The last road trip

iveofione

iveofione

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My friend East Side Scott and I are planning a fall trip to the Henry's Lake/Highway 20 area near West Yellowstone. Neither of us have been there before and with a combined age of almost 160 years we probably won't get another chance. The current (and early) plan is to take 2 vehicles, one with a travel trailer and the other just my truck, aka Ive's Crusin' Casa. We will be doing research for the next few months to figure out where to stay, where to camp, where to fish, which guides to use and need help with any of the above and more. The time frame will probably be between Sept 15 and October 15. If you have been there before and have suggestions and advice we could certainly use it.

This is our last hurrah as far as road trips go and we don't intend to cheap out but both still enjoy primitive campsites adjacent to good fishing. Do you have any suggestions for the Geezer Tour? We would love to hear them. Thanks, Ive
 
Weather being the ultimate variable, I highly recommend considering staying in one of the cabins at Harriman.
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Stayed in the Ranch Managers Home and my father at 72 was able to enter and exit the water at multiple locations on the ranch.
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Railroad Ranch
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I have no clue of the intended route however I will leave a few suggestions below.

Craters Of The Moon
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Silver Creek
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Little Wood
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Redfish Lake
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Safe Travels Road Kings!
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Last Chance Bar and Grill for drinks and dinner at least once I would guess, Henry's Fork Lodge for dinner once if you want something a bit more refined.
Lots of camping around there, from private campgrounds on the river by Last Chance to BLM sites. Henry's Lake BLM Dispersed Area is nice too if you fish the lake for a couple days.
Great area to be around in September for sure.
Have fun...used to go out that way every Fall back in the late 80's and 90's.
 
I fished Henry's Lake the past two falls with @Paul_ and his friends and will again this year (10/2 to 10/5). The first year we stayed at the Drift Lodge & Fly Shop in Island Park. Last year we stayed at a VRBO that was closer to the lake and this year we will be staying at Jared's Wild Rose Resort Ranch. The VRBO that we wanted to rent only allowed one boat trailer to be parked on the property. The Resort has boats for rent and moorage. Henry's Lake can be fished from a float tube or pontoon or kayak, but it can get super windy and the water can get pretty rough at times. We have not used guides, but the Drift Lodge & Fly Shop has them. Last year we had one day of high winds and lots of rain and it snowed the last night we were there. Temps can range from the 20s to 40s in the morning and in the afternoon the low 50s to mid 60s. I fished using an intermediate sinking line, but I would suggest either a type III full sink or type VI sink tip line, which is what I will be using this year. We were not fishing in very deep water (I would say 13 feet or less). There are brook trout, Yellowstone cutthroat trout and Yellowstone cutthroat trout x rainbow trout hybrids. Five or 6 wt outfits should do the trick. If you are fishing Henry's Lake when we are there, you are welcome to tag along or be included in our on water communications to know where the fish are or aren't.
 
At 6000+ feet, be ready for early winter conditions, even in mid-September. I’ve stayed at the places mentioned by @Bruce Baker ; they did the job and I would go back.
 
Great water all around there so don't spend it all at Henry's but you certainly can. I have not fished it in years but for a good number of years it was my go to father's day week trip staying at staley springs on the lake. I have a killer canadian mohair leach fly pattern those fish love if you like to strip flys from a float tube? Some guys use it on the very slow troll but I was never motorized on the lake only fin power so I stripped flys. PM me if you are interested in that and I can send a couple out to you that you can copy and tie up.
 
Might try contacting Nelson Ishiyama at:

Your Hosts — Henry's Fork Lodge

Like a family is how you could describe us at Henry's Fork Lodge. Nelson Ishiyama, the owner of Henry’s Fork Lodge, and Amelie Kappes, who has worked alongside Nelson for nearly 20 years, are the heart and soul of the lodge.
www.henrysforklodge.com www.henrysforklodge.com
He's been helpful me in the past.
 
If you are looking to camp, the USFS Warm River CG is very civilized for a Forest Service CG. Mowed lawns and plumbed toilets and right on the Warm river, which can provide some pleasant fishing that may include some big browns migrating up it to spawn in the fall. It's a 20-30 minute drive at most to Island Park. There's also the Warm River cabin available by reservation from the USFS through Recreation.gov. It's popular during the summer, but may be easy to get dates that time of year. It is located at the site of an old fish hatchery where the Warm River rises from a spring.
 
