Fly Fishing Sheridan Lake and Eagle Ridge Ranch with Steve Hyde (Traveled #22)

Dave (2s): Would you say the experience is more important or the catching of fish is more important as a fly angler? Today’s guest is all about the experience and today you’re gonna find out about the lake and the tens of thousands of acres he manages to create the best experience possible, whether that’s hunting, fishing, wildlife, viewing, or other. Today you’re gonna get a glimpse into all this, plus the Steelwater School. It’s all coming on today’s episode. This has traveled where we take a deep dive into a specific region of the country so you have a better feel for what it takes to put together a trip and how you can be better prepared when you get there. Hey, I’m Dave host of Traveled. I’ve been fly fishing since I was a little kid and grew up around a little fly shop and have always loved traveling and adventure. This is why we’re digging into this today. Dave (43s): Steve Hyde of the high drift boat family and manager of Vast Private Lands out West is going to shed some light into how you can connect with these amazing experiences in these areas out here. You’re going to find out how he founded High Drift Boats with his dad while starting out in the garage. We’ll get into the high drift boat story and you’re also gonna find out how to save time at Sheridan Lake and how to have a better experience there and the Spring Creek that’s nearby, and also how to take advantage of some of these activities in the summer and the winter months. Plus, you’ll hear about the hide drift boat innovation that he talks about here, where they combine aluminum drift boats with fiberglass drift boats and all the features to make one amazing boat. We talk about that today. This episode of travel is presented by Yellowstone Teton territory, where you can explore the great fishing hunting in hot springs and much, much more. Dave (1m 30s): Check them out Wet fly swing.com/teton. Find out more there. Alright, let’s jump into it and see where the road less traveled takes us today. Here he is, Steve Hyde from Eagle Ridge ranch.com. How you doing, Steve? Steve (1m 44s): Really good, thank you. Yeah, Dave (1m 46s): Thanks for making time today to put this one together. It’s gonna be a fun one. We’ve done some great stuff out. We’re gonna talk about Eagle Ridge Ranch, Sheridan Lake. We had a, a fly fishing school we did with Phil Rolly here this year. It was amazing. People have said a lot of great things about kinda, you know, the fishing and, and all that stuff. So we’re gonna talk about Sheridan, but also you have a pretty cool role. You got a couple things going, director of Wildlife Management, and we’re gonna talk about what that entails. And then also the height in your last name, you have a connection to high drift boats and so we’ll probably hear a little bit about that background as we get into your story here. So first off, how are things going? What are you up to this time of year? Steve (2m 24s): Real good? Yeah, this time of year we’re kind of an in between season and we haven’t quite got our four feet of snow yet, So it’s a little light on the snow activities. Had plenty of cold weather, so ice fishing’s always way fun and we got a lot of that going on and, and we do rent our cabins here on the ranch year round and so you just get creative in, in the in-between seasons, but it’s way fun. Yeah. Dave (2m 48s): So when does the, in-between, like you got the, obviously we were there in the fall. When does that kind of end and when does the in-between season start? Steve (2m 56s): Yeah, so November November’s kind of in between season month and April’s kind of in between season month and yeah, we get, we don’t quite got enough snow to get too much going on and we do have a role where we do outfitting with a little bit of hunting as well. And so we tie that up a little bit in the, in the fall. And so we, that keeps us busy for October, November, December. Dave (3m 18s): Okay. Yeah. So we’re gonna talk about the lodge and the lake and things like that and, and I’m, I love hunting as well. I think we got about probably half of our listeners at least are into hunting. So I’m curious to hear about what that looks like. Is this mostly during the winter months? Like, well, I guess during this hunting season, like big game or what are people doing out there? Steve (3m 36s): Yeah. Yeah. So we, we outfit all the big game species, you know, Mount Lion wolf on top of that And you know, and then that’s can be a controversial thing to, to drag out but, and we don’t, we don’t really push it too hard. Sure. But I do know there’s some different opinions on that stuff. I really don’t wanna get into all that. But you know, there is, I think game management is a positive thing and that’s kinda what it’s a healthy space to be involved in. Dave (3m 60s): Right, right. So you got, and then also is elk, deer, like kind of what other species out there too? Steve (4m 5s): Yeah, yeah. We get, we get here pretty strong elk and deer, you know, there are a couple moose tags people Oh wow. Draw and so they do have a little moose hunting still goes on and, and then like the predator stuff, the mountain lion stuff, they just follow the game around and they, they put a pretty good herd on ’em. But it’s nice to keep that management going too. Dave (4m 26s): Sure. Good. Okay, so you got that and then you have all just basically the wintertime recreation then come, you know, April there’s another transition and then you kind of get into back to the, the fishing. Is that the focus once you get into kinda may? Steve (4m 37s): Yeah. Yeah. We just, you know, we get ice off on Sheridan, it’s amazing ’cause there’s a couple pretty solid springs coming into that Sheridan Lake and you get ice off pretty dang early. You get ice off earlier than you can get access to the property outside of via snowmobile. And so it’s not a real dominant ice off, you know, in May like some we will get ice off in in the end of March and April even, you know, so it’s kind of a early one. Dave (5m 3s): Wow, okay. And talk a little about, we’re, we’re gonna get into your background a little bit, but I’m curious on the lake maybe just, it’s pretty unique, right? It’s a private lake so you can actually pay to get access to it. But talk about where it is and why this is unique in the area. Steve (5m 17s): Yeah, the lake’s, there’s in a really cool setting, you know, it’s in between the tiny one horse town of Kilgore, which is about another 1214 miles to the west. And then you have Island Park, which is kind of a sub to West Yellowstone going east and it’s about 12, 14 miles back to the east from the lake. And So it sets out a real remote setting of a mixture of private and public lands And you know, it was created about 1912 from what I understand. And so it’s been around for quite a few years. But the, a really strong aquatic light, but because of the springs, the real powerful springs coming into it, it keeps the lake pretty solid for temperature and, and growth of fish aquatic species, you know, so that’s, it’s setting out there. Steve (6m 5s): And so being that the ranch it sets on like a 33,000 acre ranch that gives it a pretty good buffer for public. And so you got a really neat remote setting and it is a cattle ranch, you know, so there’s six 8,000 cows spread out through that space And you know, you get to see a few cowboys run around and doing their, doing their thing. Nice. And it’s pretty old school as far as how they have to manage and take care of cows. There is a bit of a grizzly bear population in the area and that always adds a pretty cool feature to wandering through the willows keeps you on your toes, you don’t take a nap very often. Wow. Dave (6m 45s): Are Grizzlies now, is that a a pretty far in their southern range or do you see ’em further south from there? Oh Steve (6m 50s): Yeah, yeah. We’re pretty, pretty right in the middle of the mecca for the grizzly thing. Okay. Dave (6m 54s): Yeah. ’cause you’re close to Yellowstone, right? Not too far. Steve (6m 56s): Yeah. Close to Yellowstone Island. Park’s a huge zone. And see, there’s no hound hunting or none of that in Island Park. And so they don’t get much of a fear of man ’cause they don’t get harassed much. And so there’s quite a few encounters with people. You know, I was actually walking and hunting with a, a gal this fall and, and had grizzly bear come within 15 yards of us and, and just looked right at us and kind of checked us out and then he went on about his way, which was kind of the positive note on that. But the interaction’s pretty common if you spend much time in the woods in this area. Yeah, Dave (7m 27s): Amazing. Wow. So it sounds like, yeah, you’ve got everything out there. You’ve got the hunting a 33,000 acre ranch and, and there is a lodge too. Is there a place, like if somebody was listening now and they’re thinking, and there we will talk about the fishing too, but if somebody wanted to go out there, do you guys offer places to stay lodging and all that? Steve (7m 42s): Yeah, yeah. At the Eagle Ridge Ranch location, there is some lodging for sure. We have like 12 cabins. They sleep two to 20 people and, but they’re on site at the Sheridan. There’s some old cowboy cabins, but really nobody stays on site. You know, the, the, the property owner has a personal cabin there by the lake and, And you know, it’s just to give you a context of its size, it has 19 bathrooms, geez. Dave (8m 8s): Oh, his personal Steve (8m 9s): Place. Yeah. And so as of right now, that’s not available to be rented. That might change. We’ve chatted about that, but