Eben Schaefer caught this beauty on the Upper Yellowstone in the Park.
Photo courtesy Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge
My friend Eben Schaefer sent me this photo last night, and it made me laugh because this stunning cutthroat was caught in my “secret spot,” where I landed many great fish during my summer guiding for Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge in the mid-90s. Back then, Eben was just the cook, but now he actually runs the joint with his wife, Nancy.
He’s one of those humble guys who claims he’s not really such a great angler, yet strangely enough, he catches a lot of fish and plenty of big ones. Last summer, he took Western ELOG director Tom Evenson and me out on the Gardner River, and trust me: the man knows right where the fish are.
Unfortunately, Phil, there are not nearly as many fish up there any more. It seems that those glory days are gone forever. The fish that were around were big, though. And we did catch a mess of 12 inchers at the end of the day, which is a very encouraging sign for the fishery. Yellowstone National Park thinks they are finally making some headway with the lake trout population in Yellowstone Lake. But it took nearly 20 years just to stop the population growth of the lakers so I can’t imagine that they can ever get rid of them. Even though the fishing has changed a lot it is still a great place to go. Check it out next time you are here!
What an awesome fish Eben…. Now that’s a trophy fish! Matt took me up there last year and although I lost a nice one, the area was beautiful. Congratulations!!
Regards,
Glenn