Headwaters
High altitude spring creeks by their very nature tend to be rare, as hard to find as a good ethical lawyer or an honest politician. I can only think of two of them off hand that are viable public fisheries; One is located in Grand Teton NP and the other is right here in the southern Gallatin Range of Montana. Rising on the western slopes of Chief Joseph Peak in a Grizzly Bear Management Area (GBMA), it begins life as a tiny freestone stream that is continuously augmented by a litany of small springs as it makes it way down to it's main fishable meadows at 7,500' above sea level. While not a true spring creek in the classic sense such as O'Dell's or Blaine Spring Creek in the Madison Valley, nonetheless, the majority of it's volume is discharged from fertile subterranean aquifers that are covered by snow for more than half the year. The fertility of the stream, and accordingly the quality of aquatic hatches, are unusual for such a small stream at this altitude.
Fortunately, the only way to access Fan Creek is to put on your walkin' shoes. The Fawn Pass Trail will put you within striking distance of the creeks upper meadows after first crossing the headwaters of the Gallatin River on a wooden stock bridge.
Although you may encounter a horse party or two doing the long loop over the Gallatin Range, for some reason this area is lightly used by hikers.
High summer in the Northern Rockies. Due to the creeks proximity to a major GBMA, travel is often restricted to parties of four or more. Despite the prevailing wisdom of some folks to travel in crowds when in the backcountry, I've always insisted on my right to privacy. The M-O being to move slowly and be observant and attentive at all times. You don't want to be thinking about your stock portfolio or girlfriend as you tramp down the trail. Practice being Bear-Aware!
After a couple of miles of easy walking you eventually come out here, a 5 mile long complex of meadows replete with perennial springs and covered in sagebrush, cinquefoil, harebell and lupine. These meadows provide easy access to some of the best holding water on Fan Creek.
Streamside willows also stabilize the banks throughout much of the meadows but they never really get high enough to impede or interfere with an anglers errant backcast.
Here is a good example of one of the many hillside springs that feed the creek along it's entire length. This particular one rises on top of a low lying bench along the eastern edge of the meadows
Not to be outdone, this particular complex of springs & willows, while making travel difficult across the valley floor, also nourishes the creek with fertile spring water. It's this steady, reliable supply of rich water and lush riparian habitat that gives Fan Creek such abundant insect hatches and a good head of trout.
Hatches can run the gamut from PMD's, Baetis, Flavs & caddis to Green Drakes. During the summer, terrestrials and attractor patterns also produce well.
Possessing a classic riffle/pool type of structure, complete with the requisite S-turns, the stream is a textbook example of everything a trout stream should be. Don't let it's small size mislead you, what it lacks in volume & width it more that makes up for in trout biomass; mostly Yellowstone & Westslope cutthroats, rainbows and cutbow hybrids with the odd denizen sized brown trout here and there.
A decent example of your typical Fan Creek cutthroat taken from the meadow stretch in August on a Schroeder's parachute hopper.
Looking south down the long meadow complex here give one a good perspective of the wide open valley and the streamside willows that were left untouched by the Yellowstone fires of '88. Notice how the willows encroach right down to the bank of the creek on one side, but not on the other affording an easy lane for the angler to walk and cast upstream to the undercut bank on the opposite side.
And that's what we're talking about here, fishing dry flies upstream into all the likely holding spots.
The entire valley is also a haven for large, charismatic mega-fauna such as moose, bears, eagles and wolves as well as good summer range for elk. It's one of the most beautiful and striking mountain valleys in the Gallatin Range.
The deeper water carved out by those classic S-turn pools are especially productive and contain some of the biggest denizens on the stream.
There's no need to arrive at daybreak however if your plan is to fish dry flies. At this elevation, the water needs time to warm up a little before the trout's metabolism kicks into high gear. During July and August this would typically be 'round 11:00 or 12:00 o'clock.
About 1/3 of the total volume of the creek is flowing underneath the far bank in this shot lending testament to the importance of streamside vegetation to stabilize banks and provide overhead cover for resident fish.
Parting Shot: The further up this lovely little valley one goes, the more surprises there are in store for the adventurous and observant angler. The last thing we want to do is list them all here and take away anyone's sense of discovery. Maybe you'll even be rewarded with a sighting of Bigfoot. Considering the source of the following BF report, it sure makes for some interesting reading. If you're not going to camp overnight then be sure to leave enough time for the long hike back out -it's no fun hiking after dark in grizzly country!
