<()))>< Yellowstone Float

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Hellmtflies
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<()))>< Yellowstone Float

#1

Post by Hellmtflies »

Something I hardly ever do and really don't enjoy, a float trip. Maybe it's because I've done it so much over the years or maybe it's because I get completely deflated when I get to the "Put In" and there are 15 boats ahead of me. Or maybe, like yesterday, it's because there were absolutely no, none, nada, zilch hatches all day. Well, maybe a couple of #20 BWOs at about 1500. I floated Pine Creek to Mayor's on "The Stone". Three feet of visibility and the river is low at 55 degrees. I pitched streamers, wets, nymphs, buggers, hoppers, dries and the kitchen sink. Nothing until I was able to put the steel to a lifeless 10" Cutthroat at about 1400. Oh yea, then I really started to nail a number of 6-8" rainbows. Yea, as many as say 4. :) Blistering sunshine at 80 degrees and no wind. I couldn't get off the water fast enough. Gosh I may never float again. Awful. :)
Just thought I'd share.
Last edited by Hellmtflies on 09/28/22 17:34, edited 1 time in total.

headwaters
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#2

Post by headwaters »

I don't think you have a future in marketing, Mark! At least not for low water float trips. :)

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firehole
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#3

Post by firehole »

Mark,
I floated Saturday with a guide from Lyons to Ruby Creek and caught a 20" fall colored brown. I had two other fish in the 20" range break me off after several jumps. The magical fly was a red worm. I guess my pic is too large to load.
Dennis

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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#4

Post by PT48 »

Just goes to show Mark that ff is an art that is best done afoot!!!

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ibookje
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#5

Post by ibookje »

A float trip is like a touristic tour. It’s nice occasionally

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Hellmtflies
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#6

Post by Hellmtflies »

firehole wrote:
09/27/22 19:20
Mark,
I floated Saturday with a guide from Lyons to Ruby Creek and caught a 20" fall colored brown. I had two other fish in the 20" range break me off after several jumps. The magical fly was a red worm. I guess my pic is too large to load.
Dennis
Interesting. I guess the Yellowstone isn't holding up as well as the Madison currently.

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Hellmtflies
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#7

Post by Hellmtflies »

ibookje wrote:
09/28/22 01:13
A float trip is like a touristic tour. It’s nice occasionally
Maybe. The fellow I floated with floats about 30+ times each year. I don't know how he can stand it. :\

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flyfishingpastor
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#8

Post by flyfishingpastor »

I've floated and I've walked - much prefer to walk/wade myself. Now, don't get me wrong, I've had some fabulous float trips. But, honestly, I just enjoy wading. I can fish where I want, how I want, and as long as I want. Me, figuring out what flies to use, what kind of cast is required and how do I want to "stalk" into position. I like the feel of cold, clean water on my lower body - and I even enjoy the walk back to the car for lunch and a beverage - and decide whether to stay or move on.

But, honestly, like the majority of us, I have had any number of days like you've described like small fish and no hatches when I waded. So, whether wading or floating, bad days can just be bad days - but it still beats working for a living. :)

Pat

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Hellmtflies
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#9

Post by Hellmtflies »

flyfishingpastor wrote:
09/28/22 10:11

But, honestly, like the majority of us, I have had any number of days like you've described like small fish and no hatches when I waded. So, whether wading or floating, bad days can just be bad days - but it still beats working for a living. :)
Pat
My feeling is the same. But when you are stuck in a boat for 6 or 7 hours in blistering sun and not a trout to be found it feels like an eternity. After about two hours of that dehydrating burn and boredom I could simply jump out of the boat and put an end to it all. :) If I never float again, it would be too soon.

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ibookje
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#10

Post by ibookje »

I can’t imagine you in a boat anyway.
You were probably forced going in the boat :D

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firehole
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#11

Post by firehole »

Finally got the picture resized. As a clarification the worm was a dropper off a minnow streamer.
Dennis

Image

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Drossi
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#12

Post by Drossi »

I can think of plenty of more "awful" ways to spend a day. Like sitting in the all day budget meeting I had yesterday :)

FWIW - I don't like to float either except to get from location to location. I'm a walk and wade guy too.