that’s, it’s a pretty nice, neat place. Dave (8m 17s): Yeah. And who is the owner? ’cause we’re probably talking about that a little bit. I know, I think Disney had a background in like business right? Or something like that. Steve (8m 25s): The owner is, is the owner of Melaleuca is and is Frank Banner suit who owns the, the property. Very, very nice, very conservative with outdoors, really big in protecting natural environments and space and fisheries and wildlife and that’s a healthy space. Dave (8m 44s): Oh wow. Amazing. Yeah. So that’s what, and he’s, it sounds like you also manage some other areas around what is the, the lake itself. How do you manage that? Who’s managing the lakes? How are we making sure that, you know, what’s going on with with the fish that are species that are in there? Steve (8m 57s): Yeah, yeah. So we’ve worked with a lot of agencies, you know, with my fishing background, you know, I, I’m familiar with the, the, the fishery biologists and such. And so those agencies help make sure things stay a disease free system and they check it and we have some regulations of stuff we go through. And so it’s great working with those agencies, fish and Game and and such because they, they have some great tools in place to make sure that things stay healthy. ’cause it’s a system interlocking with other systems throughout the Upper Snake River region and the Henrys Fork and all that, all that stuff is all tied together and so it’s a healthy space out there and we wanna maintain that. Dave (9m 38s): Gotcha. So there’s, and and then you guys on the fish in there, maybe talk about that a little bit. What are the species and then what are sizes of fish you could catch in there? Steve (9m 46s): So the species of fish in there, they have a a, a rainbow and there’s different strains of that. And then they have the, the purebred cutthroats, it’s the Snake River Cutthroat, and then they have the brook trout. And so those are kind of the three main species. The upper Snake River region in the Henry Fork system does not have brown trout throughout that system. And so until you get below Mesa Falls and then brown trouts are introduced into there. But those are the main species. And there are some kinda like a native, I don’t know how many they are, but there’s a Chubb fish in that runs through the systems all through Henry’s Lake and Island Park Reservoir and Sheridan. Steve (10m 26s): And I don’t know really a lot about the history of that is kind of a look down upon species, but I think it’s, I think it’s a healthy system. Yeah. Dave (10m 32s): Natural native fish. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So that’s it. And, and then people listening now can actually get access to this. How does that work on access? You have a certain number of slots that you open up throughout the year, right? Steve (10m 43s): Right, right. Yeah, we try to keep it a, a pretty positive experience out there. So there’s about seven miles of Spring Creek running through the ranch and then there’s the lake itself on top of that. And so currently we allow 12 people a day to access the property. And, and it’s not 12 fishermen, it’s 12 people is our goal. Sometimes that’ll change a little bit if you have a group of 20 all from the same group wanting to be together. But we don’t like to mix groups and exceed that so people don’t feel invaded upon. And so that’s kind of our goal to keep it. So you got plenty of space to do your thing, wander around, explore, and you just don’t feel like someone’s on top of you in the middle of that. Steve (11m 26s): And that’s kind of the goal there. Dave (11m 28s): Okay. And so most people come in, there are, are a lot of people in the summertime, at least summer, fall fishing and then hanging out fish in the creek? Fish in the lake, both equally. Steve (11m 37s): Yeah. Yeah. ’cause you can, you know, the lake’s fun to fish first thing in the morning and then if you get the little afternoon breezes come up a little strong, it’s nice to sneak over to that to the crick and, and wander up and down that and you can get in those willows and stuff a little bit and get a little protection from a little afternoon breeze that can show up, you know. Dave (11m 57s): Okay, nice. Well, we’re gonna dig more into Sheridan, but I wanna hear some of your story of how you got to this position on working with, and we’re, we could talk more about the other areas you manage, but do you do a lot of fishing? A lot of, you know, do you do any fly fishing, hunting? How’d you get into all this to be managing Sheridan Lake in this area? Steve (12m 13s): Yeah, yeah, that’s a good question. Well, and everybody has kind of a bit of a backstory, but you know, I was raised in, in eastern Iowa, I was born in Idle Falls And you know, my, my parents were both from Wyoming and so yeah, they grew up in a pretty remote place in Wyoming and they lived off the land. I mean, my father claims he didn’t taste beef until he was 18. It’s just ’cause of living off of wild game and fishing and, and such and, and because there wasn’t a lot of cash in those days. And so that’s kind of the lifestyle we were exposed to as kids is we spent a lot of time in the outdoors and, and fishing rivers and cricks and, And you know, and we also, you know, hunt a lot of game and, and provided a food source for us growing up, you know, and so, and then you kind of gain a love for the purity and the pristine of, of being out in nature. Steve (13m 5s): I mean, that’s totally uncorrupted space and in my, my my world, that’s sacred space. You know, it just doesn’t have that corruption of, of man around it much. And that’s okay. You know, it’s just a good place to be to you feel different. It smells different. It’s just a good space. Dave (13m 21s): Yeah. You don’t have a city, I mean you have Idaho Falls, but there aren’t really any big cities. Like what is the closest big city to where you guys are? Steve (13m 29s): Yeah, I would say Idle Falls is probably the biggest city where you fly in. Or if you go north it’s Bozeman, Montana Dave (13m 34s): Or Bozeman. Yeah, you’re right there, right. Steve (13m 36s): Those are two of the, they’re tinier stuff along the way, but those are the two major spaces, you know, west Yellowstone is pretty tiny, but I do know they have a little airport in there. Right. Dave (13m 46s): That’s it. Gotcha. So, so basically, yeah, you grew up on land, your dad, your family, you know, that’s kind of what you knew And you know, and you’re still kind of in the same area, which is amazing. I know there’s a connection on the, on the boats there. I’m not sure if there’s anything else going on there, but talk about that. How did, what, what was that? Because I know we’ve done a number of episodes on drift boats from companies, you know, around the country. I’m, I’m kind of a drift boat nut. I love hearing about the history, but talk about that your, who your dad is and then how you worked around that company. Steve (14m 15s): Well, you know, in that lifestyle of growing up in the outdoors and fishing stuff, we, we got into the boat thing. We had drift boats when I was little, little, little, little. But my father and I, we started making these drift boats in our garage. We started making wood boats in our garage when my early teens and, and then it kind of, it was a fun industry. So we kind of kept going with that and that kind of expounded into that drift boat business. Yeah. Dave (14m 42s): What year was that, Steve, when you started making drift boats with your dad in the garage? Steve (14m 45s): That was the early eighties. Dave (14m 47s): Yeah. So there weren’t a lot of boats out then. I’m trying to think in the eighties, you know, know, right? I mean, as far as companies, there were some, but not as many as there are now. Steve (14m 55s): No, no, no. Yeah, it was, and there wasn’t a lot of, it was just still a sift over from Washington, Oregon. Yeah. Very rarely. You know, the odd occasion a guy actually owned a drift boat and So it was just kind of in the beginning stages of that world. Dave (15m 9s): Where did that idea come from? I’m not sure if it started with your dad, but when did you know, like, hey, was it just like, we need a drift boat, we’re gonna start, or, and then where, and then once you have that, where do you start? How do you learn to make a drift boat? Did you guys have experience in that? Steve (15m 21s): Well, my father, when he was younger, he built airplanes. They’re out of after Wyoming, they still make ’em there today. I understand, I think. But it was a, a crop sprain airplane, real high performance planes that they use. ’cause they have to get low to the ground and, and pull up fast and get around and, and so he had some manufacturing experience in that type of stuff. But yeah, it just kind of slowly evolved. I don’t know, we showed up one day said we want a big drift boat company. And that’s not, that’s not how it really, I don’t think it went, I think it was, it was a hobby that turned into a job, you know? And yeah. And So it, and but it was a fun job mean man, you know, they meet a lot of really neat people and, and So it was amazing deal. Steve (16m 2s): So yeah, I did that for a, a lot of years and Dave (16m 6s): A lot of years. Yeah. Yeah. And I rode my first high drift boat when we were out there fishing. We floated the South fork and snake. We did our, what we were doing a euro nipping school out there. And yeah, it was amazing. It was the first time I’ve ever rode a skiff. I I’ve rode lots of your standard big, you know, high sided drift boats. And when I was in that hide boat, it was amazing, you know, how, just