Sunday Morning on the Gardner River
- This topic has 7 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated Aug 7, 2009 at 9:19 pm by
.
-
Posts
-
Left the house this morning at 4:45AM enroute to Gardiner, MT and the Gardner River. After a quick breakfast and Coffee reload at the Town Café in Gardiner, I entered the park at about 6:30AM. Parking at the Rescue Creek trailhead, I geared up and headed across the river and downstream to the confluence with the Yellowstone. The sun was just beginning to clear Mt. Everts at 7AM as I made my way to the confluence across the second bench above the river.
The Sun clearing Mt Everts, 7AMToday the bench was devoid of game—they were either still bedded down or at higher elevations. In October, this bench will teem with Elk, Sheep and Antelope. However, there was encouragement everywhere in the sagebrush and cactus—hoppers, by the hundreds. They were a bit sluggish in the cool morning air but they were there in force. It’s less than a mile from the trailhead to the confluence. By the time I reached it, the sun had cleared Everts and was bathing the north side of the stream in fresh sunlight.
The confluence with the YellowstoneThe Gardner is in perfect shape—almost crystal clear with flows that allow easy wading along the edges. The weapon of choice today was the new 4wgt and foam hoppers. First or second cast in the confluence pool hooked me up with a nice cuttbow. The next five hours of navigating the 1.1 miles of stream back to the Rescue Creek trailhead was almost non-stop hookups with 8”-14” bows, cuttbows and cutts in every eddy and plunge pool.
Typical Gardner River RainbowFor five hours I had the stream to myself and never saw another angler. A few tourists ventured near the stream but I ignored them.
The Gardner River, midway from the confluence to the trail headThe Gardner will remain this way until the season closer on November 1st. The hoppers will drop off in early October, but the fish will remain active and eager until the closer. The last 1.1 miles of the Gardner is pretty physical fishing, but generally provides great solitude amongst the throngs in the park.
What time did the fish start looking up for the hoppers?
Cameron,
At 7AM the air temp was about 55 and the hoppers were active even before the sun hit the benches.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.