Traveled #25 | The Golden Triangle of Fly Fishing with Lindsay Szofran – Team USA, Yellowstone Teton Territory

Dave (1s): The Golden Triangle of Fly Fishing sits at the crossroads of Montana, Eastern Idaho, and Wyoming, a region known for some of the most legendary waters on the planet, like the Henry’s Fork, the Madison, the Snake, and much more. Today we’re joined by a guide who knows these waters inside and out, and is representing Team USA at the World Championships this year in the Golden Triangle. She is here today to share some of her wisdom for this region and to let you know what makes it so special and help you plan that unforgettable trip out West. Hey, how’s it going? This is Dave. I’m hosting the Travel podcast today. I’ve been fly fishing since I was a little kid, grew up around a little fly shop and created one of the largest fly fishing podcasts in this country. Dave (42s): Today, Lindsay Zofran Trout and Steelhead Guide is here to share some of her best tips on fishing these technical waters out west. This includes multiple states, Montana. We’re gonna talk Idaho, Oregon. You’re gonna find out how she is preparing for her next World championship event in eastern Idaho. You’re gonna find out and discover how she fishes the longest Undammed River in the USA when you can start fishing that the best time of year. And also, we’re gonna get into a little spay, steelhead and Trout spay. She’s got some big influencers names that you’ve likely heard of before. We’re gonna to get into all that today. Plus we’re gonna hear about the legendary battle of the of team USA fly fishing ladies versus men versus youth. Dave (1m 25s): We’re gonna find out who would be the winner if we had a championship on that level. This episode of Travel Today is presented by Yellowstone Teton territory, where you can explore great fishing, hunting, hot springs, winter sports, and so much more. We’ve been covering this and we’re gonna dig in today to some of these, these actions. All right, so here we go. Let’s do it. Lindsay Zofran from Fly fishing adventures.com. How you doing, Lindsay? Good Lindsay (1m 54s): Morning. Dave (1m 55s): Yeah, yeah. This is gonna be, this is gonna be a fun one today. I think you have a lot going on out there. We’re gonna talk a little bit today about kinda the Yellowstone area, the greater Yellowstone area. You’ve got some Grand Ron, some spay, steelhead, trout, like all that. These are gonna be huge today, plus, and the big thing is, is that the World Championships are coming, so as we speak, it’s, it’s February, you know, this episode prize is gonna go live in March or April, and right around the corner is the World Championship. So first off, let’s just kick it off there. What’s the, how does that feel? It feels like that’s right around the corner. Are you, are you stressed right now? Or is that something that’s just like, you’re, you’re ready to roll? Lindsay (2m 30s): You know, it’s coming up very quickly and I’m very excited. This is the fourth women’s only Fly Fishing World Championships, and we get to host here in the United States, which, you know, it’s just such a great opportunity to, you know, invite our friends that we’ve made from around the globe to come experience the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. You know, we’re going to be holding the competition in the Golden Triangle. So, you know, parts of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. There’s just some really fantastic trout waters in that area, Dave (3m 12s): In that area. So that, and I’ve heard that before, the Golden Triangle. So what is the, the triangle is what Montana. Talk about that, what are, what are the spots that make up that, and do you know where you’re fishing right now? Lindsay (3m 23s): We do know where we’re fishing. And so the most southern river is going to be the Grays River, which is a tributary of the snake. And Then we will also be fishing the Henry’s Fork as well as the Warm River. And then in all of these competitions, we also have a lake component. So two lakes that we’re fishing. One is a private lake in the Island Park region called Sheridan Lake. And then one of my favorite lakes is Hep Lake in Montana, just on the edge of Yellowstone Park. Dave (3m 59s): Wow, that’s awesome. Yeah, so, and this is great because we’ve talked about a lot of these on the podcast. You know, we’ve talked about Sheridan. We had a, a Stillwater school with, with Phil Roy. We’ve, you know, Hebgen is one, we haven’t gone deep, but I’ve heard a lot about it. And of course the Henry’s Fork, so, so this is cool. So that’s the rivers. Maybe before we jump in, ’cause we’re gonna talk