I do not fish, but if I did, I believe I would favor the rivers of Yellowstone National Park.  If you are going to commit to standing in or on the bank of a river for hours, it seems like you might as well have some spectacular scenery to ponder.  There are many fishable streams in Yellowstone – Gallatin, Gardiner, Gibbon, Lamar, Madison, Soda Butte Creek, and of course, the Yellowstone – all of which fit the bill in terms of blending good fishing and excellent location.

Note the two fisherman in the image above.  The location is a popular fishing spot along the Soda Butte Creek river near its confluence with the Lamar River.  They seem to be watching something pretty intently, as in, they have abandoned angling all together.  The target of their attention is actually in the shot, however the image is much too small to reveal it.  As shown below, it turns out to be a pretty good sized Grizzly Bear wandering along the bank of the Lamar river – I’d estimate that there were not more than 100 yards between bear and anglers.

Both images were recorded from a position just north of the Northeast Entrance Road.  This spot is on the near side of Soda Butte Creek, whereas the anglers are on the far side.  The bear was foraging along the Lamar and moving rapidly, but might as easily have wandered northward into the delta between Soda Butte Creek and the Lamar – in which case the two dudes would be compelled to make a watery retreat across the Creek.

Images in this entry were recorded on August 9, 2010, at around 12:30, using the Nikon D3s and the AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED lens at either 200mm (first image) or 400mm (second image, plus crop).  Exposure was f/8 and 1/1250s, ISO at 1600.

Copyright 2010 Peter F. Flynn. No usage permitted without prior written consent. All rights reserved.