In-country (national) bucket list destinations

Triploidjunkie

Triploidjunkie

Life of the Party
My two biggest passions in life are fly fishing and snowboarding, in that order. Researching some stuff, I think I found my perfect itinerary. It would take a solid two weeks to do it right.
Drive halfway, and stay in Bend for a couple days. Check out the local vibe and shred Mt. Bachelor for a couple days. Stay an extra day if fishing is possible.
Drive the second leg to Reno. Stay in one of the five-star hotels for cheap. They offer pretty good deals expecting you to gamble. You're within striking distance of of both Tahoe and it's legendary powder, and Pyramid lake and the Truckee....
 
snowboarder since the mid 80's. the Tahoe Basin my go to, Kirkwood my fave for the steep and deep. Whole lotta terrain available betwen Squaw Valley and Alpine. If puking snow and the avy warnings are out, head over to Homewood on the West Shore, fun little resort that fies under the radar.
If ypu decide to check out Kirkwood either rent a condo at the resort or a cabin at Sorensons 25 mins away, which has a great little restaurant, their beef stew is killer.
Wife (skier) and I chased pow throughout the west for several decades, and our favorite were runs to Nelson, B.C., a great small town hang, to score bluebird days at Whitewater, snow days at Red Mountain, off days soak at Ainsworth Hot Springs. Doesn't get much better...
 
SurfnFish said:
snowboarder since the mid 80's. the Tahoe Basin my go to, Kirkwood my fave for the steep and deep. Whole lotta terrain available betwen Squaw Valley and Alpine. If puking snow and the avy warnings are out, head over to Homewood on the West Shore, fun little resort that fies under the radar.
If ypu decide to check out Kirkwood either rent a condo at the resort or a cabin at Sorensons 25 mins away, which has a great little restaurant, their beef stew is killer.
Wife (skier) and I chased pow throughout the west for several decades, and our favorite were runs to Nelson, B.C., a great small town hang, to score bluebird days at Whitewater, snow days at Red Mountain, off days soak at Ainsworth Hot Springs. Doesn't get much better...
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Lived in South Lake for years, specifically Meyers. This is all true :)
 
*Middle Fork Salmon
*Louisiana redfish in Fall
*Stripers, blues and whatever else can be found off the Outer Banks when they’re runnin’
 
Triploidjunkie said:
My two biggest passions in life are fly fishing and snowboarding, in that order. Researching some stuff, I think I found my perfect itinerary. It would take a solid two weeks to do it right.
Drive halfway, and stay in Bend for a couple days. Check out the local vibe and shred Mt. Bachelor for a couple days. Stay an extra day if fishing is possible.
Drive the second leg to Reno. Stay in one of the five-star hotels for cheap. They offer pretty good deals expecting you to gamble. You're within striking distance of of both Tahoe and it's legendary powder, and Pyramid lake and the Truckee....
Click to expand...

Another option for you might be Colorado. I am not a skier/snowboarder but used to get stuck in their traffic going up into the mountains for some great tailwater fishing in winter. I would think mid March would be a great time to visit.
 
While I have caught my share of redfish & speckled trout down in LA, I've never caught them on a fly...so in this new year, I need to go back down to Delacroix with my 8 wt...maybe a black drum as well...

I've never caught a walleye, so would like a shot at one on a fly rod as well...may have to ask Northern where to go...

And striped bass on a fly is also still on my list...didn't get it done the day I fished Montauk last July (plenty of bluefish)...I'd like another shot at it...
 
I've fished most places that I want to, but would still like to fish the Smith in MT if I can ever draw a permit. I think I'd like to try some parts of the Blackfoot and fish the Missouri a few more times. I'm still contemplating hiking and fishing for golden trout in the CA Sierras. I fished the Green in Utah once and sure wouldn't mind fishing there again. There must be others . . .
 
Salmo_g said:
I've fished most places that I want to, but would still like to fish the Smith in MT if I can ever draw a permit. I think I'd like to try some parts of the Blackfoot and fish the Missouri a few more times. I'm still contemplating hiking and fishing for golden trout in the CA Sierras. I fished the Green in Utah once and sure wouldn't mind fishing there again. There must be others . . .
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I could get behind this list.
 
In the mid 1990s my wife and I bushwacked our way into Shoepack Lake in Vougeurs National Park to fish for the Shoepack strain of Musky. Using a NPS canoe stashed at the Little Shoepack campsite we portaged our way to Shoepack and got in about 3 hours of non-stop musky catching for this unique strain. A day to remember. I’d love to do it again.

www.outdoorsfirst.com

Try Shoepack Lake for a different kind of muskie | MuskieFIRST

Try Shoepack Lake for a different kind of muskie “Am I hooked up?” I ask Joe Shead as my retrieve angles in awkwardly. It’s a strange question to ask while muskie fishing. During a typical muskie…
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Brute said:
While I have caught my share of redfish & speckled trout down in LA, I've never caught them on a fly...so in this new year, I need to go back down to Delacroix with my 8 wt...maybe a black drum as well...

I've never caught a walleye, so would like a shot at one on a fly rod as well...may have to ask Northern where to go...

And striped bass on a fly is also still on my list...didn't get it done the day I fished Montauk last July (plenty of bluefish)...I'd like another shot at it...
Click to expand...
I've caught many walleye and stripers on the fly rod!
 
Surprised as hell that nobody has yet mentioned the holy grail, tarpon. But here is a must do list for US based travel.

Florida Keys - Tarpon (and bones and permit but tarpon has to be #1 for travel destination in the US for serious fly rodders)

NE - Stripers and Albies (and Bluefin tuna if you are crazy)

Louisiana - redfish and black drum (and sheepshead if you are batshit crazy)

Great Lakes - Steelhead, browns, and salmon

Nevada - Pyramid Lake

ID/MT - Henry's Fork, Madison, Yellowstone, Missouri Rivers, Hebgen and Henry's Lakes. And you could sub in a bunch of rivers and lakes here instead. Except gulpers on Hebgen.....that's a must do.
 
I grew up on a tidewater tributary to Chesapeake Bay. Standing in the same spot one could catch stripers (we called ‘em rockfish there), chain pickerel, pumpkinseed, yellow perch, white perch, bluefish-all on flies at certain times of the year. Channel cats, norfolk spot, weakfish and hardheads on bait. I got the trout bug pretty young and in hindsight took the potpourri for granted. Hopefully the Chesapeake makes in onto some of your agendas!
 
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