how easy it was to row to get out of things like that. And yeah. Were you around when the skiffs got going or had you already kinda left and gone on other things? Steve (16m 35s): Yeah, no, no. I was part of all that. You know, the, the low profile design, there was a lot of evolution that we were, ’cause we were fly fishermen and drift boats come out of the, the more hardware mecca outta the world, you know, with the Washington, Oregon. And, and that’s kind of the quality way you’ve catch those fish and you get out in these other streams, they, it’s more of a, the real shallow water fly fishing thing. And so the creature features of the boats, we were huge in evolving that, you know, level floors, standup braces that didn’t hit at the kneecaps And you know, and anchor systems And you know, all these different creature features and, and then, you know, a lot of our water isn’t five, six feet waves and so you don’t need a height. Steve (17m 15s): That’s what the higher side boat’s for, you know. And so that just turned into a disadvantage ’cause of the wind and Yep. And crawling in and out of ’em all the time to hit gravel bars and ripples, you know. And so that low profile system was one of the first ones that started and then they went into the skiffs and such. And just the evolution, you know, ’cause every river floats and fishes are different and it’s not one all boat fits everything, every scenario. And it’s nice to be able to, to adjust that. Yeah, Dave (17m 39s): That’s right. And is, and your dad is Le Moine, right? Is he still around the company and out there going Yeah, Steve (17m 45s): Yeah, yeah. He’s still going her mile an hour one day he’ll realize he’s gotten old, but that, you know, that that showed up yet. Dave (17m 51s): How old is he? Steve (17m 52s): Gosh, you know, I I bet he is 78. I think that’s where he is at. He is born in 45, so I’m not, not Joe Maman, but that’s right in that space. Dave (17m 60s): Yeah. Wow. That’s so cool. And he’s, yeah, I still loving it and that’s cool. Well maybe we’ll have a few other questions at the end for you on this, but it is pretty awesome to, you know, kind of just be chatting more about this and hearing the story. What is, so back to kind of what you do right now. I mean you’re managing these, these areas. Maybe talk about that you, you mentioned the owner and what was the name of the company again? That he kind of uhs Steve (18m 25s): Melaleuca. Dave (18m 25s): Yeah, Melaleuca, right. Yeah. And what is that company for those people that don’t know? Steve (18m 29s): Well, so that company they manufacture, I think it’s well over 500 different products that they manufacture for homes and, and individuals and it’s amazing, amazing company. And, and he, he really loves his ranching and his beef. And just recently he built this monstrous processing plant. And so he takes his own beef from, you know, from the very beginning all the way through to your table. Wow. And homegrown un you know, not all the hormone stuff and all that. He just has a really neat system where he’s full circle on his beef products. Steve (19m 11s): And so yeah. That’s a new thing he’s ventured off into, but yeah. Yeah, Melaleuca, they, they just, they’re an amazing company. Do a lot of good for a lot of people and just gives you an option to have some super high quality products that aren’t just out there trying to make a buck off you. You know, so. Sure. Dave (19m 27s): Yeah. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. Frank Vandersloot, right? Yeah. Perfect. And you’re managing some of his other areas, right? Some of his lands. Maybe talk about that on the other, on the wildlife side, what you’re doing throughout the year. Yeah, Steve (19m 36s): Just, you know, with my background and history and, and I’ve been exposed to a lot of country around the world coming from the boat thing. We’ve, we’ve traveled a lot and fished, you know, all over the place, all across the United States and Canada and, and South America and, And you know, all the Alaska stuff and, And you know, I’ve been into Europe and, but just as far as the, with Frank’s side of it, you know, I I manage all his, I’m director for wildlife management for all his properties in idle, Montana, Wyoming, Utah. And he’s got quite a bit of stuff going on in Hawaii now, helping that on his beef side, helping that place over there have some better in-house where everything doesn’t have to be shipped in. Steve (20m 19s): And so that’s kind of my role with him. And then I, my home base is, is here up in Island Park and taking care of directly the Eagle Ridge Ranch, which about about 2000 Eagle Ranch that, you know, we, it is kind of pretty family friendly gig between the, we have five private lakes on the ranch summer for playing in summer for fishing. And we do horse rides here and archery and shooting shotguns and Hmm. Dave (20m 47s): Alright. So you have some upland bird hunting too Steve (20m 50s): That is available. But most people, when they travel in an area like this, they, it is surprising how many people have never shot a gun. They never shot a bow and arrow. And we have life-size animal targets with the arry range and they never caught a fish, you know, and Sure. And I think if they catch a fish, they ought to eat the dang thing. And so I’m not opposed to a guy for the first time in his life goes out with his boy and catches a fish and, and heck yeah, let’s show him how to clean that thing and, and stick it on the grill. And that’s good stuff. Good healthy stuff for, for people to learn and know and and experience. Yeah, definitely. You know, families, it’s, it’s just amazing the families come walking up to the door with this big old fish they’ve got and there’s kids just smiling and he doesn’t know what to do with it goes, dad’s like, well what do I do now? Steve (21m 34s): And I’m like, well, you know, and you just walk ’em through the process And you know, and they just, man they just like the highlight of their life to experience something that we almost take for granted ’cause we’ve been doing it for so long and you never wanna lose that. You know, that’s just healthy stuff. Dave (21m 47s): Yeah, that’s amazing. Yeah, I think that that’s part of the, the problem probably with a lot of, you know, this the country or really maybe the world is that people are so disconnected now from the wildlife outdoors, right? They got their devices And sometimes they don’t even leave the city, you know, and if you’ve never experienced that, how to clean a fish, how to, you know, do got an animal, right? Like you’re not getting that same connection to nature. Right. Yeah. It sounds like, it sounds like Frank understands that, is that like his, is that part of his focus is really thinking about those people? How do you connect more people to nature and all that? Steve (22m 20s): Yeah, that part of it. And, and even to each other, you know, he’s big into all that stuff and providing those experiences and, and allowing this space to take place. I mean that, that ranch is kind of his personal thing and, but he allows the US to manage people to go over there and experience that. I mean, that’s huge. A lot of some property owners like that just lock that up and turn everybody away and nobody’s allowed. And he spent tons of cash out of his own money to see that that’s working and, and provided and available. And that’s not normal from a no. You know, these big businessmen that just start, you know, tying everything up. So that’s, that’s good to see and that’s great. That’s wonderful to work with and around, you know. Dave (23m 1s): Yep. Oh, that’s amazing. So you’re, throughout the year you’ve got Eagle Ridge Ranch, Sheridan, so do you spend a lot of time out on that area and then throughout the year you’re traveling to these other locations? Steve (23m 11s): Yeah, a little bit. I don’t travel a ton because there’s, there’s game management working with fish and Game and different agencies in the different states and each state manages their stuff a little differently and there’s some hunting things that take place or, and stuff on the different properties and like say each state you have to kind of follow their ideals and rules and stuff. And so I just kinda oversee and keep track of that and just make sure that the wildlife, ’cause when you own big chunks of land, there’s a lot of public wildlife wandering in and out of there and that’s gotta be healthy space for them, you know, with fencing and that they can travel around and do their thing. You know, I know in the Wyoming property there’s two elk refuges next to the ranch and I’ve worked with fish and game properties over there where they, they, a lot of the elk actually just stay on the ranch. Steve (23m 59s): They don’t even go to the refuge and they just wanna make sure that that space is healthy and safe for those game to spend the winters there and, and there’s plenty of feed and stuff. And so that’s kind of in conjunction to what we work with them guys there to, ’cause we pull the cows off those properties and then the wildlife free access to that space, which is a nice connection. Yep, Dave (24m 21s): Gotcha. Okay. And then it sounds like the, the Eagle Ridge Ranch in that area has similar opportunities, whether that’s hunting for big game or like you said, fishing in the summer. Anything else we missed on as far as the things that people can be doing out there throughout the year? Steve (24m 36s): Well, no, yeah, this is a really neat location because it gives a lot of variety, you know, as far as visiting West Yellowstone, you know, we’re only about 30 miles from the west gate of