noticed more big rise forms in the distance. Hoss and I split up as we both had our sites on a target. Luckily after a 20 min stock threw the sage brush, my fish was still in the same spot and eating. I continued to crawl to the edge of the river got on my knees and made a perfect cast. Instantly the fish sipped in my emerger, hook set and the battle begun! It tried to rub me off on the moss, then run across the river, but I was on my A game since these fish had made a fool out of me already. Thinking that the fish had given up, I was getting ready to net the 20+ bow when it took off on a reel screaming run down river then leaping out of the water as it broke my line and heart. You Win, I though as I sat on the bank with a fly-less line. The rest of the afternoon, we blind casted with a couple explosions, but no hook-ups. After meeting up with the rest of the group, we decided to set up camp at Riverside and then try our luck on those over-sized bows. The evening fishing was slow as the fish waited until dark to feed. The group landed a handful of smaller fish, but the larger fish eluded us once again, just proving that they are indeed the worlds hardest fish to catch.  Looking back this was my favorite day of the trip. I felt the same feelings of excitement, stress, and sadness that I did as a kid trying to learn how to fish on the Provo. Its good to be a kid again.

Day 3. With the report of great fishing up north. We packed up camp and headed into Grizzly country. The word around the Slide Inn was that a local 14 yr old boy caught a 28 inch brown on a Salmon fly, just 4 days earlier. With that in mind we geared up and hit the river. The morning was full of nice bows and browns munching on the big salmon fly nymphs. Around noon Hancey, Hoss and I met up to set a game plan. Just as I said I was think of throwing on a big salmon fly, I looked up at Hoss and saw a giant salmon fly crawling up his shirt. Done! We all tied on big flies and started working the fast water. Within his first 10 casts Hoss hooked up with a beautiful 19 inch brown on the far bank. I shortly fallowed up with a 18 inch bow. It was pretty amazing to see as the hatch set fish, birds, and fishermen in a craze. We worked our way up the runs catching fish constantly on salmon flies until all the water had either been covered or beat to death by another fishermen. It was a great and exciting afternoon of fishing. The rest of the gang went to the old go to spot and had a great day on dries and nymphs. After a lunch break at the Bear Claw BBQ in West Yellowstone the group (I stayed and fished Salmon Flies) tied on their favorite caddis flies and waited out the the hatch. Hancey and I fished together hoping to hookup with some pigs at the lake inlet. The hatch didn’t disappoint, the fish were keyed on the emerging caddis. We had a fun night hooking up with lots of nice football bows. We even saw a Grizzly Bear, right Hancey?

Day 4. Started a lot like day three, with a few nice fish eating big rubberlegged stones. We decided to leave the inlet area and move up to a nice rifle that always holds lots of dry fly eating fish. But the wind was terrible and kept the bugs down in the main riffle. I managed to get a couple good eats on PMD emergers, but I really had to work for everything I got. On the other hand Hancey and Hoss had a great time working up the banks spotting and stocking shallow bows. As the morning bite came to a close. We packed up camp, said good bye to our loud hungover friends and headed southeast to the Victor cabin and some native cutthroats. We had a slight pit stop for some greasy burgers and shakes at at the Frost Top in Ashton than stopped by Premier Fly Fishing to get some local info. Lucky for us Scott was getting off and wanted to show us a river that he had been having great success on the past 3 nights. So we were off to float an awesome piece of mountain water that held a great population of PMD eating cutthroats. The float started off on the wrong foot with one  of Jakes pontoons not holding air. It was histarical to watch as he would run and then swim with his boat to try and catch up. After letting him get a good workout we finally decided it was enough fun and let him get in the boat before he passed out. The next problem was the mock 30 wind that plagued our trip and made it hard as heck to get down into the choice water. Once we got to the spot, the wind started to die and the fish started to rise all over the river. Hancey caught the fish of the float with a nice cutty that wrapped him around Jakes line and his pontoon. But being an All-American B-Ball Star Hancey jumped out of the boat and landed the fish. The real catch of the float was the jaw dropping sun set that filled the whole sky bright reddish orange. I didn’t matter who was fishing cause we all just hung out and enjoyed the masters creation. That was a great float and one I will be back to soon. Coming back to a nice soft bed and the first warm shower in 4 days was much needed.  

Day 5. With the plan set up to do a two day float and camp trip at 10 am. I was dead set on visiting my favorite pond earlier that morning. Since everyone else was enjoying there good nights sleep, I snuck away early and hit it. I was sure glad I did since the cutthroats are now 20-22 inches and were keyed in on the Damsel flies that were flying around. Since I didn’t have my Damsel dries with me I used some damsel emergers and just slayed it. I was hooking up with an over-sized cutty almost every cast for 2 hours. Its a pretty good deal since its right outside the cabin. After a fun morning full of over sized cutts, we packed up the boats and started our float. In the Lime we had Hancey, Mikey, Yetter and myself and in the Roe was Chubbs, Hoss and Joker.  Report was PMDs and Yellow Sallies all day in the riffles. So we stopped at the first riffle and nailed 4 Cutts in the 17-19″ range. Moving down we caught a few more in the riffles and then we stopped by a small side stream and a nice long riffle. The long riffle didn’t produce, but Hancey was knocking them dead on dries on the side stream, so we all took turns catching fish after fish on PMDs. After everything was done we had managed to catch over 25+ fish out of the same riffle. It was the best fishing I have ever seen on that river and one riffle with dry flies. Plus the fish were all big and fought hard. The rest of the day we spent catching up with the other boat, while nailing a fish here and there on big golden stones and sallies. After passing up all the places to camp, we pulled over just before dark at the boat ramp and called it a night. All I have to say about the day is that the is “The fish are in the riffles, baby!”

Day 6: After a polish dog hangover and a wet nights sleep under the stars. We woke up to another beautiful clear day. Hoss, Chubbs and Joker pounded the banks with streamers all day bringing out some larger fish and getting to the boat dock 3 hours before our meet time. The rest of us took our time again and waited for the hatch to bring the fish into the riffles. Just like clock work around 1pm the PMDs showed and brought 100s of fish to the surface. It was like no hatch that I have every seen. The fish were everywhere across a big flat. The frustrating thing was that the fish became very selective to the right size and color of PMDs. (And mostly only focused on emergers) Once we dialed that in we connected on several large cutts. My favorite thing to do was head hunt for the largest fish I could see. I picked out a biggy and after 4 missed opportunities as I chased it up the bank, it fell victim to a little emerger. It was a 20 inch cutty and the fish that I had wanted to land all trip. Not knowing exactly how far we still had to meet up with the other boat, we decided around 3pm that we better keep moving on. (Even thought the hatch was still unbelievable) The rest of the way we pounded the banks picking up fish consistently with big Golden’s and Sallies. It was an awesome float and a great way to end this years Frenzy. When the boats were out of the water and every thing was packed. It was a bitter sweet feeling. On one hand its nice to take a break from the constant madness of fishing every second of the day, but its that madness that we all live for and love so much. So, as we drove down the dirt road out of Byington, we all just sat back and dreamed about the memories we made and the stories we now will tell. All the “huge fish” that got away and the ones that didn’t, the places we should have gone and went, and the people that we met along the way. For the past week, we were fishing bums. Its time for a soak.

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