about your, your guiding program, you know, what you do out in the Yellowstone area, and like we said, some of the steelhead stuff. But for the world championships, what does your preparation look like? Like let’s just say from right now, like now until then, are you pretty much ready to go or do you do a lot of practicing training? You know, how, how do you, you know, maybe talk about that a little bit? Lindsay (4m 39s): You know, it’s always lots of preparation, always training. And right now we’re in Sub-Zero temperatures here in Montana. This morning I woke up and it was 17 below, so I can’t say I’ve been doing a ton of fishing in the last few weeks, but of course, you know, there’s lots of other preparations and plenty of flies to be tied and always just research on the rivers and, you know, getting boxes organized and just mentally preparing. You know, sometimes these competitions are as much of a, you know, physical endeavor as they are a mind game. Lindsay (5m 20s): And so, Dave (5m 21s): Right. It’s, I mean, it, it’s really, I find it really interesting because I haven’t ever been to one, so hopefully, hopefully this year I’ll learn a lot more about, you know, the process. But we’ve had a lot of people on that have talked about it, you know, just the competition itself, you know, for you, have you been involved with the kind of the world championships, the team USA for a while? Maybe talk about that. What is your background? How’d you come into being on the team? Lindsay (5m 45s): You know, my first involvement with Team USA goes back, I think about 2014. And my husband had entered a competition and I had volunteered to be a controller, and I rode a drift boat around a lake and measured fish for the competitors. And so that was my first introduction into competitive fishing. So, but for the women’s team specifically, it was back in 2020 that they announced they were going to have the first ever competition for, they actually call it ladies. Lindsay (6m 26s): And that was supposed to be held in 2021. So the normal way to choose a team is through competitive events and based on, you know, how you do in those competitions. Well, of course, during the pandemic, that was very hard. There was no competitions, no getting together. So there was a team, an inaugural team chosen based off of interviews and recommendations and things like that. And I was part of that inaugural team that then tried to, you know, build the organization and get us prepared. Lindsay (7m 6s): Of course, with the pandemic, that got postponed an additional year. So, because the world event then got postponed to 2022, we had the opportunity to actually have competitions and the first ever Ladies national championship, which helped determine who would represent the United States at the world level in Norway for that first ever women’s event. Dave (7m 35s): Was that 2022 or 23? Lindsay (7m 37s): That was 2022. In 2023. We went to Canada in 2024. This past May, we were over in the Czech Republic. And then for the fourth worlds, of course, this coming July, we’ll be hosting here in the United States. Dave (7m 58s): There you go. So Norway, Canada, Czech Republic, United States now. And it’s been interesting ’cause I’ve been tracking this a little bit. I know the, the youth team has been doing well recently. I know the, I guess the ma well, there’s a couple of the guys, right? The masters, there’s a couple levels there. How have the women’s been doing, how do you feel like, you know, things are going? How do you feel like your chances, how has it looked this year? Lindsay (8m 20s): You know, it’s very exciting to be, you know, on home waters, of course. And what’s really great about our team, you know, just going back to Norway, some of us had only known each other for three months before we were competing together as a team. And now that we’ve known each other for, you know, four years now, we just have learned to, you know, understand each other’s phishing techniques, learned how to better communicate what’s going on, and to support each other to, you know, do the best we can out on the water. And so, you know, I think going back to Norway, I remember a conversation I had with the gold medalist, a gal from the Czech Republic, a fantastic angler. Lindsay (9m 11s): And at that time, I told her that we’d been fishing together as a team for three months. And she said, oh, we’ve been fishing together as a team for 15 years. Dave (9m 23s): Oh, wow. Lindsay (9m 24s): And so, you know, you think about fishing with your best buddy and you just communicate. You learn to communicate with each other, you understand your style. You, you can go