ESP Day 14 - Snake River & Jackson Brew Tour 30Jul19

It was time to hit the Snake for the Snake River fine spotted cutthroat native to this basin. I went to the tailwater below Jackson Dam and I could see some fish in slower, flat and relatively shallow water but they were not feeding - especially not on my #8 electric purple chubby Chernobyl. I kept hiking downstream but as with other WYO rivers - I saw little structure to lend me a hand at where fish might be holding. Most folks float the Snake but I chose to wade and the Snake River is big and deep in the main channel so I couldn't cross to hit all spots. I caught a number of 5"-8" cuts like on the Gros Ventre and was getting a bit frustrated. Finally I turned a corner and found some structure near to my side that I thought would be good, and it turned out to be very good to me; I caught a number of the native like these 14"-18". I love throwing such a big bug and getting aggressive strikes. There was a dude across the river 35 yards who'd stopped his boat and hooted on my every catch. Another river and another sub-species.

Another pan of the Teton Range on the way to Jackson Hole, just because...

I made a walking brew tour of the four breweries in Jackson. Snake River is the oldest and had a bunch of locals at my end of the bar - kayakers, ranch hands, guides - it was fun and their Earned It NEIPA was decent. StillWest is the youngest and located right across from the Snow King ski resort Summit lift. I was very posh with modest selection but I enjoyed tasting their potent DIPA. I was fortunate to hit the original Melvin location, co-residing with a tasty Thai restaurant. I had a couple IPA short pours brewed right there and some tasty Thai chix wings. Melvin is excellent and they have an award wall to show for it too. Finally I hit Roadhouse; I'd been finding cans throughout WYO and enjoyed most. At the brewery I got the Man Jam #1 Hazy and the Walrus imperial IPA, very good. This was a fine capstone to good day on the Snake and a fine Epic Swing through the parks. I'll head back to Summit Co tomorrow - I need to shower and shave.