Fishing Yellowstone National Park and the Great Rivers of the West!!
An Annual Odyssey
Andy Batcho ('97,'98,'99,'00,'01,'02,'03,'04,'05,'06,'07)
John Richardson ('98, '99,'00,'01,'02,'03,'04,05,'06,'07)
Mike Shaunnessy('98,'00,'01,'02,''03,'05.'06,'07)
Chet Leach ('98 - deceased late 2007) See Memorial Story and Pix
Greg Koenig ('00,'01,'02,'03,'04,05,'06)
Jeff Morgan ('02)
Al Miller ('97 '98, '99, '00,01,'02,'04,05,06,'07)
Goal: Fish all of the best Rivers of the West before you're too old to do so!
Plan: Go every summer to fish the premier Rivers of the West - Fishing publicly available waters in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, California, Alaska, British Columbia, and Alberta!!
What's inside: Travel Journals and pictures from the annual trips from 1997 through 2007 (2008 being planned now!) to selected locations in the greater Western North American Continent including, of course, Yellowstone National Park. Places to fish, Places to stay, Folks to look up, and Motivation to do even more of this in our great American outdoors! Come on in and enjoy. Let us know your adventures, secret spots, and experiences (good or bad!).
The 2008 Trip Planning has begun! We are going to return to Montana (maybe this is the "Montana Memories Return Tour"?...we are still looking at the T-shirt franchise options!) to some of our favorite haunts. Details to follow! (New picture of Dave from Yellowknife, Canada with a monster char - you can see it in the Special Pix tab)
2007 Trip We have completed the 2007 trip! Details in the section on 2007 but a short synopsis would be:
Wed 22 Aug : Drive to Fernie - Fish Stream X
Thu 23 Aug: Wigwam and Stream Y - Big Bull Trout!
Frid 24 Aug: Elk River and Stream X
Sat 25 Aug: Calgary and Wedge Pond
Sun 26 Aug: Nordegg and Blackstone River
Mon 27 Aug: Blackstone River and Beaver Pond
Tues 28 Aug: McLeod & Embarras Rivers, Lambert Creek, Brazeau River
Wed 29 Aug: North Fork Ram, South Fork Ram, Elk Creek Trout Pond, Clearwater
River
Thu 30 Aug: Red Deer River, Panther Creek, Sheep Creek
Fri 31 Aug: Highwood River, Livingstone River, North Fork Oldman River, Daisy
Creek, Racehorse Creek, Oldman River
Sat 01 Sep: Crowsnest River, Castle River
Sun 02 Sep: Drive from Fernie to Seattle - Home!!
Spectacular fishing and scenery including a few really nice fish of course!!
2006 Trip has now occurred. Our itinerary was as follows:
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Wednesday (23 Aug 2006): Drive to Fernie - stay at Fernie condo
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Thursday: Fish the Elk drainage - stay at Fernie condo
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Friday: Guided Trip to the Wigwam River and Stream Y -stay at Fernie condo
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Saturday: Free fish in Fernie area (Alexander Cr. and Stream X) - stay at Fernie condo
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Sunday: Drive to Alberta jump off point for Heli trip the next day. Stay at David Thompson Hotel
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Monday: Helicopter Trip - camp at altitude at Michelle Lake
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Tuesday: Return from HelicopterTrip; stay at David Thompson Hotel site
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Wednesday - Fish Blackstone River and surrounding waters
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Thursday - Fish Sheep River and Oldman River watersheds
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Friday - Fish Oldman River watershed and Crowsnest River
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Saturday - Crowsnest River - stay night in Fernie
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Sunday - Arrive Home in Seattle area
Appetizer Pictures on this page with the full story on the 2006 YG trip pages - the website is now updated with even more amazing tales and fishy pictures!!
Andy with Bull Trout (Andy is the guy in the "powerbait red" shirt; the bull trout is the fish)
Andy with another bull trout - he had the touch that day!!
JR Chunky Cutt from Crowsnest River
JR with Golden Trout from Michelle Lake
Greg with Golden Trouts from Michelle Lake
Al with Golden Trout from Michelle Lake (close up)
Al with Cutt from Highwood River
2006 Lake X Trip Report is now
on-line - Fishing for Tiger Trout!
Captain Mark Taylor, besides being an awesome fishing buddy runs the
"Raven's Luck Guide Service" which specializes in: "You name the species, I can
help you catch it". Mark fishes freshwater & saltwater species from his small
aluminum lake boat or his 18' fully equipped (GPS, Downrigger, depth-sounder,
etc.) Raider aluminum boat. Saltwater bottomfish, cutthroat or freshwater
bass, trout or panfish, Mark can guide to to all of them. He can also guide you
to IGFA World Records.
Contact Captain Mark Taylor at:
"Raven's Luck Guide Service"
206-200-2640
email: emtbckt@msn.com
2006 Golden Trout Trip (California) - Andy gets Royal Trout Slam Certificate from IGFA!!
2006 Yellowstone Trip - No fishing! - Great Animals - in preparation.
Also New! A Special Pix page for those shots of the YG team that occur on individual trips! Check back for the snap-shot page of cool fish and cool places!!
Summary of Rivers Fished:
1997 trip:
St. Joe R. (Idaho), Rock Cr., Clark Fork R., Big Hole R.
Bitterroot R., Blackfoot R., Flathead R.
McDonald R.(Glacier Pk.), St. Mary's R.