out and really be more effective when you can work well together. Dave (9m 40s): Yeah, that’s a big thing. So basically you’re building, building this team. I mean, that, that’s part of, this is gonna take some time to get up there. What, what do you feel like, you know, when you look at this year, what would you be telling somebody’s listening right now, maybe they haven’t been to a world championships, what would you tell them? Why would they find this interesting to go and watch this event? Or maybe even volunteer? Talk about that a little bit. Lindsay (10m 2s): Yeah, we’re certainly looking for volunteers. And the most fantastic thing about volunteering is some of these volunteers will have the opportunity to be streamside and watching some of the best anglers fish. And it’s an incredible opportunity to learn, especially some of those controllers will be on the same waters and they’ll see how people from different countries fish the water, use different techniques, and if they wanna take that back into their own angling, I think there’s a lot to learn. And it’s a really incredible opportunity. Dave (10m 44s): Yeah, it is. It’s, it’s interesting because in this year, I think the way it’s gonna work is there’ll be the women’s and the youth are, right, I think you’re fishing different times, but this year in, in eastern Idaho, right? Lindsay (10m 56s): Yeah. The events will be happening, you know, at the same time. Oh, okay. You know, we’ll have an opening ceremony where we will all, all parade down the street together. And that’s always just a really fantastic event for spectators to see, you know, the flags waving from different countries, you know, represented countries from all around the globe, you know, with both youth teams and women’s teams. And it’s really just this really fantastic bringing people together for a common interest. What I love about it, every year it just becomes more enjoyable because I’ve actually made friends with people from some of these other countries. Lindsay (11m 37s): So it becomes this reunion of friends and, you know, this great comradery to go out and enjoy the sport and, you know, respect the waters, be conservationist. Dave (11m 52s): Exactly. What is the parade? I mean, that sounds really, really interesting. Is this what, what town is this in? Lindsay (11m 58s): The event will be based out of Idaho Falls. And Idaho Falls has that great river walk, and we will be marching along that. Dave (12m 10s): Gotcha. Wow. So this is gonna be Idaho Falls. Yeah. Which is really a cool place. And, and so there’ll be this whole thing, this international parade. And then also, like we said, the volunteers. So I think, and we’ll probably have a link out, I think Glad is kind of helping set things up at we, we, we’ll get people connected if they wanna volunteer or they can just reach out to me as well, and I can connect them because this sounds good. So, and when is the, when is the Idaho Falls? Like when does the parade and when does the comp start? Lindsay (12m 37s): So the opening ceremonies will be July 12th, and then the next day will be for athletes to prepare and get ready to start fishing. And fishing will happen on Monday through Friday. So each angler actually fishes five different venues throughout the week. So each country has five representatives and one angler from each country is on one of those waters. And then you rotate through, and that’s where you know it being a team event, it’s really crucial to be able to share intel with your fellow teammates because the waters that I’m fishing one day, my teammates fishing the next day, and I wanna be able to give them as much information as I can to help them be as successful as possible. Dave (13m 34s): Right, right, right. Gotcha. And when you’re out there, so basically you’re gonna prepare for this, you know, and, and you know, as the home country, it seems like we would have the advantage, right? Because you’re out there, you’re, you know, the waters, you can prepare a little bit, but, but how does that look once you get out there? I mean, I guess conditions in July. Do you feel like you all like team USA has a chance at this? Is it like any year? Does anybody have a chance or, or do you feel like there’s still a lot of work to do before you can get up on, on the podium? Lindsay (14m 3s): You know, there’s always a chance, but there’s always, you can’t ever just expect anything and you have to put the work in and, you know, you have to make smart decisions and have a good strategy and, you know, but there’s a lot of, you know, curve balls that could always be thrown in. We have had events where waters have flooded, you