Hello,
Our club is planning a fishing trip late this summer to fish the Tongue river in Wyoming. Does anyone have any recommendations on where to stay or general fishing locations?
Thanks much.
Hello,
Our club is planning a fishing trip late this summer to fish the Tongue river in Wyoming. Does anyone have any recommendations on where to stay or general fishing locations?
Thanks much.
Gosh, HS ... I don't think there are any fish in the Tongue River. No point in going there!
If you're really set on going there, check out the Bear Lodge Resort, in Burgess Junction. Don't let the "Resort" part of the name throw you. It's pretty "rustic". The rooms are clean, there's a super restaurant, and it's convenient to the waters. The same people who own the Bear Lodge also own the Arrowhead Lodge and the Elk View Lodge. We've not stayed in either of them, but they are a bit newer, still close to the waters, and have restaurants in them. We always stay in the Bear Lodge, and have for years! The whole area is a throw back to early frontier days! I love it!!!! Get Ken Retlacs book, Fly Fishing Wyoming. It's all in there.
Watch out for moose.
Our experience fishing there has been on the North Fork of the Tongue (cutthroats) and the South Fork of the Tongue (brookies). Both have fairly easy access. The Tongue River, itself, is much harder to access.
Last edited by Betty Hiner; 02-09-2010 at 12:52 PM.
Trouts don't live in ugly places.
A friend is not who knows you the longest, but the one who came and never left your side.
Don't look back, we ain't goin' that way.
The Tongue near Burgess Junction hold nice (12" or so) Cutts that are beautifully colored. Easy access to the river at several place through the valley.
We stayed at Bear Lodge. It seems there was a wedding reception there that night and our room had earlier been assigned to a member of the wedding party (he got moved to another room where they had the others in the group close by)....He was drunk but still had a key to our room. About 1-2 in the morning I hear a key in the door just before it opened. I shouted "HEY". The drunken reply was "what do you mean "hey". I said "I have a gun" (the gun was actually in the car but it sounded good). The door closed and he left.
The only lodge employee awake was the bar tender. I went to the bar and told him "the next person that opens that door will be shot". After retrieving the .357 from the car I went back to the room where my wife was horrified. I slid the couch against the door and spent the rest of the night wide awake.
The events of that night trickled down somehow to the manager who gave us our money back and fed us breakfast.
Last edited by Jerry; 02-09-2010 at 01:31 PM.
Hello Betty,
Would you recommend another area to fish other than the tongue?
We are going out to fish the Bighorn and wanted to try something new. We were told that the fishing on the Tongue is really good and it is in close proximity to Ft. Smith. If there is some place that is better, by all means let me know. ......your advice is greatly appreciated.
Regards, Joe
Gosh, HS ... I don't think there are any fish in the Tongue River. No point in going there!
If you're really set on going there, check out the Bear Lodge Resort, in Burgess Junction. Don't let the "Resort" part of the name throw you. It's pretty "rustic". The rooms are clean, there's a super restaurant, and it's convenient to the waters. The same people who own the Bear Lodge also own the Arrowhead Lodge and the Elk View Lodge. We've not stayed in either of them, but they are a bit newer, still close to the waters, and have restaurants in them. We always stay in the Bear Lodge, and have for years! The whole area is a throw back to early frontier days! I love it!!!! Get Ken Retlacs book, Fly Fishing Wyoming. It's all in there.
Watch out for moose.
Our experience fishing there has been on the North Fork of the Tongue (cutthroats) and the South Fork of the Tongue (brookies). Both have fairly easy access. The Tongue River, itself, is much harder to access.[/QUOTE]
.... HickoryShad, and welcome to the Bulletin Board from the Bitterroot Valley MT.
You are ONE LUCKY DUDE. Your first post gets a first reponse from Betty. About one of her favorite places.
Hope you enjoy your stay here, and your trip to the Big Horn and stops along the way.
John
The fish are always right.
Ummm ... HS?? One thing people will tell you about me on here ... I'm protective of my fishing grounds!! BUT ... I also lie about them! Shush! Don't tell any one else ... there are INCREDIBLE fish in the Tongue!! INCREDIBLE!!!! Drive down the highway, pull off, hike across a field, and WHAMM! Waters and trouts!! The North and South Forks of the Tongue are easily accessible, to some of the prettiest fish you could ever hope to meet.
This is from the South Fork.
This is from the North Fork.
Follow this Momma and calf, over the fence, and across the field to the waters of the North Fork.
You'll get used to me. Not to worry!!
Trouts don't live in ugly places.
A friend is not who knows you the longest, but the one who came and never left your side.
Don't look back, we ain't goin' that way.
Thanks for the details and the pics.......that was a great post.
I am really getting anxious now.....
Hey there HS, One of the REALLY good things about the Tongue and it's surrounds is that the area is as good/nice as the fishing. While I've never stayed at Burgess Junction, Bear Lodge ( stopped for a few beers at the bar many times), I have fished the North and South forks of the Tongue with GREAT results. It's as Betty described and pretty accessible from the road with a short hike.
I usually stop and fish there a few hours only because I'm in a hurry to get to Cody and fish my more favorite spots on the North and South forks of the Shoshone River above and below the Buffalo Bill Reservoir. If you can stand and cast through gale winds ( constant ), the Shoshone will show you some beautiful trout.
In any case, you can't miss having a successful fishing trip in that part ( or ANY part) of Wyoming, it truly is "Like No Place On Earth".
Mark
Well... when I first fished the Tongue area, it was wonderful.
I'm not kidding around, sorry to say, but last summer, we said what might be good-bye. It was crowded and miserable, too many anglers, not all of them polite. Who knows why? Too much publicity. A couple local fly shops even putting out maps with circles and arrows, and bumper stickers. Word of mouth. So it goes. I fished it for years, so I certainly believe other anglers should have that option, too.
I guess I'm just saying this:
You won't have any trouble finding the spots to fish there; you might want to time your visit carefully if crowds bother you.
We usually camp in the National Forest, but the meals at the lodge have been fine
Kat
I gotta stop reading this post.....makin' me homesick.
Vic