Hello All,
Successful first day! No troubles at the airport today and we are super happy with the group of campers. We had a super fun time meeting everyone for the first time. It is always fun watching first day jitters melt away as the kids get to know each other. Today was all about group bonding, we did some icebreakers, a bit of casting instruction - and competition-, and hit a fly shop. Tonight we will stay at the new LFFE Base Camp in Ennis, Montana, have a hearty dinner, play some games, enjoy the sunset, and rest up for a big day of travel and some fishing tomorrow.
Real quickly, we wanted to introduce ourselves (from left to right in the photo below):
Hi, I’m Andrew Notter! I recently graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles with a degree in biology. I intend to pursue a career as a fisheries biologist. I currently live in Lake Tahoe, California. I am extremely passionate about conservation, photography, and fly fishing. Lillard Fly Fishing Expeditions has supplied me with the perfect opportunity to pursue all three. This is my first summer with Lillard Fly Fishing, last summer I did research on steelhead in a remote field camp in Alaska. Fly fishing is what inspired my love for conservation and I look forward to building that same passion in the campers. I also played 4 years of collegiate soccer and led my team to the school’s first ever Sweet 16 appearance.
Hello, my name is Evan Frits, I am from Seattle, Washington and currently am a sophomore at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. I am studying mathematical economics with a minor in philosophy. When I’m not fishing, I love to play the banjo, snowboard, play basketball, and spend time outside camping and backpacking. I was a camper at Lillard for four years and this will be my second year guiding. Lillard has been a huge part of my summers and my life since I was thirteen and the experiences that I had continue to shape me as a person. My experiences at Lillard advanced and facilitated my love for fishing and the outdoors which I continue to pursue every day. I am so excited to have the opportunity to help others create amazing memories just like I have. For this trip, I am most looking forward to fishing in Yellowstone National Park. It's an incredibly beautiful area and I feel lucky every time I get the opportunity to fish and explore inside the park.
Hi I’m Joe Shippen from Atlanta, Georgia! I am a rising sophomore at Elon University studying finance while being a Cadet for my ROTC program and will commission as an officer in the US Army following my graduation in 2028. I have always been into fly fishing and the outdoors as my father always took me out growing up. This is my fifth year with Lillard and my second year guiding. I went on 3 Lillard trips as a camper and learned and grew from those trips so much. My experience and knowledge from my time as a camper has carried me far in my professional and personal life. I always love to help campers learn new skills, make new friends, and create awesome memories for life. I’m really into conservation and wildlife, so I hope I can get some campers interested too! I am super stoked on the opportunities we will have at some awesome fish and cool spots during our trip. I have also recently gotten certified as a Wilderness First Responder. I’m looking forward to an epic summer!
Tomorrow we’ll enter Yellowstone National Park for the first time and spend the day fishing some incredible water near the Madison campground such as the Firehole, the Gibbon, Grebe Lake, or the Madison river. All incredible bodies of water in beautiful areas that, as a bonus, happen to be chock full of trout. It's sure to be an exciting day when many of the campers get to experience the magic of Yellowstone for the first time. It is an incredible area and I feel so lucky every time I get to experience it. The Yellowstone Expedition offers the unique opportunity to fish and explore a huge part of this area and not only offers the boys incredible fishing but also the chance to learn and grow as individuals.
After getting our feet wet in the front country for a couple days, we’ll head straight to our first backcountry trip on the Snake river and Heart Lake. This is sure to be a fun and challenging backcountry that should have some incredible fishing for those prepared to work for it. We’ll fish the pristine headwaters of the Snake, an epic river which runs all the way into the Columbia River in Washington. The headwaters are a beautiful place and are full of large and eager cutthroat and brown trout.
This group of guys seems to get why we're all here: make new friends, grow as angler and people, and catch beautiful fish in beautiful places. We can't wait to get to know each of them and watch their progress over the next couple of week. We'll talk to you all soon! Until then...
Tight lines, good times,
Andrew, Evan, Joe, and the Yellowstone gang
