A friend and myself are looking for a guide trip on a western river. We both live in Baltimore, so we would be flying out. The initial trip we were interested in was a fully outfitted 1 week float trip down the Snake in Idaho. This would be our ideal trip but the price tag was a little high.
We do not need a fully outfitted trip since we both have plenty of camping equipment and experience in the outdoors. We would really like to do a float trip though. I’m looking for suggestions as to which guide services I may want to contact. If you have any suggestions for a different trip, I would be interested in hearing them as well.
We are both fairly new to fly fishing but thought a trip like this would be not only fun, but a tremendous learning experience.
Zach,
It sounds like your an experienced Camper and that’s good! You can save money on Lodging. My opinion is you need a GOOD BASE of operations. In my opinion, SCRAP the river floating. WHY?? Save that for some other time! You should FOCUS on fishing / wading and testing out as many waters as you can. Zach, there is so much beauty out here that floating a river isn’t remotely important. If I was you! I would find a base of operations and look at a map and try as many rivers as possible and for a BONUS, your going to see some amazing scenery!
Doug
Zach,
So you thought a fully outfitted week long float on the South Fork could be done on the CHEAP???. For good reason, the Rockerfellers own the Swan Valley part of the Snake ( both sides) from the Wyo border to Idaho Falls. Even at HALF price it’s way beyond what is “reasonable” for the average “Joe” (you should pardon the choice of names). There are SOOOOO many places you’d do a lot better on the pocketbook and still experience “the West”. For example, about 50 miles North there’s Jackson ( Hole, to the tourists) .You would be in a great spot for fishing and if you shop around, this time of year you can get luxurious accommodations at a 75% discount ( PM me for specifics).Grand Teton and Y’Stone National Parks ,the Snake,Flat Creek, Gros Ventre, Bufaflo Creek, Lewis River, Lamar River,Firehole,Pacific Creek and on and on and on are just a few miles up the road. I will be up there from Sept 23 thru Oct 14 and if you’re downstream from me, the froth ?, it’s me a bit upstream. ( froth from beating the water and nothin else) All “stuff” aside though, this area is SOOO centrally located, it cannot be beat ( by much).
Don’t forget the Hoback and Green Rivers and all of those great lakes along the Wind River Range. There are even Arctic Grayling in some of them…Regards.
don’t listen to those Guys, if there was any fish in SW Alberta 8) I would suggest try that area, the CROWSNEST and OLDMAN, and a host of others are great. BUT they are shutting down for the year (somewhat) parts are open all year.
There is over five hundred miles of fishing waters in that area and it is beautiful.
BUT LIKE I SAID NO FISH
It is not like when you want to come hunting and have all the probs with guns across the border, I have met anglers from Germany, Denmark, USA, and ENGLAND etc there and they have great success except for the Danes they could not let go of the dry flys even after I nailed a big Bull trout on a bunny leach in the pool they just trodden through 8) :lol:
But like I said no fish in SW ab
BTW check out my fishing report for some simulated fish in SW AB.
I guess I should have been a bit more specific about a few things… We will be going next summer. Having a base for operations is definately a consideration, but we would like some kind of guide experience for a few days to help us get into fish and see what works where.
Been to Jackson, it’s beautiful and a great idea. Any suggestions for a guide out there?
SW Alberta… Where to fly into? And is everything spread out up there?
Who is benjoman? Searched the site and turned up nothing…
Is there any locale that may have cheaper float trips? Or some kind of other “side adventure” to accompany our fishing?
I agree, hiring guides for a couple of days is well worth the money to learn the local waters and ways.
May I suggest the “Fly Fishing Capital of the World” West Yellowstone as a base of operations. There is an incredible number of fishing options within a short drive and the wonders of the park as a diversion. Having until next summer to do research should allow you to get a good deal on lodging and guide service. You could sample the Madison, Gallatin, Yellowstone, Henry’s Fork, Hebgen lake, plus all the other waters in the park, all within a couple of hours drive. Ive lost track of the number of Fly Shops in West but there are several plus many independent guides in the area.
While the camping sounds like a money saver, transporting all the necessary gear out west by air could be expensive also. Lodging the area covers the full range. Just pick what you want in the level of luxury or lack thereof and you should find something that suits you without much trouble.
