In-country (national) bucket list destinations

I would like to try the driftless/boundary waters in the midwest. Its not known as a particularly great fly fishing area, but just a water system I have heard about for many years. I lived in OH for 5 years in the early '80s and fished MI quite a bit, but never made it over to WI/ID/MN and I have always wanted to go

Another area I have wanted to try is the Thermopolis WY area including the nearby reservations. I have fished many places in the West, but never there
 
Bull redfish in Louisiana...
Tarpon somewhere in the Gulf...
Florida Keys/Everglades backcountry...
@Billy 's trip to bass heaven...
Black Canyon of the Gunnison...
Driftless....
Lots of great stuff around the Lower 48. Time to get busy!
 
Pyramid lake has garnered my recent attention. Not sure if I'll make it this year...
 
I'd really like to take a trip to San Diego and fly fish for bluefin. Yellowtail and mako would also be of interest. As someone who hates to fly, SD is appealing since it's an easy drive. One of the captains I work with in Westport is from the area and still owns a center console boat he keeps down there. One of these days I'm going to take him up on making a trip down there.
 
Mike Cline said:
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.

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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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I did the same thing a few years ago. Crossing a couple lakes and having the lake all to yourself is a great adventure. I need to go back sometime, the weather was terrible the first time and the fish weren't very active. Kabetogama is one one of my favorite places.

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kmudgn said:
I would like to try the driftless/boundary waters in the midwest. Its not known as a particularly great fly fishing area, but just a water system I have heard about for many years. I lived in OH for 5 years in the early '80s and fished MI quite a bit, but never made it over to WI/ID/MN and I have always wanted to go

Another area I have wanted to try is the Thermopolis WY area including the nearby reservations. I have fished many places in the West, but never there
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The Driftless is great fly-fishing for trout, mostly browns but also some native brookies in the healthiest streams. The average fish size will be smaller than Montana or Wyoming, but numbers can be really good and there is decent public access on a lot of streams.

Northern MN, including the BWCAW, can be great fly-fishing for smallmouth.
 
ifsteve said:
Great Lakes - Steelhead, browns, and salmon
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Only thing I might add is swinging a fly for lake trout in one of the largest Great Lake tributaries. Didn’t put in enough time my one winter in the are (the swing fishing for steelhead was too good to pass up).
 
Right at the top is Hayward, WI for muskies. SD salt would be a blast too (mako, bluefin, yellowtail, etc)
 
clarkman said:
Right at the top is Hayward, WI for muskies. SD salt would be a blast too (mako, bluefin, yellowtail, etc)
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If you plan a trip to Hayward, shoot me a PM. I lived in the area for a few years before moving out here a couple years ago and did some musky fishing on the rivers. I'm far from an expert, but have at least been on most of the rivers.

This was my first musky on a fly, caught southeast of Hayward from my buddy's drift boat. It wasn't big but was exciting.
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Chris Bellows said:
Only thing I might add is swinging a fly for lake trout in one of the largest Great Lake tributaries. Didn’t put in enough time my one winter in the are (the swing fishing for steelhead was too good to pass up).
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Chris, I should probably amend my post. I did catch several lakers on fly on two of my trips to the Great Lakes!
 
My "bucket list" in-country bucket list items are pretty basic and mostly achievable on a budget. Just takes some free time...

Golden trout in the high sierras, big bass in the south, trout in AK, grayling somewhere, and arctic char in Northern Canada (if that counts).

Wouldn't mind fishing some of the famous trout rivers (or small remote ones) in ID/MT either.
 
My in-country bucket list is essentially the same as my overall bucket list.
I'd like to spend a week or two fishing chubbies to cutthroats in ID/MT--preferably the smaller streams (i don't need hogs).

Another bucket list thats been in my head for a while is some sort of epic hike/pakraft/fishing trip like the Bob or something like this.
 
Hmmm... Dale Hallow, lake Chickamauga, Kentucky Lake, Pickwick lake, lake Shasta

Maybe float the Sauk one more time.
Maybe remote brook trout exploring in New England.. Maybe hook one big Tarpon in Florida.

Mostly I just want to keep fishing the Madison in July and steelheading once in a while..
 
Paul_ said:
I got this map for Christmas. It really shows I need to step up my in-country fishing destinations!
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It appears you are hot spotting one of my favorite South sound beaches. Please edit this post!

Kidding of course. What a cool gift!
 
Wind River Range. Jean Lakes, Titcomb Basin, Mistake, Elbow, Island. Don't wait until you get too old, I'll probably never get back. Scenery, rainbows, cuts, goldens.
 
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I’ve had the opportunity to live/fly fish in some cool places like New England, Montana, Idaho, Colorado and Washington. I’ve also been lucky enough to fish Alaska a number of times.

Oddly enough, two of my bucket list fish can be caught in areas I lived the longest. Stripers in New England and Steelhead in WA. I’d like to knock those off the list asap. Some others would be saltwater fish in the S.E. U.S. like tarpon, bonefish, snook and redfish.
 
jasmillo said:
I’ve had the opportunity to live/fly fish in some cool places like New England, Montana, Idaho, Colorado and Washington. I’ve also been lucky enough to fish Alaska a number of times.

Oddly enough, two of my bucket list fish can be caught in areas I lived the longest. Stripers in New England and Steelhead in WA. I’d like to knock those off the list asap. Some others would be saltwater fish in the S.E. U.S. like tarpon, bonefish, snook and redfish.
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Strikers in southern Oregon but the guys who know how to do it keep pretty quiet about it.
 
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