Dozens of Trouts

Lamar River Valley Above Soda Butte Creek

At noon Thee Sven and I stood at the parking lot end of the 3.3 mile trail into Cache creek. Not exactly an alpine start so we had to go fast and light; rod, reel, small box with assortment of dries, tippet, coat, boots, waders, one water bottle and a chocolate bar.
Half way into the hike we started up the only hill on the trail. It didn't appear to be much of a grade so I kept the pace up as if we were still on flat ground. Seven false summits later it became apparent that I should slow down a little, save some for the hike out. 'ol Sven caught up with me just before the top. From there it was a short downhill to the creek where we dropped our rucks had quick snack and strung up our rods.
Sven got into fish right away. He was using a parachute hopper so I tied on my Jimmy Legs Hopper. When those cutts get selective you better have something, anything, big and hairy on the end of your line.
A couple of hours later there was an actual hatch, complete with big mayflies and rising fish. I always get into the spirit of things like this. I tied on the one fly that loosely resembles a mayfly yet maintains the strict "big and hairy" protocol one tries to follow in cutthroat country, the Parachute Hare's Ear.
I caught my two biggest fish of the day on that parachute, 14 and 15 inches, both Yellowstone Cutts. I landed a few rainbows too but most of the dozens of fish that Sven and I caught were cutts.