When I last left you...Dwain was recovering from his Open Heart Surgery in early April 2014. I was concerned with his Post Op recovery as we had big plans for a lot of fishing this summer, and he had another Mule Deer/Antelope hunt planned in October in Casper Wyoming. God willing...he did amazingly well and made a full recovery.
When we left San Diego mid June we headed towards Montana, stopping off in Salt Lake City to see Dwain's brother Randy. It was wonderful spending time with him again. While we were there Randy brought my rifle over to me. He had given it to me over the phone and now here it is !!! I have always wanted a Sam Hawkins 54 cal. flintlock, but couldn't afford an original. This was in Randy's collection, it is a Kit Carson Copy...I'll take it. Thank you Randy sooooooo much.
Then we were off headed to Craig Montana. It is amazing how beautiful it is up there, but their weather is totally unpredictable. My girlfriend from there told me once, "if you don't like the weather...just wait 5 minutes and it will change". Boy oh boy is she right...
We spent 2 weeks here, and loved every minute. Fishing was great, and we even ran into people we hadn't seen in years back down in Quartzsite, AZ.
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| Our Rig... |
We then continued our journey down to Fort Smith, Montana where we spent 2 wks fishing on the Big Horn. Great fishing this year, no waders needed...totally different conditions from the year previous. Dwain even had an opportunity to do a little fishing. SEE everyone I let him fish sometimes, a little !!!
We met up with friends, Rick and Teresa in Sheridan for WYO days...what a hoot, had so much fun. Pancake breakfast put on by the Boys Scouts, Bed Races down the main drag, then the Pow Wow...we met Ernie LaPointe the Grandson of Sitting Bull, at a book signing. We ended our 1st day with the first of 4 nights at the WYO Rodeo.
We then traveled on down to Cheyenne to meet up with friends for the Daddy of them all...Cheyenne Rodeo Days. This was so incredible, I have been to a lot of rodeos in my days but this arena is GYNORMOUS !!! Lots to see, buy, and EAT !!! Imagine EAT...and EAT some more. If you need an adult beverage just stop off at your nearest Liquor store and fill up...Adult slushy's, and FREE samples.
My sister Cathy retired in early July, and flew from N. Carolina in to spend 16 days with us up in Cody...What a fab time we had. Eating Rocky Mountain Oysters at the Irma Hotel www.Irmahotel, Yellowstone Park, we even took a 3 day trip to Sheridan with her and up to Little BigHorn (Custer), and Fetterman Battlefield even took in a night at the Crow Fair POW WOW. We filled the days in between with ALOT of fishing...Cathy was amazed at how big the Trout are in Wyoming.
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| Cathy with her 1st Brown trout... |
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| Love the Brown trout here...look at that color |
We were in Cody 6 weeks, then moved on down to Thermopolis to be closer to the Big Horn and fish everyday. The fishing is really awesome up here.
Good bye Cody, see you again in a couple of years...Hello Casper. What a great little town, not too big but big enough to get what you need. Really was looking forward to fishing the Miracle Mile, a blue ribbon river amongst fly fisherman, www.greyreefanglers , unfortunately we were advised not to fish there right now as it had an enormous amount of moss in the water due to such a warm summer, such a huge disappointment. We fished the lower portion of the Platte River and had a ball. I brought in a whopping 30 trout, and I want to tell everyone... I sat in the back of the boat and let Dwain have the front. See I can share...well sometimes
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| Great Rainbow Dwain |
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| 22" Rainbow... |
Weather was coming...get to that hunt Dwain so we can get out of here, great place when the sun shines, not so much in the snow!!! Well those Antelope are fast little rascals (that's why they are called the fastest N. American animal) yep, and nope Dwain didn't get one so no shoulder mount for me. He did get another Mule deer this year...what a great guide J.W. Kinder was Dwain just really enjoyed spending 5 days with him. He even brought us about 30# of Antelope burger to make up for Dwain not getting his 2nd animal.
Heading South again...catch you where the sun shines during the winter !!!
