Zach Matthews
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
You know, Neal + Tim, if you were to essentially lace two of those flies together in a lengthened articulated streamer, it would probably make a real nice pike/muskie/big brown trout fly.
Zach
I love how David Anderson can start a conversation with, “When I was touring with the Stones…”
Hahahahah.
Corey, have to agree with Aaron, very inspiring pix!. Looks like a great trip and a fun bunch of friends. Did you shoot the majority of these with the 10-22? I like photo #10 the best! Thanks for sharing!
Corey, absolutely beautiful images! Fernie is definitely a fun place. Can’t wait to read the rest of the story I’m sure it will inspire to get back out there next year. Glad the information helped.
Billy –
I have basically taken that same trip. Here’s what I would do.
On the first day, I would focus on driving. Technically, 17 1/2 hours gets you to Dayton, Wyoming, but that doesn’t leave any time for anything else. I’ll tell you why you want to go to Dayton in a minute.
So, I’d stop the first day in Wall, South Dakota. Take the last hours around sunset to view the infamous Wall Drug (it isn’t much), and have a nice dinner.
This is the first day’s route from Fayetteville:
Wake up in Wall at dawn if possible and head over to Badlands National Park’s East Entrance (you have to backtrack slightly). The loop road will take you through the park and back to Wall. Then, if you want, you can also deviate down and see Mt. Rushmore and/or Deadwood (from the HBO series, now something of a tourist trap, but with a great cemetery). You’re going to be about 4.5 hours from Sheridan, Wyoming just driving straight, which is where I would stay the night if you want a real hotel. Obviously, with only a 4.5 hour drive, you can kill time throughout the day.
Here’s how I would do it. We have done this with the exception of Mt. Rushmore. Provided you get up and through the Badlands early (when the light (and temperatures) are coolest anyway), you’ll get to Sheridan or Dayton no problem:
If you want the hotel, stop in Sheridan. If you are roughing it, proceed to Dayton and stay at Foothills Motel and Campground. This place is rustic. Rooms don’t have A/C, which you probably won’t need any time after August 15, anyway. This place is right out of the 50s and hasn’t been updated at all. The campground/motel is right on the Tongue River, which has some fishable water flowing right through town. The campground’s best glory is how cheap it is: http://www.foothillscampground.com/. That part of the world doesn’t offer a lot of inexpensive lodging, especially not if you are going around the Sturgis Bike Rally in mid-August like we have done.
The reason you want to get to Dayton is so you can take Wyoming 14 over the Bighorn pass. This drive is the single most spectacular two hours I have ever seen anywhere in the world. 15 minutes out of Dayton you will switch back up the face of the mountain to about 8,000 feet. The sun will be rising behind you. At the top, you’ll go over the saddle of the mountains and through the pass at 10,000 feet. The last time I was there, two shepherds on horseback were herding thousands of sheep through the free range lands at the top. From the top, you can see most likely over 100 miles out over the central plains of Wyoming (you have the same view looking east, so be sure to get up there when the sun is rising!)
Wyoming Hwy. 14 will take you into Cody, which is a cool little town. Eat lunch at the Irma in the middle of town. That restaurant is the model for all the Ted’s Montana Grills in the country. It’s a bit pricey but the atmosphere is worth it. I would hit the fly shop across the street before leaving town; you are going in the east gate of Yellowstone and there’s nowhere to gear up.
Here’s the map that will take you into the park (with terrain turned on, I hope, so you can see the mountains you’re going through:)
Once in the Park, my advise gets more general. Yellowstone itself is an amazing, amazing place. We always base out of Mammoth Hot Springs at the Northern Gate because by late August we want to be in places like Slough Creek. Soda Butte creek is also up there, as is the Gardner river. The town of Gardiner (note different spelling, because there’s a Gardner, MT out east, too) is the best base of operations for the northern part of the park if you want supplies, food, restaurants, etc. Its a 10 minute drive from Mammoth Hot Springs, where you can rent cabins or camp in the local campground, which is excellent. You can sneak showers in the cabins behind the hotel if you are crafty.
While in the area, I would head down to Jackson, Wyoming and fish the Snake River (a float trip is best). Or you could head north out of the park up to the Bozeman area. Bozeman is a nice town, but for basing yourself out in SW Montana I’d go to Twin Bridges if you can find lodging. In that area you can fish the Yellowstone (well, near the Park, anyway), the Madison, the Beaverhead, the Big Hole, the Ruby, the Jefferson, and a ton of side creeks. That part of Montana is so amazing it almost doesn’t matter where you go. Ennis, Mt. is another good option for basing yourself – that would put you right on the Madison.
That’s my take – we’ve done the trip basically twice with different permutations and we’re headed out there again next August (have to schedule things way in advance now I have a real job).
Zach
PS It was originally a bass pattern tied down in Louisiana by the same guy who tied the “.56-er” pattern.
Zach
Excellent, Neal. I am not sure if that is the original Pigboat or not – I have only ever read about it, but when I saw your pattern that’s exactly what I was thinking. Yes, I think that’s pretty much a crankbait, isn’t it? (I don’t know my lures at all).
You’d fish it the same way we have been fishing for stripers – the legs pulse and go crazy. I would probably tie it in pure white and in “fire tiger,” which is mostly olive green, orange, and some red.
Zach
As I have done before, I can probably party-barge two or so other anglers up from ATL if they need to catch flights.
We are leaving Georgia for a number of reasons. Crowds are a big factor, as are good fishing opportunities. I’d like to show people from outside the region a unique area like the Smokies if they are running up here. Plus, this site and community are all about getting out in the distant places, which is why I am suggesting crossing Fontana. There is a shuttle service that runs over the Lake (which is the southern border of the Smokies, btw). I think the shuttle is kind of expensive but they might do party discounts. That will take us into a relatively remote area on the south side of the park with some unique features I have always wanted to see. Of course, in the fall, the area gets runs of brown trout out of the lake, and it can be somewhat more crowded.
Other alternatives in the region are Pisgah National Forest (the Davidson) in North Carolina, the Citico Creek drainage (Cherokee National Forest, southwest of Knoxville, Tennessee), and further afield the South Holston near Bristol, Tennessee (a tailwater), possibly even the Cumberland up in Kentucky. Of those choices, the Smokies would be my selection.
If we can’t rustle up the cash to cross Fontana en masse, we could certainly hit the Lower Abrams drainage (also gets runs of lake run fish in winter, during rain pulses), or the Metcalf Bottoms area of Little River on the north end of the park, in which the bigger brown trout reveal themselves around mid-October.
I would tentatively suggest that we make this a weekend trip in late October to maximize our chances of beautiful fall foliage, comfortable camping temperatures, cheap flights, running fish, and minimal rain.
Hot pixels are hard to correct; ultimately you just have to clone them out.
Logos are disfavored but if the image is gripping enough, they’ll run it anyway.