Rock Creek, Clark Fork River, Boulder River, Yellowstone River, Madison River, Ruby River, Big Hole River, Bitterroot River (main stem), West Fork of the Bitterroot, Darrell's Pond (private), Lochsa River
Gallatin River, Madison River, Yellowstone Lake, Gibbon River, Madison River, Soda Butte Creek, Lamar River, Firehole River, Delacy Creek, Aster Creek, Snake River, Teton River, Warm River, Henry's Fork of the Snake, Gardner River, Trout Lake, Warm Springs Creek, Pond 2, Pond 3, Clark Fork, Jobs Corps Pond, Silver Bow Creek
North Fork of the Shoshone River, Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River, Soda Butte Creek, Lamar River, Lava Creek, Yellowstone Lake, Madison River, Firehole River
South Fork Boise River, Big Wood River, No Name Creek, Silver Cr., Big Lost River, Henry's Fork of the Snake, Madison Arm, Madison R above Quake Lake, Madison R by Raynold's Pass
Missouri River, Gardner R (YNP), Joffee Lk, Slough Cr, Soda Butte Cr., Yellowstone Lk, Gibbons R, Yellowstone R, Tower Cr, Gallatin R, Madison R, and Rock Cr (Clinton)
The Missouri River below Holter Dam @ Craig, MT; the Blackfoot River Drainage (130 miles long) including the Blackfoot River, Mike Horse Creek, Monture Creek, the North Fork of the Blackfoot & the Clearwater River.
2004: Wyoming Cuttslam
Smith's Fork, Greys River, North Fork Horse Creek, Green R
(by Warren Bridge), Jackson National Fish Hatchery, Gros Ventre R (GTNP),
Frontier Cr, Emerald Cr, Horse Cr, Wind R, Jakey'sFork
Completed Trip on Sept
5,2004 - Had a great time and did the cuttslam (Wyoming
Game and Fish - Cutt-Slam Program) (only needed 3 of 4 subspecies)
in 3 days - Fishing and experiences were great. See our story on this website!
We have our Cuttslam Certificates - great advice from Wyoming Fish & Game!!
Contact them for where to fish. Webmaster.
Here is a picture of JR's cuttslam certificate. As noted in the report, all were successful in achieving this on the trip. Pretty cool certificate for a great fishing experience!!
Summary of waters fished: Kootenai River, Yaak River, E. Fork Yaak, Big Creek, Lake Creek, Keeler Creek, Fisher River, Elk River, and Stream X.
We completed our trip on 4 September, 2005 in pursuit of trout in the Greater Northwest Montana and Southeast British Columbia Regions. We took multiple (6) float trips on the Kootenai River out of Libby Montana with Tim and Joanne Linehan (www.fishmontana.com). They have a great set of fishing packages - we stayed at both their River Cabin on the Kootenai and in their log cabins in Yaak (about an hour north of Libby - you have to negotiate the fabled "Deer Alley" where the local fauna try to ram your cars during early morning and early evenings!). We also visited Fernie, British Columbia where we got great flies and advice from Ned Cooper and the outstanding staff at the Elk River Guiding Company (http://www.elkriver.ca/) - we fished the Elk river up high (near Elkford (http://www.tourismelkford.ca/ ) which was not very productive but also fished the Elk River right in Fernie, British Columbia ( http://www.fernie.com/ ) which is an outstanding fishery!! We also fished Stream X, an Elk River tributary, which was unbelievably good the days we were there - the pictures of the fish and waters have to be seen to be believed. In Fernie, we stayed at the Riverside Mountain Village - we got great rooms for very reasonable prices and had a great location just by the River - we could walk out the parking lot to the Elk River and catch fish (which we did!!)! They can be reached through their website at www.riversidemountainlodge.com . A really good source of information on this region are the folks at Fly Fishing the West magazine - www.flyfishingwest.com We met Jeff Mironuck on our trip to Fernie - he was very helpful! Check out their website and magazine!!
Here are some example pictures from our 2005 trip - see our full story under the link above to the 2005 trip.
JR and Tim Linehan with a typical beautiful Kootenai Rainbow
J
Andy with a Stream X wonder-Cutt!
Mike with a killer Cutt from Stream X
Greg with another hog from Stream X
and.... JR with the really big hog!! Stream X - where else?
SPECIAL:
Yellowstone Weekend Trip 2005 -
New update!
Weekend trip to Yellowstone in July 2005 - trip details to follow but pictures
are now loaded up (05 Sept 2005)! Fly from Seattle to Bozeman on Wednesday
evening (2 hour flight) - rent a car - head for the Park! Fish Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - fly home Monday morning - in the office by
10:30!!
July 21, 2005 Madison River, Tuff Cliffs Sign, Tuff Cliffs, Gibbons Falls, Lamar
Mouth by Yellowstone, and Yellowstone River
July 22, 2005 Soda Butte Creek and Lamar River
July 23, 2005 Lamar River, Soda Butte Creek,
July 24, 2005 Slough Creek and Yellowstone River
Fantastic Fishing and Wonderful sights - hopefully the pictures alone will explain the beauty and lure of Yellowstone National Park.
If you have inputs for us, please let us hear from you!! Email the webmaster at: mailto: WebMaster The Yellowstone Gang
A Counter for our Friends:
We recommend you visit the Trout Unlimited Homepage for more
info on fishing and conservation. They can be reached at: http://www.tu.org
Also we recommend you consider joining the Yellowstone Association at
Welcome to the
Yellowstone Association [http://yellowstoneassociation.org/
GIF's above from Hank's Flyfishing Specialties
which can be reached at:
http://www.ida.net/users/henryl/home2.html
Tirelessly working for your recreational satisfaction and edification!!
Web last edited: 05/03/08