Slide Inn 2010 is in the books. Spent the 4th of July on the Provo and we started our journey to the Madison on the 5th. After quick side trip to REI and Cabelas we were on our way. We arrived late afternoon to cloudy/rainy skies. Stopped at Kelly’s shop just in time to get our licenses and our gazebo camp site. Set up camp during a rain free window while Joey hit the side channel to get his first fish out of the way. The good news is that he does not need a license till next year and the bad news was it rained all night and our big tent leaks and the air mattress had a leak. Had to go to plan B which was our Alaska proven 3 man tent. This year my brother Pete joined us and having another adult kind of disrupted our/my system. Joey and I have made this trip solo the past 4 years.

We decide to hit the section above $3 Bridge after changing tents and getting a load of laundry done. Joey seemed to do fine as he stuck 5 fish on a variety of dries and nymphs. Pete had landed his first white fish and I could not buy a fish nymphing for some reason.



We returned for an early dinner and found that a couple ladies joined our campsite for the night. They were biking from Billings, MT to Park City, UT and they are from Belgium. They packed light and did not have any food for dinner so we invited them to a good ole American hot dog and tater salad dinner. We loaned them our portable DVD player and they watched War of the Worlds while we fished down stream of the Slide Inn. We made them and nice hot breakfast in the morning and they were back on the road long before Joey poked his head out of the tent. That became a theme and a thorn as the Dang kid wanted to sleep in every day.

I brought my Madison pontoon boat and Joey brought his Outlaw Escape. Joey worked Dave Scadden at our annual GBF dinner and he sold it to him on the spot so he did not have to carry it back on the plane with him. We did our first float from Lyons to Palisades and it was petty crowded. During this float I realized that I could hook my anchor rope to Joey D-ring on his tube and we made a pontoon drift boat. I rowed and he fished. I enjoyed rowing and he liked fishing so it worked out well for us. We did not nymph and focused on big salmon flies and screamers. We had to deal with some pretty bad winds but made the best of it. Pete was our shuttle driver and fished solo while we were drifting. Forgot to mention that I broke an oar while we were tethered and we did a little ping pong through the low bridge as I notice Joey was not exactly in sync. My good friends at the Madison River Company in Ennis hooked me up with a used oar for $20.











The weather was unusually windy and we had several storms pop up thought out the day. We were trying to get to Cliff and Wade lakes on the weekend since we knew the Madison would get hammered. We never made it to the lakes but we decide to fish the Madison between the lakes. We got off to a late start as Joey was trying to convince Kelly Galloup to let him work in the shop. Kelly told him to go fishing. We parked at the end of the road with the plan of crossing the river and fish the other side as it was less crowded. Pete decided to try and cross solo and after watching him take a swim Joey and I decided to work our way up stream for a better place to cross. It was pretty crowded and there was an older gentleman with a 14’ European float rod that was whacking and stacking them. We kept looking for spots to cross but the current was strong at hip depth and your footing would break free. We found a nice spot to fish on the way. Joey was fishing tight to the bank and I noticed some fish eating Salmon flies near a log jam. Joey had been talking with Kelly’s guide John McClure about how the big fish from Quake Lake come into the river to feast on the Salmon flies. Joey armed himself with 2x tippet and made a cast to log jam. He said Dad I hooked him and he’s a laker and he was psyching himself out. I did not see the fish yet but told him to shut up and land the fish. It looked like a Salmon and we had some experience tailing them in Alaska. It was tough landing that fish but when it was all said and done it taped out at about 28-29”. We used his rod as a measuring stick and came up with 28” but the fish still had a few wrinkles. We revived our trophy and let it go without any thoughts doing anything else to it. It was a few inches shy of Bob Jacklins 31-32” trophy caught in the same section of river. Joey’s fish took a big Salmon fly and Bob’s took a sz14 caddis nymph.



We were so psyched from landing that fish we decided to look for Pete. I did land a nice rainbow in the same hole. We crossed the river way up stream from Pete so we went looking for him. Pete for some reason decided to head down stream so it took a while to find him. While I was resting Joey caught this nice old bow on a Salmon fly after his attempts with a streamer failed.



We decided to make a second trip to the same section a few days later. We decided to go later in the day and fish till dark. Fishing was not on fire but the later it got the better the fishing got for big fish on big flies.




I had just hooked a nice fish and missed a few on dries when Joey came walking up with an Olive Sex Dungeon and a full sink Galloup line. I showed him where the fish I missed were and he went to work. He pulled this nice brown after a few casts.



We had great time and ended up spending 10 nights at the Slide Inn. We did not fish super hard but tried to get out once or twice a day. Having Pete there did increase my beer & cigar consumption which did cause us to camp instead of fish a few nights. Joey has evolved into a fishing machine and I vow to take fewer pictures a fish more to try and keep/catch up.

One that did not get away


Tight Lines,

Jet