know, you just never know. And there is this, you know, a little bit of a luck of the draw. I do feel that these waters that will be fishing, the beets are going to be very fair. And you know, sometimes you’ll get a beat where there’s just no, you know, very few fish and one beat’s just, you know, full of them right on these waters. Lindsay (14m 49s): I really feel like the beets are going to be fair and it’s gonna be based on, you know, the anglers skills and deficiencies in those waters. Dave (14m 60s): Okay. And the waters you talked about, you mentioned a few of them, but the, some of the rivers, the Grays River, the Warm River, those are a couple we haven’t talked about. And then, and then you also mentioned some of the guiding you do on the Yellowstone, but are now, have you fished the Grays River or the, is it the Warm River or was that the other one? Lindsay (15m 14s): Yeah, the Grays River. The Warm River and the Henry’s Fork. And you know, for me, fortunately, I have fished all of those rivers before I, I grew up in this area and Oh, right. Have spent many days fishing in the region. So I am excited about that. And, you know, hopefully, you know, can share some of my knowledge of the area with teammates and the teammates, all the teammates of fished those rivers as well, which is great. You know, there’s just something about knowing a river and understanding it’s, what do you call it? Dave (15m 56s): How it changes, how well you got so much. I mean, when I, when I look at a stream, it’s overwhelming for a lot of people, right? The trout streams, because you’re, you’re thinking, okay, there’s all these bugs, there’s hatches, there’s different temperatures, and water temperatures, and, and you kinda sit there and that’s where you get lost, right? I think that’s where fly fishing, and that’s the great thing about it. ’cause it can be challenging. So, and when you add competition onto it, I can imagine that, right? If you’re not ready for the game, you could, you know, you could maybe not do well, but yeah, those are the challenges, right? So when, so when somebody come, let’s just take it to the Warm River or the, let’s just take it to the Warm river. I, I’ve never fished the Warm River, but as you look at that, one does that in July, do you know what to expect for hatches? Dave (16m 36s): Do you know what you already thinking, like what you might be fishing there? You Lindsay (16m 40s): Know, certainly we have a pretty good idea of what to be expecting, but as we know with water temperatures and weather, you know, oftentimes things might be a week earlier or two weeks late or whatever it might be. So we’ll go in prepared for, for it and, you know, always trying to make the best decisions along the way. Dave (17m 5s): Gotcha. And so we got these rivers. Let’s talk a little bit, let, let’s swing this a little bit and we’ll come back around probably to some of the, the comp as we go, but, and let’s just stay in the air, the Yellowstone. So you guiding, maybe start off with your guiding operation. Where do you spend most of your time? I know right now you’re probably not out doing much guiding, but once the season kicks off for you, what’s the stream that you spend most of your time on? Lindsay (17m 28s): You know, primarily I spend most of my time on the Yellowstone River and one of the tributaries of the Yellowstone called the Still Water, which is actually a very deceptive name. It is nothing. But still, it actually has quite a few, you know, not huge, but quite a few rapids on it. And yeah, you know, great riffles for fishing and Dave (17m 51s): So, gotcha. Yeah, so it’s, yeah, I mean, everything out there has got some gradient. That’s the cool thing about that country. You know, it’s, it’s, well you do have steel waters of course, but you’ve got a lot of mix. And so when you’re fishing the Yellowstone, so paint the picture there, this is a pretty decent sized river, right? Are you mostly floating it in drift boats or rafts? Lindsay (18m 8s): You know, on the Yellowstone, I have a drift boat and fish out of that, you know, obviously a lot of listeners are probably familiar with the Yellowstone, you know, bigger River definitely has some calmer sections, but you know, there’s definitely some places where you can hit some waves as well. But the drift boat’s a great tool for that river, whether we’re fishing out of the boat or using the boat as a tool to get from place to place and getting out and waiting, Dave (18m 39s): Getting out and going for it. And does the Yellowstone, do you fish maybe talk about that on the sections, because you’ve got this, I mean, it is an amazing area. We’ve, we’ve