Recommendations on Fishing the Tongue River in Wyoming

[HickoryShad]

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.

[Betty Hiner]

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.

[Jerry]

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.

[HickoryShad]

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]

[JohnScott]

.... 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

[Betty Hiner]

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!!

[HickoryShad]

Thanks for the details and the pics.......that was a great post.
I am really getting anxious now.....

[Kathy Scott]

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

[sharps]

I gotta stop reading this post.....makin' me homesick.

Vic

[HickoryShad]

Thank you all very much for sharing the information and recommendations. We tried to book our rooms at Bear Lodge this morning after reading the post and they were all booked but referred us to the Arrowhead. So we are good to go with lodging. I will send the owner of the lodge an email when we get a couple of months out. We are not going until the end of August. We are only staying there two days and then going to the Bighorn for three days and then over to Yellowstone for a few days.

Best regards and I look forward to getting to know all of you through the message board.