What a great notion for a trip, Ive!

As far as camping goes, I concur with Rich Olmstead on Warm River, also a wonderful stream to fish and explore

I stayed at Riverside CG, a big USFS campground on Hwy 20. Off the road a bit, and it's on the River, standard USFS hosted CG so table and access to an outhouse is there. I was quite comfortable, the sites aren't too close together. It's not too far to Railroad Ranch and Harriman St. Park, which I couldn't fish because of the prohibition on dogs, and it's also not to far to Island Park, home of several quite familiar fly shops with guides and such. Note: From the southernmost fly shop in Island park downstream is pretty much all public land, you can access the river there and fish until your heart aches. When I was there folks generally entered into the river at the fly shop and swung wets or drifted flies cross current in the knee deep water all the way to the rest area, fishing it kinda like a steelhead stream. I of course inadvertently low holed an angler, who was kind enough to not complain, educate me on the system, and accept a couple of cold beers in the shade as compensation.

Lots of good food there. And decent fishy bars, probably mostly locals and guides that time of year.

As far as other places, for fly fishing in still or moving water, this area is Valhalla, and folks with money know it. Lots of no trespassing signs on some of the private water.

Other places on the way, hells bells you know: the whole Big Hole/Jeff drainage, the Ruby, the Madison in Ennis (the browns spawn in the river this time of year, float downstream from Ennis in the Canyon for a short, perhaps epic float) Hebgen Lake, yadda yadda yadda.

Enjoy this trip. You saved the best for last. 2020-08-02 11.06.04.jpg2020-08-02 12.01.50.jpg
 
Some great information here, I can't thank you guys enough. The information on creeks or small streams is particularly important as I like fishing smaller water rather than big rivers. Any more suggestions on skinny water north of Ashton? I assume some days will just be too windy to be on a lake and streams will be a better opportunity.
 
If you go the Craters of the Moon route....The Big Lost river can be a blast, might be a mite too far west for you Ive but it has a good mix of tiny stream above the dam and below the dam some outstanding fishing....
 
You can try the Henry's Fork @ Ora Bridge...
Not exactly small and certainly not a secret, but can be decent fishing and somewhat protected from wind at times.
I like it early in the season, but fishes decent again in the Fall.
 
Another question: We will be driving from Spokane, a distance of about 460 miles and over 7 hours. I won't do that in one day and will need to overnite somewhere between Missoula and Deer Lodge along I-90. Any favorite spots to camp overnite and hopefully be fresh the next day? Having been retired for 24 years now I know better than to hurry....
 
iveofione said:
Another question: We will be driving from Spokane, a distance of about 460 miles and over 7 hours. I won't do that in one day and will need to overnite somewhere between Missoula and Deer Lodge along I-90. Any favorite spots to camp overnite and hopefully be fresh the next day? Having been retired for 24 years now I know better than to hurry....
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Sloway CG just east of St Regis is nice. It’s a Lolo NF CG on the Clark Fork. There are others east of Superior of which I can’t think of the names nor have I stayed at but some looked nice from my memory of floating the CF. There can be good wade fishing on the CF and seemingly nobody does it.
 
iveofione said:
My friend East Side Scott and I are planning a fall trip to the Henry's Lake/Highway 20 area near West Yellowstone. Neither of us have been there before and with a combined age of almost 160 years we probably won't get another chance. The current (and early) plan is to take 2 vehicles, one with a travel trailer and the other just my truck, aka Ive's Crusin' Casa. We will be doing research for the next few months to figure out where to stay, where to camp, where to fish, which guides to use and need help with any of the above and more. The time frame will probably be between Sept 15 and October 15. If you have been there before and have suggestions and advice we could certainly use it.

This is our last hurrah as far as road trips go and we don't intend to cheap out but both still enjoy primitive campsites adjacent to good fishing. Do you have any suggestions for the Geezer Tour? We would love to hear them. Thanks, Ive
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Enjoy and I hope it is not your last!!!!
 
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