talked about it, right? The Yellowstone area and the National Parks. What area are you typically fishing? Or maybe we will keep it on the floating. Lindsay (18m 55s): You know, where we’ve guide primarily is actually downstream of Livingston where, you know, it’s, you know, some old books that you might read, say there’s no trout down there. And I encourage people to keep believing that. Right, right. Because it then, you know, it’s not as heavily used. Okay. And, but you know, it was Yellowstone’s a great, great river, you know, it’s the longest Undammed River in the United States. Dave (19m 28s): Oh it is? Oh, the Yellowstone is the longest Undammed River in the United States. That is amazing. I didn’t know that. Lindsay (19m 34s): You know, I just love free stones and, you know, the energy of a, you know, free flowing river. Dave (19m 41s): That’s super cool. And do you know the length, or I’m guessing, let me guess it ’cause I don’t know, I’m just gonna throw it out. Is it’s, it’s what, like 500 miles long? Lindsay (19m 50s): It is. I wish I remembered the exact number, but it’s just a little over 500 miles. Dave (19m 55s): Nice. I’m, I’m doing good. Okay. Yeah, 500 miles. So good. Guess so. An und damn river for 500 miles, which is in this day and age is pretty amazing, right? Because you think of all the dams, I mean, there’s literally truly, I mean, probably tens of thousands of dam, who knows, but, and then Livingston, maybe just describe your pro, let’s, let’s just take it to, you know, I guess I’m guessing summer is peak time, but when is the time where, like if we were sitting here talking to you thinking, oh man, you know, we want to get out on a trip with you this year. Where would we be thinking, would you say there’s a certain month, a time, or a hatch we should shoot for? Lindsay (20m 27s): Yeah, you know, certainly summer is the height of the season, and we do have runoff that occurs. I always, you know, say late May to mid-June, and usually that’s a time of year that’s always out. Sometimes there’s places to go, but it’s, you know, day to day. But by, you know, mid to late June, usually the rivers are clear enough that we can get out there. And most of the season in that time, I usually start on the Stillwater River. It clears before the Yellowstone River. And so we can get out and we fish that out of a raft. Lindsay (21m 12s): And at the beginning of the season, sometimes we are, you know, we’re in the boat all day because the river’s still really high. Dave (21m 21s): So yeah, we’re, we’re kind of narrowing in on, you know, we’re narrowing in on the Yellowstone, like putting together a trip. I always love doing this because we have a group or you know, we call it the shop Wetly Swing Pro, where we’ve got some people in there that are building trips together. Right. We’re talking about where we’re going next. So I’m plan, I’m thinking of this like, we’re planning a trip to the Yellowstone, maybe we’re gonna be driving by there. In fact, I, we just drove by this last summer on our way to Wisconsin. Didn’t actually fish, although we stopped along the way. But let’s just say that, so you got Livingston, we’re going down river. So now you’re saying it’s high water on the Yellowstone, but probably, when does that come in? Is that more of a fall fishery or is it sometime in August? Does that kind of get good? Lindsay (21m 58s): You know, of course it’s dependent year to year, but usually by mid-July the Yellowstone will shape up. So prior to its clearing, I am usually on the Stillwater River, which clears much quicker. And it’s a tributary that dumps into the Yellowstone near the town of Columbus. You know, it’s a great freestone. We use the raft on the Stillwater River and you know, at high water it’s clear, but we probably mostly spend the day fishing out of the raft as the water drops, Then we can get out and do some wade fishing as well. Lindsay (22m 41s): And you know, the fun thing about the steel water is, you know, it does have some, you know, fun rapids on it. So on those hot days, you know, sometimes we just hang on to the rods for, you know, little bits and hit some waves and get wet and have a good time with some white water as well as the fishing. Dave (22m 59s): Are these kind of like class two three sort of thing? Or is there some bigger stuff? Lindsay (23m 3s): Yeah, like class two, you know? Yeah, there’s some bigger things at, you know, certain water levels, Dave (23m 9s): But Oh, certain water. