lily lake

Some of my fondest memories from my child hood are in the Bare tooth Mountains mostly camping at Lily Lake. Ever Labor Day my family and many other families would get together and go to Lily Lake. We would go cannoning, fly fishing, hiking and my favorite crawdad fishing.

Crawdad fishing was not like normal fishing it usually consisted of leftover chicken bones, a peace of fishing line and some times a little net. You had to walk very lightly out on to floating logs and dangle your chicken in the watter and wait for a crawdad to come.

It took skill to catch these crayfish you had to have good balance, a steady hand and quick reflexes. If you lacked one of these you would end up in the watter, the crawdad would end up back in the watter or some times both. I did spend my share in the watter be for I learned how to catch crawdads.

so if your are looking for a great place to camp fly fish and catch crawdads Lily lake is the place to go. It is located from Cody, take WY 120 17 miles north to WY 296, 47 miles northwest to US 212, then 1 mile northeast on Forest Road 130.

Copper Lakes

Well I looked all over to find a map to show you how to get to Copper Lakes in Wyoming but it must be one of the best kept secrets around. So I can't show you how to get there but I will give you some directions.

You may ask why you would want to know how to get there, or what makes this place so special. Well it is just that if there are not any maps to get their there must not be that many people up there right? That means you can have the whole lake to your self and if that doesn't intreag you the wonderful hike, scenery and fishing should.

So here are the directions to this oasis. From Cody head north on the Belfry hwy till you get to the Chef Joseph Scenic hwy and turn left follow it down the switchbacks passing Dead Indian campground keep going you are almost there. Now here is the tricky part there is a dirt road that turns left about 300 yards be for the clarksfork river look out (this is a bridge that over looks the clarksfork river) take this road and it will lead you to the trail head for Copper lakes.

The hike in, is all up hill but not that far of a hike. Also once you have reached the first lake (witch has the best fishing) you can walk to the back and follow the inlet to the next lake witch has golden trout. I hope you are up for the adventure. If you have any questions let me know.

Catfish Fishing

When some one hears of Catfish fishing they think of the mid west and those guys who catch these big fish with there hands. Well to us in Wyoming it means a camping trip with the guys staying up all night waiting for a bell to ring. We have a couple of spots that I am not a liberty to say where they are but there are two lakes where we normally fish at they are Beck lake in Cody and Yellowtail reservoir near Lovell Wyoming. These lakes are known for catfish.

Let me tell you a few secrets about how to catch the infamous Blue Catfish. Time and location are very important in being successful in catching a catfish. For example from the middle of June to the middle of July is the breading season for catfish. This is very important because they don't normally bite. You may catch a few little catfish but not normally the bigger ones. So the best time to go would be the end of July and all through August. Also the bate you use is very important, catfish don't have very good eyes so they go by there tentacles next to there mouth to feel and there nose for sent. So having a bate that is really smelly and good size can help in catching a catfish. Most of the time if we have it we will use "cut bate" witch is dead carp cut in to peaces leaving the skin on it so it will stay on your hook. Also chicken and beef livers work really good. Remember if the bate you use makes you gag than you know it will work. Good luck and i hope to see you out there catfish fishing.

Turkey Hunting

If your really in to hunting and have to be hunting all the time then you might want to think about Turkey hunting. In wyoming there are two seasons that you can hunt Turkeys in the fall and in the spring.

Some aras you have to put in for because the turkey population is not verry high and there are some areas where turkeys have been transplanted to like Cody. For the last 10 years the game and fish have been working hard on building the turkey population around Cody. but in other arias like Buffalo, Sheridan, and Gillette you can just buy turkey tags over the counter because of the high population.

Turkeys are verry smart and if you are thinking that you can just go out and shoot a turkey you are wrong. there are a few factors that can make your turkey hunt successful like the right sopt the camo you are whering, the gun you use and the call that is used. I think that the number one thing that you should worrie about is your call because turkeys are a bird they can tell a slight difference in the way you are calling. this can really make or break your hunt. Take a look at this video on how to use mouth calls and practice often so you can have a good hunt.

Horn Hunting

Not many people really know what horn hunting is. But to those who live in the state of Wyoming it is like finding a $200 bucks laying in the parking lot. Every spring all Elk, Deer, and Moose shed there horns. When i was a kid you could go looking for horns any where and when ever you want. Now then has become seasions like hunting seasions of when you can and cant go.

I thought public land belonged to us; so what ever we find there should be ours right? It has been said the the game and fish are even going to make it so you can't even horn hunt anymore. The animal rights activist are saying that when some one goes horn hunting they push the animals around so that they will drop there horns. They clam that horn hunters are harassing the animals. i feel that if someone wants to take the time out of there day and go horn hunting they should be able to.

we as members of this state should have the right to decide what goes on here not some one that live back east. This is what happened with the wolves. No one in the state wanted it but look at us now they have become a problem. i feel that this is a very important issue that need to be addressed be for we loose the right to be on public land.

The Gray Wolf

As we all know that Wyoming was left behind on releasing the Gray Wolf form the endangered spices list. Due to its aggressive plan to make the animal a praetor and allowing no quota on how many wolves could be killed. The Wyoming Game and fish has revised there plan and hunter management program making it more like the laws of Idaho and Montana. Take a look here to see what plan Wyoming is offering as a wolf management plan and tell me what you think.

Primetime Fishing #2

In the first Primetime Fishing I talk about how the fish are heading up stream to spawn that was at the end of April. Now it is June and the fish are heading down stream back the Buffalo Bill reservoir. The watter is a little muddy but the fish are hitting a brite orange egg pattern trailing a bead head halfback. These fish may not have as much of energy as they did in April because of the long journey that they had to take to be able to spawn. But in reality when you hook a fish on a fly rod it doesn't matter how big or how small it is it will get your blood pumping. So take some time off work or just a day to relax and go catch a fish because it will be another year till you will be able to get your fly rod out on the Northfork of the Shoshone river.