Looking For Long Distance Pontoon Trip Recommendations

[BH Spey]

My son is due to graduate from college in the spring and I was looking to plan a long distance pontooning trip/expedition as a graduation present for him that he and I would do together next summer. I'm looking for any recommendations on where we could go to do a four day fishing / three night (give or take a day) camping float. We have fairly limited pontooning experience with only about a dozen days floating the Bighorn, the longest trip being a 21 mile day in June when the flow was at 10,000 CFS, so I would like to try to keep it to class II rapids at the most. With our limited experience though we have had to deal with both a punctured tube and a broken oar lock all on a 13 mile float on the first day of our trip this past June.

I was thinking we could average 20 - 35 miles per day depending on the current and fishing and was hoping someone here would have some recommendations on where we could do something like this. I see the camping part I see as the most problematic with the varying trespass laws, then there is the logistics of how to get back to the car or get the car spotted to our destinations.

Any suggestions you could offer in terms of where to go or websites to check for information would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks in advance for your help!

Mark

[Lotech]

I posted this same information earlier today but it's worth repeating. Some great info on just such a trip can be found on our FAOL front page. Go to the bottom of the front page and click on the "Great Rivers" link or the "Home Waters" link. Lots of ideas there.

[BH Spey]

LJ,

Thanks for the tip, I must confess that in ALL the years I've been visiting this site I have never checked out those links before. There is a ton of information on some great rivers there!

I was hoping someone could help me focus my trip planning on a few select streams where the overnight camping would not be an issue.

Thanks again!

[Thunderthumbs]

BH,

I'm not sure if you'd be interested or not, but we are going to be having the Montana Fish-in in mid July in West Yellowstone. You'd be within easy driving distance of several great floatable rivers. With as many of us as there are I'm sure we'd be able to take care of the logistics of pick-up and so on, and you'd have a great base camp to get back to every night, not to mention some great company. Of course there isn't one of us who wouldn't understand if you just wanted some time alone with your son on the river. Just a thought.

TT.

[John Rhoades]

Mark -

It seems to me that doing even 20 miles a day is a long way to float on most any river if you want to do a reasonalbe amount of fishing and enjoy the float, intead of spending most of your time on the oars.

I have a medium sized cataraft and a drift boat and anything over 10-12 miles is a pretty long day float for me.

You didn't mention the size of your boats, but if you feel reasonalby proficient at the oars (and you have decent quality boats) you could consider a multiday float on the Yellowstone or perhaps the Madison in Montana. You could also arrange with a shuttle service, for example, to get around places (like Yankee Jim Canyon on the Yellowstone) that you wouldn't want to float through, or to get you or your gear to a camping area if needed for the night. The Missouri River below Holter Dam would be another place to consider, and would be easier rowing.

John

[Uncle Jesse]

Mark -It seems to me that doing even 20 miles a day is a long way to float on most any river if you want to do a reasonalbe amount of fishing and enjoy the float, intead of spending most of your time on the oars.

I have a medium sized cataraft and a drift boat and anything over 10-12 miles is a pretty long day float for me. John

Thanks for saying that John, I have never fished any of the western rivers but have float the Chattahoochee River numerous times. Fishing the entire time, I have spent 8 hours or more several times on 2 to 5 miles of river. Twenty miles seemed long to me and 35 miles sounded like constant rowing. If something go wrong there would be a long way between point where help would be available. I'm guessing cell phones are pretty much useless along many of the rivers. I would rather arrive at my campsite with time to spare than float down an unknow river in the dark. Mark is smart to ask ahead rather than having harrowing tales to tell later.

[BH Spey]

John Rhoades,

The 20 to 35 miles per day is soley dependent on the stream flows. I mentioned that range only because of our experience this past June on the Bighorn. My son and I did a 21 mile float on the last day of our trip leaving at about 9am and ending at about 5pm with an hour stop for lunch. Now at that time of the year the Bighorn was flowing at 10,000 CFS, about 4-5 times normal flow rates. With the water that high it pretty much wiped out all the normal spots we would stop and wade fish, so we simply drifted and fished the entire 21 miles. The only oar work involved was for stream position and angle of attack, otherwise it was a pretty relaxing drift trip.

The down side to the high water and fast current was that there was NO rowing back up stream to fish a section over again, and once you hooked a fish if you couldn't turn him and get him to follow you down stream you had no chance of landing it.

The trip I would like to plan with my son is certainly going to be dependent on the stream flow. I would plan on being on stream by 9am, breaking for lunch and stopping to set up camp at about 5pm. We would stop to fish where we could wade safely and the fish were biting, otherwise we would drift and fish at the flow of the river, ideally stopping to camp where and when we wanted rather than having to try to go from pre-defined campsite to campsite. So, depending on the river, we may only be able to go 25-30 miles in four days. I had only mentioned the 20-30 miles because of our experience on the Bighorn.

I hope that opens up the possibilities a little more.

Thanks for the comments guys!

Mark

[kglissmeyer]

BH,

I'm not sure if you'd be interested or not, but we are going to be having the Montana Fish-in in mid July in West Yellowstone. You'd be within easy driving distance of several great floatable rivers. With as many of us as there are I'm sure we'd be able to take care of the logistics of pick-up and so on, and you'd have a great base camp to get back to every night, not to mention some great company. Of course there isn't one of us who wouldn't understand if you just wanted some time alone with your son on the river. Just a thought.

TT.

The Montana trip will be in the heart of accessibility to several great rivers - the Madison, Henry's Fork, upper and lower, and South Fork of the Snake River, along with the Gallatin, etc., etc. Any one of these or a combo of several would meet your trip requirements. I also agree that you don't want to spend as much time at the oars on a 20-miler as opposed to several 5 or 10-mile trips. Fishing is really the desired end result. The South Fork of the Snake through the canyon stretch from Conant to Byington has several campsites you can reserve for a multi-day float through the canyon with plenty of fishing in between. The Box Canyon stretch of the Henry's Fork can be floated several times in a day if desired and provides spectacular scenery and fishing.

Kelly.

[Mato Kuwapi]

Black Canyon of the Gunnison (actually the lower canyon in the Gunnison Gorge Conservation area) ! Famous for it's beauty, big trout and their famous salmon fly hatch. Really check skill set requirements for that run. (It's labeled "experienced rafters") It's a 14 mile run with class II and III rapids. I don't know what you have to do to get a campsite or if you have to go with a river/fishing guide to have access. Personally...I would go with the guide so I don't have to worry about anything more than fishing. It's on my bucket list for sure. Best do your homework if your going to do something like this on your own. Black Canyon Anglers is a good place to start. There are others too...as well as the National Park Service and Conservation Authority.