Bruce Baker
Life of the Party
I have no bona fide excuses for not having written this report sooner. I was just being lazy and unmotivated.
In mid-May I got the results of an MRI on my right knee and it showed that I had a torn meniscus. Prior to the diagnosis I had been carrying on like nothing was wrong. I was walking 7 miles a day and I had no discomfort when fishing from a float tube. My only issue was getting up and trying to walk after sitting for 5 minutes or more. So after the diagnosis, I shut down. Surgery was in July (in fact, it was almost 2 years to the day when I had surgery for a torn meniscus on my left knee), but I was pretty confident that I would still be able to go on my annual Hanks Lake trip in October. The recovery went a little slower than I expected, but I was along far enough that my knee would not be an issue.
Fellow forum member and friend @Paul_ was one of the originators of this trip and I was lucky enough to get invited four years ago when one of the anglers dropped out and have been part of the group since then. There were a total of 8 anglers this year. A good time was had by all. Fish were caught and the weather cooperated for the most part, but affected our on water time more so this year than in years past. Our accommodations were superb; a house on a hillside overlooking the lake.
Day 1 was pretty much a bust. It looked promising when we launched, but the weather quickly turned on us with it becoming unbearably windy and snow starting to fall. It was kind of fun being out in the snow, but as the visibility became non-existant we decided to head back in. I also experienced something interesting. At one point during the snow storm I was holding the handle of my rod with one hand and touched one of the rod sections with my other hand and I got shocked. Never had that happen before.
We probably got somewhere between 1-2 inches of snow, but by early afternoon it was like it never snowed. However, the winds were high and there were whitecaps on the lake, so we did not venture back out.
@Paul_ braving the elements.
@Paul_ deciding to call it a day.
Days 2 and 3 of fishing were much better. The weather improved greatly, chilly in the morning, but warming up in the afternoon. Lots of sun. Fish were caught.
Heading out in the morning
I did not take all of the photos that are in this post. I thought this photo was pretty cool and worthy of sharing.
A nice sunny day with remnants of the previous day's snow on the mountains in the background.
One of the fish I caught. I need to learn how to smile better for the camera...lol.
I think this is @Paul_ with a nice Brook Trout.
Sunrise on the last morning. It was so beautiful out. Calm waters and no wind. I managed to hook into one fish for about 5 to 10 seconds. I was fishing with @Paul_ and he was pretty sure that it was over 24” inches. Bummed I could not fight it or land it, but it was nice getting the grab.
Although it was calm and windless on the morning of Day 4, the forecast was for 30mph winds for the afternoon. The wind started picking up around 11:00am, so we decided to call it a day about 30 minutes later.
We were about 30 minutes from Yellowstone National Park, so after lunch we decided to take a road trip. After a quick stop at Kelly Galloup's Slide Inn Fly Shop, we headed to Yellowstone National Park. For me, one of the highlights was driving through the Firehole River Canyon.
Firehole Falls
On the drive in and drive out, we did some some wildlife of both the two-legged and four-legged variety.
In mid-May I got the results of an MRI on my right knee and it showed that I had a torn meniscus. Prior to the diagnosis I had been carrying on like nothing was wrong. I was walking 7 miles a day and I had no discomfort when fishing from a float tube. My only issue was getting up and trying to walk after sitting for 5 minutes or more. So after the diagnosis, I shut down. Surgery was in July (in fact, it was almost 2 years to the day when I had surgery for a torn meniscus on my left knee), but I was pretty confident that I would still be able to go on my annual Hanks Lake trip in October. The recovery went a little slower than I expected, but I was along far enough that my knee would not be an issue.
Fellow forum member and friend @Paul_ was one of the originators of this trip and I was lucky enough to get invited four years ago when one of the anglers dropped out and have been part of the group since then. There were a total of 8 anglers this year. A good time was had by all. Fish were caught and the weather cooperated for the most part, but affected our on water time more so this year than in years past. Our accommodations were superb; a house on a hillside overlooking the lake.
Day 1 was pretty much a bust. It looked promising when we launched, but the weather quickly turned on us with it becoming unbearably windy and snow starting to fall. It was kind of fun being out in the snow, but as the visibility became non-existant we decided to head back in. I also experienced something interesting. At one point during the snow storm I was holding the handle of my rod with one hand and touched one of the rod sections with my other hand and I got shocked. Never had that happen before.
We probably got somewhere between 1-2 inches of snow, but by early afternoon it was like it never snowed. However, the winds were high and there were whitecaps on the lake, so we did not venture back out.
@Paul_ braving the elements.
@Paul_ deciding to call it a day.
Days 2 and 3 of fishing were much better. The weather improved greatly, chilly in the morning, but warming up in the afternoon. Lots of sun. Fish were caught.
Heading out in the morning
I did not take all of the photos that are in this post. I thought this photo was pretty cool and worthy of sharing.
A nice sunny day with remnants of the previous day's snow on the mountains in the background.
One of the fish I caught. I need to learn how to smile better for the camera...lol.
I think this is @Paul_ with a nice Brook Trout.
Sunrise on the last morning. It was so beautiful out. Calm waters and no wind. I managed to hook into one fish for about 5 to 10 seconds. I was fishing with @Paul_ and he was pretty sure that it was over 24” inches. Bummed I could not fight it or land it, but it was nice getting the grab.
Although it was calm and windless on the morning of Day 4, the forecast was for 30mph winds for the afternoon. The wind started picking up around 11:00am, so we decided to call it a day about 30 minutes later.
We were about 30 minutes from Yellowstone National Park, so after lunch we decided to take a road trip. After a quick stop at Kelly Galloup's Slide Inn Fly Shop, we headed to Yellowstone National Park. For me, one of the highlights was driving through the Firehole River Canyon.
Firehole Falls
On the drive in and drive out, we did some some wildlife of both the two-legged and four-legged variety.