West Yellowstone. And, and that’s a wonderful day activity to go experience that. And then, and then outside of that, there’s a lot of, on the island park side between the fishing and hunting and exploring and, and there’s a lot of snowmobiling that takes place all, all winter. A lot of a TV stuff takes place all summer, you know, and it’s amazing just south of here, just not even a few miles south, you know, eight, 10 miles south, we have a massive lava bed system of sage brush and caves and ice caves. Steve (25m 18s): And man, the wildlife that just lives out in those lava beds is amazing. And it’s, it’s got its own beauty, you know? Dave (25m 25s): Yeah. What is the lava beds? Is there a name? I think there’s, I’ve seen those out there. What, what are those called? Is there a name for ’em? Steve (25m 30s): Well, there are different names in the ones out west of Idle Falls, craters of the Moon. Oh Dave (25m 36s): Yeah. Cra the Moon. Yeah, I’ve been there. Yeah. They Steve (25m 37s): Call it Hell’s half Acre and it’s just a monstrous lava flow out there. They, they don’t even get stuff that grows on some of that, but, you know, and, and that’s just part of what created this space out here, these lava flows. But there’s, there’s a lot of tubes and different things. You know, you, you stay a little bit north, you don’t have to deal with the snakes. You get a little too far south, you gotta deal with snakes, but, you know, snakes or grizzly bears, I don’t know which one I prefer. I think I like grizzly bears better than snakes, but Yeah. Dave (26m 3s): Are these rattlesnakes? Yeah. Steve (26m 5s): Yeah. You got, yeah. Some rattlesnakes that kick around this in that area. But when you get up north like this, we don’t have that up in this, we don’t have timber rattlesnakes or none of that going on up here. We’re too high for that. Dave (26m 14s): Yeah, these are western rattlesnakes, right? Yeah. Steve (26m 17s): Yeah. Four footer would be a big one, you know, but yeah. Dave (26m 20s): Gotcha. Wow. And, and then the craters of the moon that all the lava folks. So you’re saying there’s, there’s lots of wildlife that are living out there in, in those areas. Yeah. Steve (26m 27s): Well and this and cra of the moon is sitting miss, and so some of that’s too extreme even for a lot of wildlife. But the system between us and, And you know, 40 miles south, there’s a lot of wildlife that live out in that that a lot of, there’s some monstrous deer that live out there and, and even elk will live out year round. So, ’cause it’s surprising you get some water out through there and stuff, so yeah. Dave (26m 50s): Gotcha. Wow. Just Steve (26m 51s): A variety. ’cause you got the mountain, you got the continental divide, you know, 10 miles, it’s right Dave (26m 55s): There. Steve (26m 55s): Yeah, right here next Dave (26m 56s): To just north, right? Isn’t it just north of you guys? Yeah. Steve (26m 58s): You know, 20 minutes I can be on top of the continental divide and then you go south and you got a lava flow, you know, so it’s a Rockies all the way down and so it’s kind of a cool variety space. That is cool. Yeah. Dave (27m 10s): Wow. Yeah, it sounds pretty diverse. I think of it as kind of a, a, you know, part of it like a desert, right? Is it desert and mountains? Everything mixed together? Steve (27m 17s): Yeah, it totally is. It is considered a high desert, you know, but it, it is a high desert. But then, yeah, then you got the, the mountains and we get a, a lot of snow here. It’s a good snow space. It really helps feed all these rivers in the area for sure. 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Well, let’s jump back into sharing a little bit. It sounds like you definitely, you’ve done a little bit of fly fishing over the years, so if people, you know, were thinking like, okay, this would be good to head out there next summer. What are the times, do you have any good times? Do you guys have slots filled up or when, when should people be thinking about heading out there? Steve (28m 45s): Yeah, that’s a good point. So we kind of have a peak season in a normal fishery, you know, from May, October. And it’s not uncommon to get snow every month of the year up here. So you just can’t out guess that weather experience. But that’s kind of the healthy space. And so we always have some spots kicking around. We don’t like fill up a month at a time or nothing. And so if you be a little creative, we can always find something. And then, and then sometimes we’ll also to help kind of accommodate some people as a lot of people will fish all day long and be off of water by five o’clock and, and they’re done for the day. And so sometimes we’ll let people pay like a half day rate to go from five to dark. Steve (29m 25s): Mm. And so we try to be respectful of everybody’s space, but there is some options to, to let people experience the fishery over there. Dave (29m 34s): Okay. And so, and throughout the year, is it, do, do you, I’m, I’m guessing you fish the lake a little bit or is that a place that you kind of know, do you know, like are there hatches there? Specific things? What, what are people doing out there on the lake? Steve (29m 45s): Yeah, the, the lake will go through the normal lake series of hatches throughout the whole year. You know, all your cat andron mes and all that stuff. And, and if someone wants to follow the hatches and stuff, the goal on a, on a fishery is that you could just show up anytime, any place and catch yourself some fish. Yeah. And that’s how we kind of try to keep the fishery. We, we, that fishery at Sheridan different from Eagle Ridge Sheridan Wheat, it’s a catch or and release fishery and it’s a fly fishing only fishery. And, and nothing against spinners or bait, it’s just, that’s usually a little more damage into a fish. And so that’s why we deter that, that space. It’s just more of a, you know, just we try to keep it a pretty pristine experience. Steve (30m 28s): We try to keep the fish a pretty pristine fish, you know, you should be able to go over there. I mean people catch fish over 30 inches every year. Oh wow. And that’s just, but you know, people win the lottery every year too, I guess. Dave (30m 40s): Yeah. Steve (30m 41s): But yeah, no, so that’s kind of how we try to keep that as a, you know, a a so you maybe try to catch a better than average fish in your life and those really big fish and you, and they’re smart and you got small tippet, you know, the odds aren’t in your favor. No. You know, and so, and it’s always fun to have the big one get away. That’s part of what keeps you coming back, you know? Yeah, Dave (31m 3s): Yeah, it is. Yeah. We, it was cool on the, I wasn’t out there this year, but Phil Roy was kind of hosting and leading the school and it was, it was a, you know, a perfect place. ’cause I know, you know, there’s some lakes around there that get pretty busy, the, the public lakes and so like Henry’s and other areas and it’s a good first stop to have a private area to have a, you know, the school type session Right. Where people don’t have to worry about, you know, pressure or too many distractions and they can learn, you know, kinda the stuff and then, and then take it to the next lake. Anything else to know? So I’m looking at Eagle, so it’s Eagle Ridge Ranch, so there’s a lake there and that’s the lake you’re talking about that’s more, that’s open to everything. And then Sheridan is the fly fishing only, Steve (31m 40s): Right? Yeah, exactly. So we, we kind of more beginner experience here at Eagle Ridge. We just, I don’t care how we have provide worms and spinners and we just wanna see the, the kids catch a fish and experience that world Sheridan. We want people to experience a real unique experience, an opportunity to catch a really big fish on really light tackle, you know? And so that’s kind of, and we, we just want to, we don’t want it to be a, a busy place. And so that’s kinda how that different space is. Dave (32m 14s): Okay. And do you have a lot of people that are coming back kinda year after year? Is that most of your clientele or are you getting some newer people coming out too? It sounds like Eagle Ridge is maybe you get a lot of newer people, but Sheridan’s more repeat or how’s that look? Steve (32m 26s): Yeah, that looks, that’s exactly it. Yeah. We get people visiting West Yellowstone, they’ll stay here as part of their location. And some people come back every year. We have tons of families, family reunions, we’ll book everything at Eagle Ridge and, and just stay and, ’cause there’s so many activities right out your front door, you haven’t gotta pile the whole family into a car every five minutes and travel somewhere to have an activity. You just walk out the door of your cabin and you’ve got fishing, boating, archery, shotgun, you know, playing, catching frogs. There’s just thousands of frogs on the property. Yeah. So Sheridan is a different world, you know, and so we’re trying to keep that a a Dave (33m 0s): A different experience. Steve (33m 1s): Yeah, yeah. It was just, you know, if it’s just something and, and there’s a lot of time and money’s been gone into the, the C Creek over there to keep it enhanced and quality for the fish and the fishery, so. Okay. Dave (33m 14s): And what are the other lakes around there? There’s, you know, you’ve got the Eagle Ridge Ranch, but then we met like Henry’s Lake, there’s a number of different public lakes right. That are out there as well. Steve (33m 24s): Yeah, well you have Island Park Reservoir Dave (33m 26s): Okay. Steve (33m 26s): Which is a, a big main lake. And then you have Henry’s Lake and those are the two big major