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you ever been in a, in the white water of any type where you’ve been a little bit, kind of in a tricky situation or maybe almost, you know, dumping or something like that? Lindsay (23m 19s): You know, my first experience with real Whitewater was actually down in the Royal Gorge and my husband used to guide there and he took me there when we were still dating. And actually I think we were married anyhow, he said, whatever you do, don’t fall outta the boat and whatever you do, don’t fall outta the boat. Yeah. This is the biggest rapid on the river. Whatever you do, don’t fall outta the boat. Hold on. Well guess what, you know, I fell out of the boat really, and went for a pretty good swim. And of course, you know, it’s the place where the photographer is set up to take all these pictures and then sell them. Well, I had, you know, a whole reel of me completely drenched and, you know, oh, that’s cool. Dave (24m 4s): That’s cool. So you still have those photos to this day that we can, you could, you got the action shots of you falling in? Lindsay (24m 9s): Yeah, and that was my first Oh, that’s funny. Real whitewater experience. And we had done that as a preparation because we were getting ready to go on a Grand Canyon trip. Oh, nice. And I’ve been lucky to have been to have gone on several of those, you know, just fun white water down there and just in Right. And the Grand Canyon’s just a special place and there’s so many oasis and amongst the big white water and Dave (24m 37s): God. That’s great. So you’ve been on, you’ve been on one of the rivers. We’ve talked a little about that over the years when we did our, we did our Drift boat series on this podcast here, where we were kind of covering boats and those Doris, those wooden Doris was, I was really fascinated with because of those things. Right. Taking a drift boat down the, you know, through the Grand Canyon, through the Colorado. Did you see those when you were on the, in the canyon? Did you see those wooden? Lindsay (24m 60s): Oh, absolutely. I’d love to have one. Dave (25m 3s): What was that like? Did you saw ’em on the river? Was it, I guess you probably didn’t see ’em go through Whitewater, but are they just Lindsay (25m 7s): Pretty Oh, absolutely. You know, and they have this great rocker on ’em. I mean, it just looks like a fantastic ride. Dave (25m 13s): Yeah, yeah. They have a, because we study that, we actually had the guy who wrote the book on building drift boats, and he talked about the difference, right? There’s the two styles. You got the Rogue drift boat and the McKenzie one has a longer flat section, but what they did on those Grand Canyon boats is they made ’em just the right amount of flat on the bottom that they, they surf the, you know, they work in the waves. Right. They’re, they’re not, because if you were to take a normal drift boat down through that, you know, obviously you wouldn’t have a chance. Lindsay (25m 40s): No. But, and you know, the Doris are all sealed, Dave (25m 43s): So, and they’re sealed. Yeah. And they’re decked over and all that stuff. But no, I, I, every time I get on that conversation, I’m always like excited because it’s, I haven’t been there and my goal would be to run that river in a drift boat. Right. And a wooden drift boat. I could be, I’ve done a few technical things. I’ve been on the road with the drift boat, you know, and I’ve been down some stuff, but I feel like that’s the ultimate. Right. But anyway, so we’re, that’s our side note, our side tangent for the day. Let’s take it back. So Yellowstone, now we’re looking at a trip now. And, and so again, you’re thinking August, if we had to pick, like right now, let’s just say we got a few people coming in that wanna fish it this summer. Where would you point us if we had to plan right now for the Yellowstone? Lindsay (26m 19s): Gosh, you know, starting in late July through the fall and you know, and fall, you know, again, depending on the year, you know, September can be really fantastic. September might have, you might get snow though too, right? October certainly. But it’s just a really great river and Dave (26m 41s): Yeah. Is it a dry, is it a dry action thing or is it a nipping? Or do you kind of do everything, Lindsay (26m 47s): You know, it’s a little bit of everything and each day it might even be a little bit of everything. And you know, you’ve got to, it’s the fish that tell us what it is for the day. You know, sometimes we all like to go out there and fish on our own terms of, I’m only gonna throw dries today. And, but then there’s days where you decide, nope, we’re gonna fish on the fish’s terms. And it might be a little bit of every different type of technique in a day. So Dave (27m 19s): Yeah, it could be everything. And that’s why, and that’s same thing with