Tim Angeli
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Gardiner for me is a weird town
I fully agree, but I also love the place. It’s an awesome old western town in every sense. I met an old dude at a bar in Gardiner a few years ago while I was in the middle of a 3-month fishing bender. He was sitting at the bar drinking Busch NA and rolling his own cigarettes – the kind of guy you know has some good stories just from the look of him. I ended up talking to him all night, which basically consisted of 6 hours of stories about Gardiner in the 50’s-70’s. I would love to track him down and record all his stories; one of them literally ended with, “That was the first time that I shot at somebody.”
Glad you got it sorted Jay. I’m looking forward to seeing your rebuild. I too would love to know what happened to the boat. I have some friends who have gotten into some seriously sketchy situations in their drift boats (flipped, pinned, etc.), and none of them came out with damage anywhere close to this boat.
Here’s the corresponding video (edit: I just realized it is embedded in the article as well):
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=9467802The work they do is nothing short of exceptional. I’m pretty sure that Zac Sexton, a member of this board, makes a couple of appearances in the video as well.
Jay, have you considered calling a local fly shop to see if someone could help you out? I would assume you might be able to find a local guide / shop rat / fish bum that would be sympathetic to your situation and would be willing to pick up the boat and either drop it off at a storage unit or store it short-term for you. Looks like a fun project.
Tim
Very nice scenery, Mike. That is a beautiful stretch of river – I drove a big stretch of it a few years ago, but never did actually fish the upper river due to the access being a bit confusing. I don’t think I made it quite as high up as you were…although I also don’t know that river well enough to know exactly where you were from your photos. Looks like you’re having a great summer!
It’s true that many magazines periodically run a similar article; however, personally, I would buy this issue to read this article, which is no doubt why the ‘Top X Destinations’ articles are so popular with magazines / publishers – they appeal to readers and they sell magazines. I’m sure that Zach has written the article in a way that makes it (at least relatively) unique.
Zach, on the topic of the actual article, did you limit the Universities to US only, or did you consider international as well? Any saltwater destinations in the mix? And out of curiosity, along the lines of Joel’s comment, what was the justification with Montana State University at #1 over University of Montana? From my perspective, they are similar in regards to academics, local fishing options, culture, location (in a general sense – western MT), etc. It sounds like the proximity of MSU to the fabled waters of YNP, NW Wyoming, and Idaho may have been the kicker?
Tim
Great fish Zach. That 3rd photo is hilarious – the fish looks like it lost about 10lbs in that shot. Like you said, it’s a perfect example of how the shot composition and perspective influence a shot, especially when shooting wide-angle (I’m assuming you were shooting your 12-24mm…).
Awesome fish, especially after what sounds like a tough year thus far. Great photos too.
Great stuff Brett. Two of my favorite species – brookies are obviously stunning fish, but the markings and color patterns of tigers is just amazing. I was fortunate enough to get into a few tigers in your area years ago, and they remain one of my favorite species.
Great photos Stu. It’s always good to see kids getting into it. I predict you’re going to be blessed with many family fishing trips in the future…
Sounds like a great trip Mark.
In regards to posting photos, I have always used IMG tags to insert photos directly into my posts here. I had to play around with it a bit to get it to work on this newly updated version of the board. If you click the “img” button on the top of the window where you create your post on this board, a pop-up window appears prompting you for the URL of the image. You can then copy the URL of your image from an image hosting site (e.g., photobucket.com) into that window, and it will insert the image directly into your post.
Cheers,
TimGreat looking boat Travis. I can only imagine all the new water that will open for you – already looking forward to seeing the pictures.
Great photos Jay – I always love seeing you work. It’s inevitably a fun day when the cicadas are out!
I’m really looking forward to this one. I’m a big fan of Lamson reels, and in my opinion, they are one of the best in the industry at striking a balance of design, function, and cost.
Zach, are you still planning to interview Bryan Gregson? He was on your list before this ‘season’ of podcasts and I would love to hear some of his stories and insights into his success as a photographer.
Thanks for posting this, Mike. I find this to be a really intriguing topic and it will be interesting to see how it plays out over time. I fully support the conservation and management of native cutthroat species, and I agree with everything that Zach said above, including that they are an exceptionally fun target species. For me, the cutthroat fishing is one of the main attractions to Yellowstone and I would be happy to see cutthroats make up a larger population of the overall trout species in the park. However, I have had spectacular fishing for brooks, rainbows, and browns in the park as well, and a part of me will be sad to see those populations decline.
I would be very interested to see the background research behind these new regulations. Biological population dynamics are extremely complex, particularly when you have competition between multiple species and multiple populations within the system (e.g., lower-river vs upper-river populations). The trout populations in the park have a really fascinating population dynamic, and it will be very interesting to see how these new regulations affect the individual populations, and thereby affect the quality of the fishing. The overall fishing will undoubtedly decline in the short-term as the relatively large populations of non-native trout species are reduced through increased catch limits. It is obviously forecast that the native cutthroat will then fill that population void, and continue to fill the void of the ever-declining non-native populations. However, we will also be forever fighting a losing battle, as established stocks of non-native species will always be able to move upriver into the ‘native trout conservation areas’ to rejuvenate the populations of non-native species there (e.g., browns and rainbows will be able to move upstream from the lower Yellowstone River, into the upper Yellowstone and tributaries, which basically includes the entire Northeast corner of the park – Gardiner, Lamar, Slough, Soda Butte, etc.). Furthermore, the cutthroats in that system are already hybridized with the resident rainbows, meaning that they are, unfortunately, no longer the pure native species. I met a guy in the park a couple years ago that was involved with a study of the cutthroat population in upper Slough Creek, thought to be isolated from the downstream populations of rainbows. It was discovered that those cutthroats have actually already hybridized with rainbows, with many of the fish having some rainbow trout DNA (I don’t remember the exact results, but it was a startling amount of the population that had already hybridized). Hopefully the mandatory kill limit on rainbows in the Lamar system will help to prevent further hybridization and / or the complete elimination of that cutthroat species.
I would also be interested to know the population of catch-and-keep anglers in Yellowstone. In my experience, most anglers practice catch-and-release, so the overall impact of the new regulations could be somewhat minor. In that regard, the the effects of the mandatory catch-and-kill policy on the Lamar will be particularly interesting. Hopefully, as above, that will help to not only increase the cutthroat population in that system, but also help to prevent further hybridization.
There was an article in one of the relatively recent issues of The Drake that fits in very well with this topic. It has been a while since I read the article, but basically it talked about the decline of the Lewis River as a excellent brown trout fishery due to the increased catch-and-kill limits put in place on that river system, and I am sure that some of the new limits will have a similar adverse affect on the overall fishing quality in other water systems in the park, at least in the short term. Hopefully the long-term affects will prove beneficial.
Zach’s conclusion in his Yellowstone article is also quite relevant to this topic:
“…the cutthroat was almost olive-colored, and sinewy from its never-ending struggle against the pull of the current, the gravity of the Great Falls. It was a native, a survivor, the descendant of fish caught and eaten by mountain man John Colter when he discovered this beautiful spot. It was also a legacy…”I have always been very interested in the fight to preserve native species in Yellowstone, and these new regulations are no different. It will be very intriguing to see how the effects play out over time, and hopefully they prove helpful in preserving the legacy of the native cutthroat species.
