Finishing out the Grand Slam
By Coltin Gresser
Background on the Grand Slam
There is a challenge that many anglers face while fishing in Yellowstone National Park. The challenge is named the Grand Slam of Yellowstone. What does the Grand Slam even mean? That is a question you are probably wondering and why is it important? While I was in the middle of trying to complete it, I often asked myself the same thing.
The Grand Slam of Yellowstone is a challenge where you must catch all the trout species inside the Park. Now that may not seem challenging, especially if you deem yourself an experienced angler. Well, let me tell you I was living in the Park from May 18th, and it took me till July 30th to complete it. That was with going fishing 3-4 times a week. Now all the species that are needed for the Grand Slam are as follows; Brook Trout, Lake Trout, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Cutthroat Trout, and the stunning Artic Greyling. There is no set-in-stone importance, however, once you complete it, man does it sound cool to bring up to your friends!
The day I completed the Grand Slam
Rod, Joel, Connor, and I are sitting in the lake pub the night before one of our weekly fishing adventures. If you guessed that the main points of the conversations were what flies we were going to throw first, or what rivers did we wanted to fish, you really do know us! 90% of the conversations we have revolve around fishing and hunting. The other 10% is a total crab shoot. At this point, Connor has already hit the Slam, to be totally honest he has probably hit the Slam a multitude of times. Rod and I had one species left to reel in. This fish is the cover boy for the trout world. When you hear about trout fishing, or heck, even fly fishing you think of this slimy colorful fish, the old Rainbow Trout. With that being the target species in mind, the conversations about this river and that river went on for a couple of hours. Finally, the decision was made we would choose the Firehole River for our weekend excursion.
Now the Firehole River, as the name suggests, is a warm river that has many thermals feed hot water into it. With warm water constantly feeding it, it is usually the first river to be targeted when the fishing season opens. But by this time in July that poor river had seen some pressure and those trout had had hundreds of fly’s float past their face. With our time ending in the Park due to the end dates of our season being in August, we decided to throw the Hail Mary in this river.
It was the morning of July 30th , we got up around 8 a.m. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve. I couldn’t sleep. I dreamed about hooking in and landing my first rainbow to sealing the deal on the Slam. We fished one part of the Firehole for about two hours with no luck besides a couple of Brook Trout. So, we headed south on the river where we saw some beautiful pocket water. I waded across the river to get to the opposite bank. We split up into two teams of tactical trout assassins. Rod and Connor were on one side while I was the lone wolf on the other. The water was ripping so hard that it was hard to hear them across the water. Occasionally, I would hear a faint voice saying, “Any bites yet?” or “I got one!”.
About an hour and a half into this mission of fishing. I see Connor and Rod cutting up and high-fiving. I start laughing and thinking to myself “Man I hope that is either a bigger fish or that Rainbow Trout Rod needed”. They were so far away when he held up the fish, I could just tell that it was a fish. I laughed and screamed “Congratulations on the slam!”. Now I would be a liar if I didn’t tell you at that moment, I was not only super stoked for Rod but also was kind of getting irritated that I have yet to even hook up a Rainbow. I shoved that feeling of being annoyed and upset way down because there was no need. If I hit The Slam then great, if I don’t hit The Slam then that’s great too, because I was making memories with the boys and that’s all that matters.
Thirty minutes pass by my arm is getting tired from euro-nymphing. My legs and back were on fire from wading through water and hiking through boulders in my waders. As I came down the hill I had just climbed up, I peered back down into the ravine where the river was running. I saw a fast run where the water was ripping through, and I saw this giant boulder creating the perfect slack water pocket. I stopped where I was, got out the orange, bead-headed nymph that was putting the smack down on some fish, re-tied it on my line, took a deep breath, and said this is going to be the place where I hit the Grand Slam.
I slowly crept up to this pocket in order not to spook any fish that could be in this honey hole. I drifted the orange bead once through there and…nothing. I was befuddled that the first drift didn’t produce a fish. I gave it another drift and halfway through the drift I saw my line get taught and feel some weight, so I set the hook! BOOM… the fight was on. I let him take a little drag before I realized where he was heading. Of course, he was headed straight for the fast current. So, I tightened my grip on the line and did not allow him to get away. I felt him starting to tire out. I reached and got my net. I finally saw him break the surface. With one swoop of the net, the species I had been waiting all summer for, the last member of the Grand Slam, an 11-inch Rainbow Trout was sitting in my net.
My shoulders felt so light, and a tear of joy started to come running from my eyes. I was shaking with pure adrenaline and excitement. This was the moment I had been waiting for. I took some pictures and sat my net in the water with the fish in it. I wanted to make sure before I released it that it was going to recover from the fight and the handling I had done. The Rainbow Trout was fully recovered, and instead of swimming off in a hurry it slowly swam right back down into the pool where I had tricked him into a bite. Now don’t get me wrong. Chasing big rutted-up bucks during November is addicting. Hearing your drag getting ripped out by a Steelhead in a tributary of Lake Michigan is almost like a gateway drug. But if you want to add a thrilling, heart-pounding, and overall pure adrenaline rush challenge to your outdoor resume. Then the Grand Slam of Yellowstone is for you. Chasing trout through the boulder fields and Grizzly Country will make you never want to go back home. Get out there and chase those bucket list fish. Yes, catching the biggest fish or shooting the biggest turkey is an amazing feeling, but don’t forget to live in the moment that you are in, especially if it is with friends or family. You never know how many more times you will have with them in the great outdoors.
P.S.- You can’t catch them from the couch, so get up and go fish!
