Hello families! We're having a blast - this is an awesome group of boys who is ready for anything. Read about our last few days below.
Day 2:
After a restful night of sleep following some s'mores during our first campfire, we were amazed to see how fast the boys cleaned up camp before a long day on the water. Because of some unfortunate circumstances on the Yellowstone River due to water temperatures and flows, we pulled a quick audible to float the Madison River below where it flows from Yellowstone National Park. After the two hour drive to the Madison River, we met the amazing Lillard float team, and got the boys locked and loaded to fish a hefty stretch of river.
Before hitting the water, we took down some cold cut sandwiches for lunch, rigged our rods up, and filled up our water bottles. The rest of the afternoon was spent floating and fishing down the Madison where all of the boys were able to land fish! Collectively, as a group, we absolutely tore them up, and were even lucky enough to land multiple fish crossing the 20 inch mark! It was absolutely awesome to see the smiles and excitement on their faces after we reunited as a group when everyone finished the float! For some boys in the group, it was their first ever experience of fly fishing in general, which was such a rewarding feeling to us guides seeing them have an awesome day on the water!
After we got everything organized, the crew headed to our campsite and got camp set up. The boys were quick, and managed to set up their tents just before a short rainstorm came our way. While the boys were cleaning up shop around camp, Charlie was graciously mastering his "Pita Pizza" skills for everyone to enjoy. Luckily, Pat, one of our amazing members of our float team, brought his Blackstone pizza oven for us to enjoy an awesome dinner. All of the boys devoured multiple tasty personal pizzas as we waited out the storm. The sky was absolutely beautiful following our dinner, and everyone was amazed by the perfectly colored rainbow and subsequent sunset in the distance over the mountain ranges. We topped off our evening throwing the frisbee and football around, and spending quality time around the campfire. It is crazy to see how fast this group of kids has meshed. We couldn't be more pleased with the group as a whole, and grateful for their willingness to be adaptable to a change that makes for a better day on the water! We are back at it again tomorrow, floating the Madison once again hopefully for similar or even better results!
Day 3:
Today was an awesome day overall following a tremendous opening kickoff! Because the float from the previous day was so successful, our float team and fellow guides came to the decision to run the exact same float. With a little bit of an earlier start than yesterday, the boys jumped out of their tents excited and demolished a quick oatmeal breakfast to fuel for the long morning and early afternoon float. Before departing to the boat ramp, we packed some sandwiches and small bags of chips for each boy so they wouldn't go hungry on their float.
Once we met the float team at the boat ramp, the boys got their rods rigged up quickly, paired up, and met with their guides. It was awesome to see that the boys were able to catch so many fish with different techniques. The fish were blowing up the dry flies, always a fan favorite and an epic way to start off our amazing trip. Many of the fishing patterns remained similar to the day before, and once again, all of the boys were slaying the fish! Not only did the group as a whole bring lots of fish to net, but we were lucky enough to -once again- land multiple fish over the 20 inch mark! Following the float today, we wrapped things up on the water much earlier.
The boys were starving when they arrived back to camp, so the guides quickly prepared some brats and hot dogs. While those were cooking on the grill, many decided they wanted to cool off, so Charlie took them down to the river to take a dip that looked super refreshing! After enjoying an early dinner, listening to music, hanging out, and sharing laughs, the group (including the float team) wanted to play a game of ultimate frisbee!
We all piled into the van and made a short and easy drive over to the local high school in Ennis and had a blast! After splitting into teams, we kicked things off. The game was really back and forth, and super competitive. Things escalated when Will Lillard himself, Ben Scott, and Will's son River came to join! The score was around 6-3 when they arrived, so we split them up onto separate teams and kept competing. This game was a ton of fun, and a great way to run around and do something a little different.
Following a fun early evening of ultimate frisbee, we let the boys make a quick run into the local Town Pump gas station to buy some refreshing Gatorades and snacks. They were fired up, and sure were thirsty after the intense game. We headed back to camp and listened to some classic "sing-a-long" tunes on our drive, and spent the rest of the evening winding down around the campfire, continuing to share laughs and awesome moments!
Day 4:
Today marked the final day of our floats for this expedition, and we ended with a bang! Instead of doing the same float from the two previous days, we decided to float a different section higher up the Madison! When we woke up, we quickly scarfed down some cereal for breakfast, packed our gear, and made our way in the van to the boat ramp. Palisades, the name of the boat ramp and campsite we spent the night at, is awesome! With it being right on the Madison, the views and sounds of the river behind our new campsite had the boys fired up.
Today was a little shorter of a float, but the boys still managed to add to their fish counts. Everyone was catching fish, listening to some tunes, and having a blast! Fish continued to hit the dry flies on top of the water throughout the float. Once we wrapped up, we quickly drove back up to our new campsite to set up and regroup. We managed to get camp set up very quickly, giving us some time to explore a new adventure. We decided to go swimming, so we drove about 25 minutes up the road to Wade and Cliff Lakes. These lakes were absolutely amazing! The water was crystal clear, with some very deep visibility. After a long three day stretch of floating, it was a great way to take a refreshing dip. We swam around for a while, and even had the opportunity to use biodegradable soap to get a quick lake bath in. After hanging out in the water for a while, Charlie kindly made his way back to the van and trailer to get going on some dinner. The boys continued to swim around the lake and explore for a while, and by the time they were done swimming, dinner was ready!
We enjoyed some delicious pasta with red sauce and chicken. It was amazing, and the lake was a great place to enjoy a meal. We took some great group shots in front of the lakes, and after we cleaned up dinner, we got back into the van to drive back to Three Dollar Bridge, a famous spot on the Madison, to finish off our epic day fishing. We only had around an hour and 15 minutes to get it done, and some of the boys were able to land some beautiful brown trout on subsurface nymphs. After we wrapped up, we got back in the van, made our way back to camp, and hit the hay. The group was exhausted from an action packed day of adventure, so we called it a night once we arrived back.
Day 5:
We took things a little slower this morning after three days of hard float fishing. Instead of waking up super early like we had been, we let the boys sleep in an extra hour or so. Breakfast looked much different this morning: we cooked up some delicious sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches on English muffins. After enjoying a longer and more tasty breakfast, our plan for the day was to fish Three Dollar Bridge for the morning and late afternoon. We then headed back over to the fishing spot we fished last night, and split into groups.
Wade fishing the Madison can be very technical and difficult for anglers; landing fish can be tricky because of the rocks. We were super impressed with how well the boys fished this morning. We managed to land a good amount of fish on both dry flies and smaller nymphs (below the water's surface). The conversations on the water were non-stop, and it great to hear the group continuing to bond and mesh as the trip continues. Around 2pm, we headed back to the bridge parking lot where we scarfed down some cold cut sandwiches for lunch. After lunch, the boys were fueled up again and wanted to go swimming once again, so that's exactly what we did. We went back to Wade Lake and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, listening to music, and hanging out. Around 6pm, we headed back to our campsite to cook an early-ish dinner before one last project for the evening.
One of Lillard's own, Peter Merz, who is doing a lot of work with the Salmonfly Project, came over to our campsite to help the group collect an aquatic insect sample from the Madison River. This sample will be used by the Salmonfly Project to assess bug populations in western fishing rivers in order to advocate for legislation to protect our aquatic insect populations and therefore protect our fish populations. Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone National Park to see the beautiful scenery it has to offer and to catch some amazing cutthroat trout.
As we hope you can tell, we're having a great time and only getting started. Our next update will find us in Yellowstone National Park fishing the famed Garner River.
Until then,
The guys and the guides