lakes in this system. And then you’ve got a lot of rivers between all that, a river space between Henry’s Lake and Island Park Reservoir and below Island Park Reservoir, you got the, the Box Canyon Henrys Fork going into Mesa Falls. And, and then just down off the hill you got three Rivers, which is Robinson Creek, warm River and Henrys for come together and what they classify as Three Rivers section and, and they, you know, so there’s a lot of water starts floating out of this zone and this known as the North Fork. And then coming out of the east where you have Jackson Star Valley space, you’ve got the South fork of the snake. Steve (34m 7s): Yep. So coming through that drainage and then the two meet just down there in the valley. So it’s, it’s a pretty neat river system. Dave (34m 14s): Yeah. We’ve done a few episodes out in the area on, you know, on all that South fork And you know, kind of the rivers and streams and, and like I said, we had the school with Phil, which was great. So we’re, I think, and we’re hopefully gonna be back out there. I think we typically take a break and then maybe shoot for the following year. So I think we’re gonna be back out with Phil doing another thing at Sheridan and Henry’s, you know, potentially then. But yeah, this is good. So anything else? Can I take my hat off? Steve (34m 41s): Go ahead. I just take my hat off to guys like Phil because I was raised, you know, river and Creek and the lake has its own language in its own world. Yeah. And you gotta speak that language if you’re gonna be successful in the lake. So never underestimate just ’cause you think you’re Joe fly fisherman to go out to a lake and, and you you may just not produce. Yeah. Because those lake guys, like you say like Phil and stuff, they, they have learned that language and they are successful and so if you’re new into that lake fishing, it merits you to maybe grab a guide. Yeah. That’s familiar with that type of stuff because man, there’s, it’s, it’s the rivers spell it out pretty easy, you know, but the lakes are a different game. Dave (35m 24s): Oh right. Yeah. You think yes, the lakes are can be challenging. Right. That’s kind of the thing about it. Yeah. And do you fish yourself both lakes and streams it sounds like? Steve (35m 32s): Yeah, a a bit. I’m still kind of a more a river creek fishermen. I love the south org of the snake. That’s, you know, having fished all over the country that that’s, I just really enjoy that fishery. It gives you a lot. And I, I like to float, I like to float the 15 miles and pound the bank and fit the riffles. You know, that’s just a big variety fishery. That’s why I like the creek over there at Sheridan you got seven miles of crick to wander up and down and you’re never gonna fish that in the, in several days. Dave (36m 2s): No. And is that all a, that’s like a Spring Creek? Steve (36m 4s): Yeah, I’d say probably 80% of it is spring, but there is a Sheridan C Creek that comes off the mountain and so in the early spring you will get some mountain runoff coming through that and mixing with the spring itself and then coming into the lake. But in the winter months it’s interesting ’cause in the winter months you don’t have much of a runoff off that mountain. And so the crick there at Sheridan the first couple miles, it could be a minus 30 in the window winter for a week and you won’t get any shelf ice in the Eddie’s or nothing. That water temperature stays really high. Right. And never freezes. And that’s part of a healthy system Dave (36m 44s): God. And are people still fishing out there? Occasionally and like right in the winter, in the middle of the winter, Steve (36m 49s): Very rare. Yeah. It’s a little dangerous to go out there in the winter. There’s no cell service. You, you’re 10 miles and if you got five feet of snow you’re not walking anywhere very fast. And so Right. You have to be pretty careful of your equipment and who you’re with in that space In the winter, I, I go out there every week, all winter long. Dave (37m 7s): Oh you do. You’re out there every week. Steve (37m 9s): Yeah. And not just kind of checking on things over there. So I, I’m a minimum there once a Dave (37m 13s): Week. You, you head out to Sheridan pretty much once a week? Steve (37m 16s): Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I go to Sheridan every, every week and I ah, I check the river system and the, and the lake and the inlet and the outlet and check his, his space. And so I keep pretty good tabs on what’s going on over there. And, and it’s, it’s fun. I get, I get a few poachers that go in there and ice fish the lake and, and and they’re in and out of there and you don’t even know it. And, and, and that’s probably part of their fun. They’re thinking wow, this, they want a little bit of a crazy adventure and do something a little illegal in the meantime I guess. I don’t know. Right. Dave (37m 44s): Yeah. And are, I mean, are you taking a, in the middle of the winter, is it the A two Clark County Road? Is that there’s a county road, but is that something where you kinda have a snowmobile throughout the winter? Steve (37m 53s): Yeah, they only plow to the end of the pavement, which is about three miles from the lake. So you have three miles of space where you have no road access, no access in a vehicle. Yeah. Dave (38m 4s): So you take your snowmobile. Steve (38m 6s): Yeah, I just snowmobile from the ranch here, but they may change that. See they started paving that road across there ’cause there’s not very many roads between Highway 20 and Highway 15. And so they did start paving that. Now I’ve haven’t heard a confirmation whether they’re gonna keep it open in the winter months. Oh sure. Dave (38m 22s): Would that be a good thing or a bad thing for Sheridan? I guess it’s private So it doesn’t really matter. Steve (38m 27s): Yeah, it is don’t really affect me. I I kinda like where it, it has seven months of, of nobody out there, you know. Yeah. And so there’s nothing wrong with that that Dave (38m 35s): No, I think that is kind of good. Yeah. We’ve seen some of the same things in our area where they, you know, have talked about paving something or getting more access and there there’s something to be said about, you know, it takes a little work to get out to a place. Right. It just makes it a more, like you said, better experience. Steve (38m 49s): Yeah. A little bit of adventure. Yeah. People need adventures in their lives. Yeah. And especially where it isn’t all spelled out and it don’t all work out. Right. Dave (38m 56s): What is a snowmobile like for those that haven’t ridden a snowmobile? What, what is that? Are those, are you on the seat of your pants or is, could you get in some danger on that? Those things go pretty fast, right? Steve (39m 7s): Yeah, it’s, it’s not necessarily the speed that the speed gets you up. So I personally guide snowmobile rides in the winter. Hmm. I also work on the ambulance and I’ve seen some bad accidents on the ambulance ’cause snowmobiles don’t turn like an A TV ’cause you’re not on dirt or pavement. So when you’re flying through the woods and there’s a corner or a tree coming up, just ’cause you turn the handlebars don’t mean the sled went anywhere. It’s still going straight. Oh. Because the majority of that pressure’s on that track, not on the skis. And so I’ve just seen some bad stuff with trees and, and different things and, and so yeah. Snowmobile is not, you know, you can play with a little bit but it can get you in trouble real, real fast. Steve (39m 47s): Right. Dave (39m 48s): Probably a good idea, like you said to taking, you know, a lesson just like fishing, right. Getting somebody to teach you how to use ’em and all that stuff. Steve (39m 53s): Yeah. It doesn’t, doesn’t hurt. ’cause you know, you figure you have five plus feet of snow and you get stuck with a 600 pound machine. It’s not easy to pick a 600 pound machine up out of five feet of snow and try to figure out how you to get unstuck. You know? Dave (40m 5s): Great. Steve (40m 6s): Right. There’s a nale and that’s on flat ground, you know, and so there’s a knack to all that stuff to, it just pays to have experienced personnel in this world to do certain things. ’cause it’ll, it’ll teach you more in a day than you’ll learn 10 years on your own, you know? Yep. Dave (40m 23s): Yeah. And it seems like probably good to be maybe riding with somebody else too, right? In case something happens to have some backup and all that. Steve (40m 30s): Yeah. Yeah. When you’re in the mountains, it’s you if you don’t have life or death in the back of your mind all the time with what you’re doing. ’cause it can look like it’s okay but it can change so fast whether it’s weather or a condition and there’s just not a lot of people around to help you in some of this space. And so you just have to be really conscious of that. You know, all, all summer long walking around, even walking around here at Eagle Ridge Ranch, I mean I, I have grizzly bears coming through the ranch constantly and you just, most of the time they want nothing to do with you. But you know, if the Cajun changes, you know it. Yeah. You just have to be ready for the extremities and that’s part of the adventure, you know, that’s part of living in that space, you know. Dave (41m 10s): Yeah. That’s what makes it great. Are you guys walking around? Any parts out there with like bear mace or guns or anything? Like what’s your, you know, for a grizzly if just in case Steve (41m 19s): Well people have a different opinion on all that stuff. I keep 10 or 12 bear cans here in the office so anybody can take ’em and go anytime they want. I personally am not a bear can believer. Yeah. Having had multiple experiences with grizzly bears and with Bear Mace, I pack a 10 millimeter, not that I’m probably anti bear won’t hurt the bear, it’s just that if it’s him or me, it’s, I want it to be him. