Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Yellowstone Planning

My obsession with finding out everything that is Yellowstone National Park began a few weeks ago. I can map out most of the park in my head and I've memorized most of the popular streams. I'm looking forward to the wildlife and my kids experiencing Yellowstone for the first time. I went once when I was 15 and it is still one of my fondest memories. I didn't fish at all when I visited last and I won't make that mistake again. I've contacted several fishing outfitters in the are and even have a nice back and forth with the guide from EastGateAnglers. Youtube videos are my new vice and I can't seem to get enough of watching different Yellowstone fishing videos. This one in particular is disgustingly good.
The main issue I have is I don't know how much fishing I'll get to do. The plan is for the family to cruise into Yellowstone spend two days camping in the park then commute back and forth from Cody, WY after that. Most of my fishing opportunities will be based on what's available as we're exploring. I'm excited about this but I'm sure I'll miss out on some prime fishing and I can live with that. At least I think I can as of today. When I started my research the amount of fishing you can do in Yellowstone overwhelmed me. It still kind of does. There is so much fishable water you could probably spend a month in this park and fish a different creek each day and not fish half of what's available. My fly boxes are over flowing and I'm prepared for any situation. Reading the regulations I found it interesting how much emphasis there is on killing non-native species in certain areas of the park. They really don't want you letting anything go that isn't a cutthroat. The lengths are pretty drastic even so much as taking non-cuttthroat fish and throwing them away in the trash at the trail entrance. The fall back is if you don't know what the fish is let it go and I'm sure many anglers use that excuse to release whatever they catch. It's going to be hard having a mindset that anything I catch that isn't a cutthroat I'm going to destroy when I have fished thinking the opposite for so long.

As I have gotten older I've definitely become a lot more paranoid. I worry about the worst that can happy a lot more than I used to. My new concerns are buffalo running into our car or a random bear encounter. From what I've researched both are fairly rare and can be avoided. I have never seen a bear in the wild which I've always found strange with how much time I've spent outdoors. I've been in locations where they were prevalent but never seen them. I'm hoping to see my first in Yellowstone but at a distance. I'll worry about what I can control for now. We hit the park later this month.

If there's anyone that's thinking about going to Yellowstone or just curious about planning I've found these sites to be great for information.

2 comments:

  1. I am trying so hard to get the wife into planning a trip for us to WY or UT. and maybe some fishing too.

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    1. You can't lose with either place. I've fished the Provo and Weber in UT. Both are awesome and worth visiting. If you can swing staying in Park City that is the way to go in my opinion. It's pricey but a great location. Another good option is Heber City but you mainly only have really good access to the Provo from that location.

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