By Lloyd Sund
After looking at a map numerous times to decide which route to take and impatiently waiting for the ice to melt, we made our trek into Shoshone Lake. Kaitlyn and I chose to hike down the Delacy Creek Trial, as we figured the flat terrain and short distance would be a good “warm up” hike to start the season. However, after strapping on my Kelty pack that weighs at least 30 lbs without anything in it, not to mention the horrible side-chaffing fit, I decided that I am not in nearly as good of shape as I had predicted and will be choosing an even easier “warm up” hike next year!
The hike in went fine considering it felt like I was giving Kaitlyn a piggy back ride the whole way. Though by the time we reached Shoshone my voice was hoarse after yelling “hey bear” at the top of my lungs every two hundred yards. Luckily no bears were spotted and nothing had to be sprayed……well that’s not entirely true. Midway through the fishing day I found an old can of bear spray that had washed up on shore and had the bright idea to spray it just to see what it looks like. After carefully positioning myself upwind of the bright red can, I pulled the trigger. All would have been fine if the can hadn’t been extremely old and hadn’t decided to spray not only out the nozzle where it should, but also out the top and sides. I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt a burn so intense around my eyes and nose in my life, actually I’m positive I haven’t! That stuff is potent! After remaining in the fetal position for several minutes moaning in pain with Kaitlyn hovering over me, I rolled over as she dumped our whole water supply into my eyes. I found out during this process that though she can aim really well with two six guns and a shotgun, when it comes to pouring water out of an Aquafina bottle in attempt to flush an eye, Kaitlyn’s aim leaves a lot to be desired! I think I got more water on my head and down my shirt than I ever did in my eye, but at least she was trying right??? 
Let me back up to the actual fishing before the bear spray incident and tell you about the skinniest albeit longest brown I’ve ever caught. On the north shore of Shoshone, right by the mouth of Delacy Creek, I seduced a 24 inch brown with a weight of approximately 1/2 lb into eating a red eyed black bugger. Anytime you set the hook hard and a 24 inch brown flies over your head and lands on the bank behind you, you immediately assume it’s not a chunk! Seriously though, this thing looked more like a northern pike than a trout, but I still managed to let out a few whoops and hollers as I skidded the snake onto shore with my eight weight z-axis. (Definately a bit overkill for a fish that looked like it hadn’t eaten much since it was a fry)
We also each caught a handful of lake trout between 16 and 20 inches, which Kaitlyn so lovingly dubbed “the true invasive species”. All the lake trout ate tan sculpin patterns stripped slowly along the bottom with an intermediate sink line between 6 and 15 feet deep. They fight even worse than walleyes do, which is a little personal slam to all my walleye fanatic buddies back in North Dakota, but seriously. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always fun to set the hook on a fish, but when you set the hook and then have to guess whether or not you have weeds on the end of your line or a fish, your best guess is that a lake trout just engulfed your fly.
Ha ha I know this is starting to sound like a questionably enjoyable day, but we actually had an absolute blast and is something I know both of us will gladly do again! The hike is relatively easy and absolutely gorgeous, you have a great chance at catching a lake trout on a fly, which is something neither of us had ever done, and you get to enjoy a day fishing in the outdoors…..which is something everyone should do at least 120 days a year