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Dave (41m 44s): Right. And a 10 millimeter night at night because you need a little more stopping force. Right. Steve (41m 48s): Well 10 millimeter. Yeah. It is a little more stopping force than also you’ve got that. I know revolvers are neat, but revolvers are probably used usually a bigger caliber. But having had experiences directly firsthand when stuff hits the fan, you want some options. And so six shots isn’t enough options in adrenaline dump space. And so the 15 shots of those calibers give you a couple more options. And so because it does, it has become pretty life threatening pretty fast. And that’s a lot of animal and Yeah. And he’s gonna do what he’s gotta do and you probably should do what you gotta do, you know? Right, right. Dave (42m 25s): Yeah. And there are those examples you hear about him, especially in the national parks where you’ve got millions of people and mixing with grizzly bears. Right. And they, I mean the bear, that’s the thing. You get these bears that they say once they get, you know, messed up because of humans, they gotta kill ’em because they’re just become troublesome bears. Right. And that’s kind of part of the problem. But what is that, you mentioned your kind of an experience you had with bears. Was there a story where you had like a close encounter or something kind of crazy? Steve (42m 48s): Well, I’ve got a, a handful of ’em and, and I don’t know that I wanna go too much into them right here. Yeah. ’cause little, Dave (42m 54s): Little too extreme. Steve (42m 55s): Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, and I actually fished about five years ago with a wildlife biologist and that it was a fishing game day, kind of a, a get out day on Sheridan Lake and one of those biologists had been attacked Oh wow. By a bear and by a grizzly. Yeah. By a grizzly. And he, they were going out to kind of monitor that bear and that bear, they kinda woke it up and, and, and he didn’t like to talk about his space either, you know, and it was just, it was just space that it is kind of traumatic and they just don’t always wanna get back into it. And so Yeah, I hear you. And I respect that with him. Totally. Yeah. You know, and I have another friend up here locally that he’s missing some fingers on his one hand and Oh geez. Steve (43m 39s): From a beer chewing on him and that wasn’t fun space for him either. No. You know, but it’s just part of being respectful of the animal and our space and just that that’s part of what we accept living in this area. Yeah. Dave (43m 53s): Right. That’s it. I think if the respect is the best word, you know, I think that the animals, for the most part it seems like are the same. Right. As long as you give them respect and space, you know, they don’t necessarily usually want to eat you. Right. They, they wanna just get something else. Steve (44m 5s): Yeah. 90% of the time my interactions with them, they don’t want nothing to do with you. No. Like if you get in my space, you’re not gonna like it. And if I get in their space, they’re gonna hold their space too. You know, it’s just like you said, you get in that, that certain space with ’em, they’re going to make sure that’s not where you should be. Dave (44m 22s): Yeah, exactly. Steve (44m 23s): And that’s basically the bottom line with it. And sometimes a lot of that happens accidentally, you know, and generally that’s what the case is, you know, and so, right, Dave (44m 32s): Right. Yeah, no, it’s a good reminder I think when you’re out there. Right. Just respect the wildlife and, and know where you are. You guys are in, you’re remote. Do you guys have on the remoteness, do you have ever, you know, recommend like the e perb thing where you have that button you could push or a if there is an issue you’re stuck out in the snow where somebody can like, fly in with the helicopter. Is, is that option available for people that are, you know, kind of worried about that? Steve (44m 53s): That’s a good point. I personally have an inReach that I keep on all the time. I use it for hunting and walking and, and snowmobiling. ’cause like I say, a lot of this area up here does not have cellular service. And so that inReach is just one of the tools. They have spots, they have a lot different tools, but that tool is, if you’re gonna spend time in the back woods in this area, you absolutely should have something. Not, not even if you don’t wanna have it for yourself, you should have it for maybe someone you’re with. ’cause you know, you should have the tools, especially where I guide and do things. I need to have the tools to make sure the public that are hanging out with me. I’ve done everything in my power to provide a quality experience for ’em regardless of what goes down. Steve (45m 36s): So, so my job is always to do what I can have control over. I’m going to, and what I don’t, I don’t. Dave (45m 43s): That makes sense. What is the on, on, you know, Sheridan, let’s say somebody’s thinking about heading out there for, you know, may through October and they call you on the phone and we’ll put your number there in the show notes so people can take a look when they call. What, what are good questions to be thinking about to ask to get ready for this? Or what are some common questions you get? Steve (46m 1s): Yeah, I think good question is, first of all, cover the bases with your, your clothing. You can have a rainstorm come through, drop the temperature, you get wet. Hypothermia is huge ’cause there’s not really great cell service out there right now. If you crawl up onto the dam, you’ll get, you can usually get cell service out, but if you can’t crawl up onto that dam, you may just be there. So be prepared, you know, and, and so safety wise, you know, that’s it. And make sure people are aware that you’re there. You know, obviously you’re probably gonna go with a friend and make sure he’s on page two. And then, and then equipment wise, you know, you, you just normal, your five to seven weight rods and I’m a believer and, and get away with the biggest tip that you can, if you can get away with four x, do it. Steve (46m 43s): But a lot of times you can’t. Those fish, they smarten up and you may have to go to some five x and and such, you know, and, and then yeah, just bring your whole hardware because you’ve got, you’ve got a really neat lake and you’ve got a crick and it’s a different dynamics in each one. And so, you know, you’re gonna have your, your crick hardware and you’re gonna have your lake hardware. Dave (47m 6s): Yeah. Do you feel like most people go in there, are fishing the lake and the, and the creek both? Or are they usually going for the lake? Steve (47m 13s): I think the most of ’em fish both. And some do just stay on the lake. They’re just happy with the lake. But I, I had a gentleman that he reserves the whole lake to his little group, you know, probably 30 times a year. Hmm. And he was just really, really a lake guy. He wandered over to the crick a couple times and he’s about 50 50 now. Yeah. It is hard to fish that crick when you stand on a shallow crick, crystal clear and you’ve got a 28 inch fish sitting in the, in the, in the hole there. And that, that fish is gonna tie up your time for several hours. And it’s not that fish’s first day on the job. And so you may not catch him and if you catch him you probably ain’t gonna land him. But how neat is that, you know? Steve (47m 55s): Right. Dave (47m 55s): That is neat to have Steve (47m 56s): The visual, the visual of that is what is pretty cool. Yeah. Dave (47m 59s): Because these fish from Sheridan are going up, these big fish are going into the lakes to spawn and just they migrate through there. Is that what’s going on? Steve (48m 6s): Yep. They travel back and forth and you get fish connected with the Island Park reservoir system and with the habitat built, the fish can hold over year round in the creek now, where before it was too shallow to hold a, a large fish in a year round system. And so, you know, even the Utah chub comes all the way up the C creek and spawns Huh. In that crick. And unfortunately, you know, not everybody’s pro that type of stuff, but really the food source that that provides to those big rainbows. So they get the eggs, they get the smoke, they get the minnows, they get all that, you know, until they migrate all the way back out to the lake. So that’s a great food source into that creek, you know, and then the chub doesn’t stay, they don’t stick around, they come up, they spawn and they go right back to that lake. Steve (48m 54s): And so they just leave their food source behind, you know. Gotcha. Dave (48m 57s): Yeah, it’s really cool when you look at it because yeah, island Park, you’ve got the connection of this Spring Creek waterway, basically stream that’s going between the two. So fish are migrating from Sheridan to Island Park and back and forth. Is that possible? Steve (49m 11s): Not into the lake itself, but in the crick section, yes. The lake is protected by ruling. You have to keep the lake fish can go out, but they really can’t come in. Oh. You know, it’s hard to get small mins and stuff can always travel here and there, you know, but the larger fish can’t pull up into the lake ’cause of the, the the fish weirs and stuff. And Dave (49m 36s): You’re saying pull into Island Park Reservoir or, or Steve (49m 38s): Sheridan. Go into