Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Yellowstone Lake Fishing Expedition.


Yellowstone National Park Road Trip

 

Summary

Once a year my brother Mark and I pick a location to do an “epic” backcountry adventure. The last couple of years we have headed from Roseville California to the Bridger Teton Wilderness area. From a trailhead in Bridger we would start our 30 mile hike to the southern border of Yellowstone, base camp at Bridger Lake and then hike from there fishing the Yellowstone River for Cutthroat Trout. The experience and fishing have been phenomenal.

This year, 2013, I purchased a Big Tuna from Headwaters Kayak and started thinking about kayaking and fishing across the Yellowstone Lake, dropping our kayaks and then heading into the backcountry to fish the portions of the Yellowstone River that we have not yet gotten to. I brought this idea up to Mark and we thought this might be a new and exciting trip, something that we haven’t done before.

The problem was that most places only rent kayaks for the weekend and what they rent isn’t something I would want to take across the Yellowstone Lake. I was still in the process of ordering my Big Tuna and talking with Dan on how best to set it up when I told him of our trip and asked if he would be willing to rent us a Cuda 14 for two weeks. I told Dan the specifics of our trip and he said “sure ill rent you a Cuda 14”, Dan sat back and thought about it for a bit and said he would do one better.

Dan (Headwaters Kayak) decided he would like to Sponsor our trip by lending us a Cuda 14, a Go Pro and a waterproof camera to help document our trip!!!!! How awesome is that????Huge thanks to Dan and Headwaters for helping us and being a part of a trip that we are very much looking forward to.

On July 26th we leave Roseville California heading to Yellowstone for what I hope to be an awesome kayaking, hiking and fishing trip. I will be documenting this trip via Go Pro, a camera and daily tracking via the Spot Device.

We will return to Roseville, on August 4th, 2013 and will share our pictures and video’s with Dan and the Headwater’s crew and other folks.

Yellowstone, here we come!
 


The Fishing
We have hiked into the southern part of Yellowstone a couple of years in a row. The hike takes us 30ish miles to get to a small backcountry lake (Bridger Lake). This spot is the most remote spot in the lower 48 states. We base camp there and then start hiking out and fishing the Yellowstone River which is about 20 miles from the lake itself. This year we are kayaking and fishing across the lake and then will hit the river and fish sections we have not yet been able to get to from hiking in from the southern border.
 
Fishing in Yellowstone National Park is different than the last trip because we were mostly in the Bridger Teton Wilderness area. Being in a wilderness area has fewer restrictions than being in a National Park.
 
For example:
You cannot fish in the national Park (Even though we will be deep in the backcountry) with ANY lead based products!!!  (One exception: Lead core line and lead weights greater that 4LBS )
 
So….
I have been on a mission to get the lead free gear I need to be able to fish both the river and the lake. Here is what I have found:
ACME fishing lures are all lead free – who wudda known…..They include
-       Spoons
o   KO Wobblers
o   Kamlooper
o   Little Cleo
o   Phoebe
o   Thunderbolt
o   And More
-       Kastmasters – not my favorite but hey they are not made out of lead
 
Rapala – Most of the divers are balsa wood and lead free
Eco – Makes Tungsten spinners
-        
Dave’s Tangle free steel weight
-       1oz, 2oz and 3oz Steel with a plastic covered weight
 
And of course, my fly fishing gear is lead free
 
And a variety of other spoons and gear that took me awhile to figure out that they were lead free!!!!! A lot of research and extra money to make sure I was lead free!!! Well, I did cheat a little. I am using a couple of dipsy divers as well.
 
 I will be using three different rigs for fishing on this trip
-       Trolling rig  with 10lb test
-       Ultra light 6’6’’ pole for light casting and river use
-       Fly pole with both sinking and floating line


Here is what I am after!!
 



The Big Tuna – or as my wife now calls it – “The Big Kahuna Tuna”

-       I will post an updated pic soon

 

This kayak is bad ass!!!!

 

-       Fish Finder - Went with a Lowrance 4 Elite

o   With Dan’s help we installed the fish finder (Dan took pics if you want to know how it was installed – came out very clean)

o   Battery – I went with a 10amp/hr batt and ran the cables to a black pak that I purchased from Dan

o   See how I installed the battery


 

-       Dan Installed a pulley anchor system

-       Dan Added Gear Tracks on the left and right side of the boat for a trolling mount and the mount for the fish finder

-       Yak Attack Black Pak – again, purchased from Dan


 

The Details

The drive is going to take us approximately 14hrs (881 Miles). We will start driving as early as possible on July the 25th and arrive sometime on July the 26th. When we arrive we have to stop at the ranger station, check in, get our boats inspected, get our boat permits, watch a safety video and get our fishing permits. We will launch out boats from Sedge Bay and start the kayaking portion of our trip sometime late afternoon on the 26th.

From Sedge Bay (5K4)

-       7/26/2013 Kayak and FISH!!!!!! to 5E9

-       7/27/2013 Kayak and Fish to 5E2

-       7/28/2013 Stay and Fish from the kayaks @ the southern arm 5E2

-       7/29/2013 Beach the kayaks and hike to 6C2 fishing the river along the way

-       7/30/2013 camp at 6D1 fishing all the way

-       7/31/2013 continue fishing the river and make our way back to either 6D1 or 6C2 – we are going to try and make is as far south as we can to fish the river and be able to make it back. We have made it as far as 6Y2 ish when we have hiked in from the south in prior years

-       8/1/2013 Make it back to our kayaks

-       8/2/2013 fishing along the way, make it to 5E9

-       8/3/2013 fish our back to the starting point.

-       Start driving whenever we get to the vehicle

 

Map(s)



 
 

 

Monday, July 15, 2013

Taking Someone out for their First Fish By Bio-Bil

I had a cousin visiting my wife and I last week and we needed something to do for a couple of hours while my wife went to Baby Gym. I asked her if she would like to go fishing and she said she would, so we loaded my Jackson Bid Tuna into the truck and headed to the Cosumnes, since I knew the bluegill were biting there from my Kilroy review.

Since I knew that flies would work and my accomplice had never been fly fishing, the deal we made was that I would hook the fish and she could land it. I really like using fly gear in this type of situation for beginners, because fly reels are very simple and intuitive to use. There is no need to worry about line twist or backlashes.

After about 20 minutes had gone by and no fish, I could tell I was starting to lose her. Luckily I spotted a bluegill in the water about 10 yards away and managed to get it to grab my fly.

We ended the trip after about 2 hours and six bluegill landed. Mission accomplished. She could not have been happier to catch her first fish.
Kirsten's first fish.

Best fish of the morning.