Those trips are priced considering that there is going to be someone rowing a gear boat and setting up tents and probably someone doing the cooking and all that stuff too. Maybe if you consider how much it will cost you if you rent a car, get a hotel, buy all your meals, pay for a bunch of guide days and other things you can justify just getting here and have someone else do all the work on one of those trips. I don’t know. I don’t post on this board looking for business and honestly, where I’m at is more geared for a string of one day trips on different rivers, maybe an overnight, but not a week long float. There are a lot of logistics involved with such a trip, lots of food, keeping it cold, lots of planning. The price reflects that.
Some cool multi-day trout trips to Google:
Smith River, MT
South Fork Flathead, MT
Middle Fork Salmon, ID
Why these ones are better than the Snake is that they are surrounded by wilderness and the only way to get to them is by multi-day floating. There are boat launches all over the Snake, and one section to do an overnight. The places I suggest are much better for beginners because there a lots of willing fish that do get big, but average smaller. The Snake has bigger sometimes difficult fish that are less numerous. Just something to think about as someone who is a little new to the sport. If this kind of thing just isn’t in the budget, come out west somewhere, get a guide for a day or two, learn as much as you can and drive your rental car around to the places your guide told you are good to fish on foot. Camp out at public campgrounds (which are everywhere) and fish wherever looks good.
I’d suggest you hold off booking guides and trips until you can be a bit more assured of what conditions are going to be like. Some areas in the West are experiencing severe droughts. Will you be going when the run-off is heavy. On the South Fork right now, the water is very murky, due to heavy draw-downs of the water in Palisades Reservoir. Just of a few of many variables you want to consider before locking in. Gather up all of the websites you can and put them into favorites files. Then, ask questions on the board here about specific things that look good to you, as the time for deciding draws closer. I’d start here http://www.jimmysflyshop.com/ for information on conditions around the two forks of the Snake river, in Idaho. They can help you out with guides as well. Good luck with sifting through the mountain of choices you’ll have.
Zach,
Quoting you from your post, “A Tremendous Learning Experience.” Your new to fly fishing, so if you fly out here, I would spend as many days with a Guide as you can afford. That way in the future, if you fly out here again, you will have substantial experience from your previous trip to build on. I changed my opinion about you guys coming out here and fishing multiple streams. Focus on a couple of rivers and learn about fishing those streams. Your just beginning fly fishing and you have years to go, so try to get the most out of any trip.
I would of course advise you to hire a Guide where you live also.
Doug
Fly into Calgary AB or Lethbridge, some what spread out and there is TONS of things to do… here…
If you are stuck on a float trip do the Bow river, but if walk and wade is more your style then we can do it next summer on any of the 500MILES of trout rivers in SW AB.
I may not be your man to guide you, I tend to me a very competitive, and or secretive fisher, but I have mellowed some in the past few years…
How ever if you can keep a secret and don’t mind fishing from dawn to dusk for how ever long your trip is then give me a call…(PM)
If you’ve never been out west and are able/willing to hike and camp in the backcountry, the Greater Yellowstone area can’t be beat. Granted, there are lots of tourists around, but the only places you see a lot of people are along the road and at the First Meadow of Slough Creek. That’s assuming you want to walk. You can’t float in the park and there are plenty of dudes around on the floatable stretches of the Yellowstone, Madison, and Snake.
We don’t do overnights ourselves, alas, though if you wanted to hire a horsepacker to take you somewhere and us to guide you, we could do that.
If you wanted to go on your own, here are some possibilities that should combine a high degree of solitude and good fishing:
—Through hike of the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone. Pros: remote, lots of campsites, easy three day fishing/hiking trip. Cons: can get horribly muddy, hot hike
—Out and back up the Lamar. Pros: beautiful, good hatches. Cons: can get muddy, smaller fish the farther you go.
—Out and back into Seven Mile Hole. Pros: doesn’t muddy up. Cons: not really a trip worth more than a night or two in the backcountry.
—Out and back up the Snake. Pros: remote. Cons: somewhat smaller fish most of the time.
—Out and back into the Bechler. Pros: big, spooky rainbows. Cons: mosquitoes the size of small prop planes until early August.
—Out and back up Slough. Pros: It’s Slough Creek. Cons: It’s Slough Creek.
You can check my website for a Yellowstone-area Trip Planner. www.parksflyshop.com E-mail me with any questions if you get to thinking about going this route.
Thanks, that should help him out too. Would you believe I have an original ‘Sofa Pillow’ and watched her tie it? Long time ago, for sure. Mrs. Pat Barns. And, used to frequent your shop then as well.
All “stuff” aside though, this area is SOOO centrally located, it cannot be beat ( by much).