Sheridan. Oh, I see. Yeah. So Sheridan stays its own system. Oh Dave (49m 42s): It does. Gotcha. So fish. So if there’s a big fish in Sheridan that’s a 20 eighter, it can migrate up into the creek to like spawn and hang out. Right. And then it could get back into Sheridan. Steve (49m 52s): It goes back into Sheridan. But the river system from Island Park Reservoir does not go up into the, into Sheridan Lake. Dave (49m 60s): Oh yeah, same. Right. So, and how do they keep fish from going? Yeah, I am trying to figure it out. Like you got this waterway, it looks like it goes between the two, but they’ve got some way to keep Island Park Reservoir fish from going into Sheridan. Steve (50m 10s): Yeah, just when they made the dam. Oh Dave (50m 12s): Yeah. Just there’s a dam. Yeah. Steve (50m 13s): They made the dam there and then they’ve got by the outlets they’ve got some weirs. Wheels. Wheels, yeah. Some stuff that kind of keeps, and that’s just part of the ruling system from fish and game. And the biologist, you know, they said this is how this, if you’re gonna have a dam, there’s rules to, you can’t just throw dams up and dam up cricks and create your own fishery. There’s rules to how that works and, and those rules are to keep, protect the fishery. And so you just follow those. Dave (50m 41s): There you go. Cool. Well this has been great. Let’s, let’s kind of take it out here pretty quick here with our segment, just kind of our mentoring shout out here. And we mentioned Phil Roy, he’s obviously been big for us. He has, he’s doing the Littoral Zone podcast in our network and which has been really great. So if anybody wants to get more information, obviously the Littoral zone will put links to that in the show notes. But, but what about for you? Have you had some mentors, sounds like you know, a little about fly fishing. Have you taught yourself this over the years, or, you know, over, it sounds like you’ve traveled the world too with the drift boats. Did you get a lot of guide? Yeah, yeah, Steve (51m 13s): Yeah. With the drift boats and then fly fishing, all these different river systems. You know, you deliver a boat to New York, you’re gonna float the Delaware River, you know? Right. It’s a wonderful fishery. And you go into Michigan, you’re gonna fish the Pi Marquette or the Muskegon or the Massee. Wow. And, and you go make connections and relationships with those fishermen that are fishing those rivers. And you spend a week with them here and there and you, and you fish and, and so yeah, I learned to fly fish as a very young kid. You know, I’ve remember fishing the Beaverhead River in, in, in Montana and standing on the banks of that river. And so I had some great exposure to that type of stuff. And unfortunately I got the bug. You know, I just, I just could not hardly stand going to work until my work became my, my job, my fishery job. Steve (51m 58s): And then, man, it really, it really took Dave (52m 0s): Off. What, what did that feel like when you’re, when the, that became your full-time thing or you know, the boats and all that stuff? What’d that feel like? Steve (52m 7s): Yeah, well you never ever have that attitude. I gotta go to work today. Yeah. You know, it’s like, I’m so excited and, and I’m traveling here today and traveling there and doing this and, and to have the exposure to the river systems throughout the world. And they’re just all neat and gorgeous and have their own stuff and, and so yeah, it was, it’s been an amazing venture to be in the outdoor world pretty much all my life. And that’s, and I still love it, man. I just get so excited. Dave (52m 38s): Yeah, it sounds like it. Yeah. You’re still into all the outdoors. You still love getting on the water and fishing, hunting, just kinda like a kid, right? Steve (52m 44s): Yeah. I love seeing the animals. I mean, people think that the hunting part of it, it is, it’s hunting. You’re out there looking and I don’t know, it’s not killing. No, I mean my consider a successful outing if I can see the animals and watch ’em in their natural environment and interact with them. And if we need to take one, great. If we, but 99% of the time we don’t take one. We just go out there and experience life with them. And the ideal time is when they’re not, they don’t know you’re there. So you get to see them living naturally and and that’s a trophy right there. That’s as good as it gets. Yeah. Dave (53m 18s): That’s what it’s about. What were on the boats. Did you guys send those boats? It sounds like they were all over the country. Did they also, where was the furthest place when you were working there that the hide boats went to? Steve (53m 28s): South America is probably the furthest space we were sending boats down and my dad actually purchased property down there and Oh wow. We started hanging out down there and, and, and rivers that never really been floated and you didn’t know where the Putins were and you didn’t know where the takeouts were and you didn’t know. Gosh. You know, ’cause none of that stuff is figured out in those remote countries. Dave (53m 47s): Yeah. Is this like Argentina chili, like Patagonia? Steve (53m 50s): Yeah. It was the chili, you know, it was by the, by the food of the fu the port mon, you know, chi tan and all that stuff. And Wow. You know, and it was just unbelievable to see, you know, 25 inch brown trout roll off the bottom of these rivers and up and because they just, they didn’t get exposure to artificial fly, you know? Dave (54m 11s): Were you sending these, were these fiberglass boats and at the start, did you guys make aluminum boats or was it, was it always fiberglass? Steve (54m 17s): Yeah, that’s a good question. So there’s always been a controversy between the aluminum boat manufacturers and the fiberglass boat manufacturers, you know, going way back in time, you know? Yeah. And so we kind of started in the wood world and we then evolved into this fiberglass world and the aluminum world. So we were the only manufacturer that made both aluminum boats and fiberglass boats. Dave (54m 40s): That’s what I thought. Yeah, I thought I remember seeing that. So you guys did that back in the day? Steve (54m 43s): Yeah. And so the cool thing was is the luum boats had some great advantages and they had tons of disadvantages and the fiberglass the same. And so we kind of took and made a combo, a boat that was part fiberglass and part of aluminum. So we took the advantages from the two products and put ’em together. Wow. And that product took off like crazy ’cause it had the best of both worlds. Dave (55m 6s): And what was that, because this is interesting ’cause I, I love the, what is the, you know, how’d you, what were the combined, what were the good things from each that you put together? Steve (55m 13s): Alright, so Luum boats, they had the whole of the boat was really strong, but it was noisy, it was hot, it was cold, it dented and it stuck on rocks bad. Yep. But it had some good strength fiberglass, you know, it naturally slid over rocks. Nice. And it wasn’t noisy. You didn’t get all the banging and it wasn’t hot and it wasn’t cold, kind of maintained its temperature better. So we made the hole of the boat out of a fiberglass material and there’s lots of variants to that. You can do kevlars and all these other, Dave (55m 43s): And the whole carbons and the whole, and describe that. What, what is the hole of the boat? Steve (55m 46s): The main outside shell? Dave (55m 48s): Yeah, main outside shell. Okay. Steve (55m 49s): Yeah. And so what we took positive wise from the aluminum part of it was to make a fiberglass box that moves and adjusts and the lids, the material’s soft and So it doesn’t hold up. And so you have to make the boxes really thick to make ’em out of fiberglass. And then they get real heavy. And so what we did was we incorporated the aluminum boxes inside the fiberglass hole. So you have a better adjustable seat system, really lightweight boxes, but super strong and they can have proper hinges and they don’t rip out And you know, all that stuff. And So it made a huge, and then even internally, like in the floor of a fiberglass boat, you bolt something to a false floor, like your level floor. Steve (56m 30s): Yeah. And you bolt it like a seat pedestal. Well that’s just gonna tear right out as soon as you get the weight on it. Fiberglass is soft enough, that bolt’s just gonna rip out of the floor. So you incorporate aluminum into the floor and so you’re bolting actually through metal again. And so when you install parts, you’re installing them back in the metal, but it looks like it’s a fiberglass. And so, yeah. So that was kind of a neat, neat space to be on the, the leading edge of that. Dave (56m 55s): Wow. So basically, yeah. You guys were, ’cause I mean I, I know a lot about aluminum boats and Yeah, everything you said is true, right? I mean it’s, they’re tough but they’ve got a lot of downsides too. But you guys combined, you know, the best of both worlds. And now on the boats today, I know you’re not in the loop as much, but are they still combining the both of the things? Oh, totally. Steve (57m 14s): Aluminum. Dave (57m 14s): Yeah. Yeah. Steve (57m 15s): You totally, and all, all the products, you still, there are spots that, ’cause we don’t wanna, we don’t wanna deal with the, as a manufacturer and as a company, your problem’s my problem. So if something’s bothering you or something’s not holding up, that really comes back and makes my life miserable. And so anytime you can make something maintenance free and function for a long period of time with very little upkeep, that’s a bonus for both of us. And so that’s what you’re