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Hellmtflies
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#13

Post by Hellmtflies »

firehole wrote:
09/28/22 11:56
Finally got the picture resized. As a clarification the worm was a dropper off a minnow streamer.
Dennis

Image
Your a better man than I.......Nice trout!!!

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Hellmtflies
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#14

Post by Hellmtflies »

ibookje wrote:
09/28/22 10:48
I can’t imagine you in a boat anyway.
You were probably forced going in the boat :D
Yea, next time it would have to be a gun point. :)

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GrsdLnr
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#15

Post by GrsdLnr »

I've been on exactly one float trip - on a Colorado river with pretty limited public wading access. The main motivation was because I received a steep discount on the day. I have to admit it was a pleasant time - a good guide who did his best to educate me on the differences between wade fishing and boat fishing, a cloudy, fairly cool day for July, hardly non-stop action yet enough trout to keep it interesting. The fish weren't looking up for bugs unfortunately, but that's just the way it goes. And my battered knees were grateful for the break.

I'd do it again. But I won't be brokenhearted if it never happens again either.
In our family there was no clear line between psychotherapy and flyfishing...

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baughb
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#16

Post by baughb »

Not to mention that I can get skunked wading and I still have $400 + in my pocket to salve my wounds.

Bob G
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#17

Post by Bob G »

Mark -

I agree 110%. I have always just wanted the trip to end sometime right after the first hour!

Best, Bob

bluesjay
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#18

Post by bluesjay »

Hi Guys, I've never been in a drift boat:


https://www.duckboy.com/product/row-vs- ... ntroversy/

I think there needs to be a Supreme Court decision!

Jay Edwards

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Hellmtflies
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#19

Post by Hellmtflies »

baughb wrote:
09/30/22 13:47
Not to mention that I can get skunked wading and I still have $400 + in my pocket to salve my wounds.
$400.00? Not any longer. The trip I was on was $650.00 before the tip. ;D

Bill Terry
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Re: <()))>< Yellowstone Float

#20

Post by Bill Terry »

I spent the last 20 years of my career in and near Idaho Falls, Idaho, and my home river was the South Fork of the Snake. It is impossible to fish that river effectively without a boat. It is deep, fast, and powerful. In general, you can't wade along the banks. But there are many mid-stream gravel bars where one can park a boat and get out to wade fish. I bought a used Don Hill wood drift boat ca. 1990 for $1500 including the trailer, and I fished the South Fork and many other rivers in Idaho and Montana out of that boat. I also developed a bunch of fishing partners who knew how to row, and the boat allowed us to pound the banks as we floated along. I also bought a whitewater raft for rivers with more aggressive rocks. And when the transom rotted out of my Don HIll, I bought another wood drift boat to use as I slowly replaced the transom.

Personally, I find rowing a drift boat or raft to be fun, although I never developed the confidence to tackle more than the easiest Class III rapids. In Idaho and Montana, you can get out of the boat to wade where the river runs through private property, so you can get to water in a boat that you can't get to by walking. (I'm not sure whether that has changed in Montana since last year's legal mess.)

After I retired and moved to Colorado, I didn't use the boats or raft, so I sold them. For one thing, floatable rivers here have some rather difficult rapids, and for another, here you can't get out of the boat in private sections--the landowner owns the river bottom, as in Wyoming also. Most public sections of river can be reached from roads or trails, so the boat is no real advantage.

Finally, to my taste the three most beautiful watercraft are a wood McKenzie River drift boat, a cedar-strip canoe, and any kind of sailing vessel. I loved my boats, and if future circumstances make owning one practical, I'll buy another wood drift boat--maybe a kit to build it myself.
Ad piscatoribus sunt omnes res secundi.

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