YNP/Day Five: Catching Fish in Cache Creek

On Thursday, August 20 we were "on" again for a hike and this time we chose the walk to Cache Creek. The hike is billed as 3.1 miles, but a wrong turn early in the venture made it a bit longer for us. The walk itself is quite easy going, gentle terrain through a broad meadow. We'd never been there before, and the fishing guide recommended it, so off we went.

Arriving creek side, we decided to venture upstream which we later learned turned out to be a wise choice. I found the log jam in the photo above; the pool beneath it was deep and we could see fish. Unfortunately, we tarried there too long trying to catch the uncatchable. We perhaps spent an hour and a half there, netting nothing but the frustration of seeing nice trout, getting an occasional bite but failing at each turn.

After lunch, I wandered further upstream where I found an overhanging pine tree with what appeared to be a small pool beneath it.

My first cast into the shadows beneath the tree yielded a missed opportunity; a fish took my Royal Wulff right away, but I couldn't nab the thief. A couple of casts later, I still had no fish, and my fly was torn away by the trout. Watching for other bug life, I saw a number of moths floating by so decided to look in my box for something similar. Remember, of course, I'm not really much of a fisher person, but I did tie on a new tippet (the very thin fishing line which is attached to the leader; the leader is then attached to the fly line) and a new and tempting 'bait'. This time, I picked a Muddler Minnow (I didn't even know the name!) and tossed it across the creek into the current. Much to my surprise, I caught a fish -- and just as I was fighting it -- Glenn called on the walkie-talkie. It makes him nervous when he can't see me. Well justified, I have been known to get into predicaments many times! This time, however, all I could do was fumble for my walkie, and yell into it "I can't talk to you now! Fish on!" By the time he made his way upstream to me, I'd netted the cutthroat shown above.

We spent about another hour there, Glenn catching and netting a few more from the other side of the tree, and me just losing another fly.

Meanwhile, I happened to glance up to see the ranger shown in the picture above approaching us on horseback, stringing along two pack animals as well. We chatted briefly and then he told us why he was back at Cache Creek. About 200 yards downstream from where the trail meets the creek (recall, we chose to fish upstream) a grizzly bear was aggressively guarding a bison carcass. In fact, the ranger told us the bear had actually sort of charged him, and he was astride a horse with two more in tow! Ranger Russ was therefore patrolling the area for innocent hikers as well as to intercept two parties of back-country campers who had reserved spots in the immediate area.

While chatting with us and for the first time in the 34 years we've been visiting the park, he actually asked to check our YNP fishing permits . . . which we had at hand.

We didn't linger much longer along the Cache; shortly after the ranger went on his way we decided to call it a fishing day and head for the campground. This time, no wrong turns made the trip shorter and the correct call on fishing upstream meant no encounters with a possessive grizzly!