going after is stuff that just works day in and day out. And, and I see new boat companies that they would come along and they’d be doing different things with their ore locks. Or like take for instance, like a, a white ore block, the UV will break down a white ore block like in the years’ time you don’t even Oh wow. Steve (58m 2s): But where if you make it outta black, black has UV inhibitor in it. A lot of people don’t know that basic thing. But through Sure time and hard knocks you’re like wow, these guys are still using white ore blocks. Like, you know, they just don’t have that mileage yet. And and only the experienced person, I don’t care if you are a painter or what you are when you look at stuff because your experience allows you to understand why you still don’t do that stuff, you know? Yeah, Dave (58m 25s): Yeah. Totally. No, that makes complete sense. I was, yeah. So I mean that sounds like that’s from Height’s perspective, I was thinking about that. Like what separated you guys, where was the success come from? It sounds like some of those innovations are what kind of set you guys apart from some of the other boats out there. Steve (58m 39s): Yeah, well we made a fly fishing boat. We just didn’t bring a boat from Oregon and try to force it into the fly fishing world. It had to be changed because we wanted to stand up all day and be comfortable leaning into a set of braces that didn’t hit you on the kneecaps. And we wanted level floors. They didn’t have level floors in any of that stuff back then. Dave (58m 58s): God, that’s so nice. Yeah. Steve (58m 59s): Yeah. So all those little things and when you’re a manufacturer it’s so much fun ’cause it’s like, well, you know, I don’t like this. Well what do we gotta do? Change it. Yeah. Dave (59m 8s): Change it because Steve (59m 8s): We were using the product, you know, and So it just, it never ends, you know. That’s a neat, a neat space to be in when you can go back to the office and walk back into the plant and say, how do we change this? This doesn’t work. You know, and they can change it real fast and away you go. Huh. Dave (59m 23s): Is your, was your dad a big fly or a fisherman, fly angler at all? Steve (59m 27s): Oh absolutely. Yeah. And as a young, you know, he had a wonderful childhood growing up. They would trap muskrats and skin ’em in his kitchen and that was their livelihood, you know, that would pay some of their bills and you’d only get a couple dollars out of a muskrat skin, but to take you half the day to go acquire the muskrats, you know, that’s just the environment he lived in. And so fishing in the early days was livelihood and then it become hobby, you know? Yeah. Gotcha. Dave (59m 55s): Right on. Cool. Well just want to, a couple of random ones then we’ll get outta here more on the area itself. So you mentioned like shooting. What, what’s your, as far as hunting, do you have a hunting you really in or are you doing some big game, you do a little bit of everything? Or is it more fishing? Steve (1h 0m 11s): I do both, but I, the hunting thing, I don’t push too hard just ’cause people watch these videos on TV and it’s a 30 minute show and they kill a 350 inch bull elk and, and they want to show up here and take 30 minutes and go kill a bull elk. And I’m like, eh, that’s not really how it works, you know? No. You know, I know people that hunt a lifetime to not produce a three 50 inch bull, you know, on public land and in the environment. And if that’s your go-to, this probably ain’t the place for you. No. You want a world class experience and if you can’t enjoy just being up on the mountain, enjoying it, and if some success shows up, great. But man, we just live in an era where people want everything instantaneously. We want the whole package right now and you are missing the boat because you know the, to, to hear and see wildlife and not see another human being for the day. Steve (1h 1m 1s): You, well, why is that not the trophy, you know, that is the trophy. Yeah. And to, to encounter a grizzly bear that didn’t eat you, you know, why is that not a trophy? You know what I mean? Yeah, that’s neat. That’s good stuff. And to watch the sow with some cubs. And so anyway, that’s kind of how my, my vision and, and that’s not for everybody. Some people do want that instantaneous success. There are places you can go to do that. It is just not what I’m selling. Dave (1h 1m 25s): I love it. No, I love that takeaway because I think it’s a lot like, you know, fishing, fly fishing especially right? Where sure, you know, it’s good to get into fish, catch fish, you wanna have success, but at the end of the day, a lot of people, and we’ve talked about this a lot, just being on the water, being out, you know, learning something new that day Right. Is what it’s all about. Totally, totally. Being outdoors. Steve (1h 1m 43s): Yeah. To watch a fish feed for half an hour and not even cast to it, you know, just to see everything it’s doing to survive in its environment. And we, we jump past that sometimes too often. Yeah. And you just, we just gotta slow ourselves down a little bit and, and in this world, I see it all the time. I see families come up here for a family reunion and they are bouncing off the walls for, oh man, the first two days. And then finally I see a boy walk around the pond, pick up a stick and just piddle around. He just finally detoxed and he’ll catch a frog, you know, and that space, you know, where we give live in these busy places, it takes a minute to settle down. Dave (1h 2m 22s): Yeah, I love that. That’s a perfect takeaway. And then, and give us one on the area. So if somebody was coming in there and they were gonna be fishing may or maybe even doing some snowmobiling in the winter, is there a restaurant? What would you recommend if somebody’s gonna get food in the evening in the area? Is is Island Park, is that the closest town? Yeah, Steve (1h 2m 37s): Yeah. So, you know, the ranch, the Eagle Ridge Ranch that only about six miles off of 20. And so there are several restaurants up and down 20 and there’s a really nice new grocery store about eight miles away, 10 miles away. And you can get the proper meals. All our cabins come with grills and all the propane you want. And so you can cook your own food and, and we do not do the food thing on site ourselves, but there, you you, there’s places to get, you know, island Park is not totally down where you, you know, you can get a place to eat and, and you can get some food and some groceries and and stuff. So Dave (1h 3m 15s): Yeah. Sounds great. Okay. And what about our, our music podcast on the road trip? So if you’re traveling around to, you know, the next destination in your car, you listen to more music or, or a podcast? Steve (1h 3m 26s): For myself Dave (1h 3m 28s): Yeah, just for yourself when you’re out there. Steve (1h 3m 30s): You know, I am not, I I love learning and I love learning stuff. I’m not a big news guy. And I do have a handful of podcasts that I go to because I usually air ’em once a week and I subscribe to podcasts and I get a little inside. I’m, I do a lot of church stuff and I like to help my spirit and so I do listen to spirituals podcast. I’m just not a generic radio guy at all. Yeah. And I haven’t been for years. If I’m gonna put something in my head, I want to have it to be my choice and I capitalize on, like, this podcast would be very interesting, you know, and, and other, other podcasts and stuff and gives me a little, little boost. Steve (1h 4m 14s): I wanna feel good at the end of the end of my, our space whether I’ve learned or felt something. And so I think that’s what we need. Dave (1h 4m 21s): That’s right. Yeah, I agree. I, yeah, things have changed a lot. I think the podcast space is really cool because, you know, it’s a way you could just hear some stories and learn about something. I love the learning, you know, I have a bunch of podcasts I subscribe to, just to, you know, I’m, whatever it is, you know, just something I’ve learned about that, that month or that week. So good. Okay, Steve, well I think we’ll leave it there. We will send everybody out to eagle ridge ranch.com and we’ll put a link in the show notes to that and then your number if they want to connect with you. And yeah, this has been a lot of fun. I appreciate you, there’s so much information here and knowledge on your background, maybe down the line we’ll get some more I guests on to dig in deeper to some of these topics. But yeah, thanks for all your time today. Steve (1h 4m 57s): Yeah, yeah, I sure appreciate it. And this is the first podcast I’ve ever been on this end of it and so I hope it went all right. Dave (1h 5m 6s): There you go. What a great story. We touched on the high drift boat story. We touched on Eagle Ranch, Sheridan Lake, the Steelwater School, all the good stuff going out there. So if you’re interested in finding out more and you wanna check out this area, whether that’s hunting, fishing, winter sports, or if you wanna get on our next Stillwater School, go to Eagle Ranch and check in with Steve. Let him know you heard this podcast. If you’re interested in the Stillwater School, which we are gonna be doing here, you can check in with me, send me email dave@wetlyswing.com and just mention Stillwater School. We’re gonna be doing this and, and we’re gonna be doing it with Phil Roy. So let me know if you’re interested there and I think I’m gonna leave it there today. I appreciate you for stopping by Traveled and I hope that you can live that dream trip this year and that you can get off the beaten path and experience that road less traveled. Dave (1h 5m 49s): We’ll talk to you soon.