the, the competition stuff, right? You’re, you don’t know exactly you’re ready for, it could be anything. It could be dries or it could be Euro NPHs. Do you tend to, on the comps, tend to fish, is it more like 70% euro nipping? Do you find that’s the case? Lindsay (27m 34s): You know, it’s really interesting because most people think that comp fishing is just your own. And to me, you know, sure you could go out there and just do that, but the successful anglers do it all and it’s using, you know, a diverse, diverse techniques to fish your beat and make the best decisions to find the fish. And, you know, heck, and I’ve used everything from, you know, euro emptying. Of course I had a session in the Czech Republic this past May. I used dry flies almost the entire session. And then I’ve used my trout spay in competitions as well. Lindsay (28m 19s): And so it’s just having a lot of tools in the toolbox and knowing when to use the right tool, Dave (28m 28s): When to use it. Okay. And so, and going back to the river, so the Warm River, the Gray River. Now talk about that. Which one is the trip to the Snake River? Lindsay (28m 35s): The Grays River? Well, technically all of them eventually end up in this snake, but the grays is down by Alpine, Wyoming, and, Dave (28m 44s): Okay. Alpine, Wyoming. And what about Warren? Where does the Warm River come in Lindsay (28m 47s): It? The Warm River kind of near the town of Ashton is probably the best way to describe it. Dave (28m 55s): Ashton? Yeah. Ashton, Idaho, right? Lindsay (28m 56s): Yes. Yep. So, Dave (28m 58s): Okay. Yeah, I’m trying to get my bearings on kind of where some of these, and is that river, when you think of the, the Warm River, is that one that’s kinda off the radar or do people, you know, know about that river? Is that pretty known? Lindsay (29m 10s): You know, it’s probably not as well known as the Henry’s Fork of course. But the place that we’re fishing at is just this really cool area where basically you have this ridge and on one side is the Henry’s Fork and one side is the Warm River. Oh wow. And they just, you know, go down the two different sides of the ridge and then meet up. Dave (29m 36s): I see it. Yeah, I’m looking at it now. You got the Warm River Campground. That would be the spot we would be heading to. They got the campground right there and then, and it’s Right. Yeah. I see you got the Confluence. So the Warm River comes into the Henry’s Fork down just above, like you said, just above Ashton. Yes. Okay. Well what is the, is the Warm River and do you guide the Warm River at all? Or is that one you’ve just fished? Lindsay (29m 57s): I’ve just fished it. It’s over in Idaho, so Dave (29m 60s): Yeah. Oh, right. You’re not, yeah, you’re a Montana guide, so you wouldn’t be Correct. Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. Well give us a little couple on that, on the Warm River. So if somebody was preparing, let’s just say they wanna, they’re gonna be in that area, you know, what would you tell them to prepare for that trip? Is that something easy to do? Would you, would you direct them to, you know, certain fly shop or what would be a couple tips you’d give them? Lindsay (30m 20s): You know, definitely that whole Island Park region is just fantastic. There are so many different rivers in that area. And if you find somebody at one spot, just drive or walk a little ways and you’ll have waters to yourself, which is really a fantastic thing. Yeah. There’s plenty of water and you know, with all of these rivers, especially, you know, if you’re willing to walk, you’ll definitely have water to yourself. Dave (30m 52s): Yep. Which is a big part of it, right. Because you’re just getting away from the pressure, so it won’t be quite as tough to hook up into some fish. Lindsay (30m 58s): Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I think it’s also special to, you know, be out there and not have to see other anglers. Dave (31m 4s): Yeah. Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. And, and so when you’re thinking of July, you’re gonna be there in this mid-July, what do you think is gonna happen? Just if you had to guess what, what would you, are you preparing before thinking, well, there’s gonna be this hatch potentially. Are you waiting till later in the year to see what that looks like? Lindsay (31m 19s): You know, I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. And some hatches water in July is going to be high as well. So waiting in itself is going to, you know, be a challenge and you’re not gonna probably weigh it out to the middle of the river very easily. And so, you know, going to be trying to navigate the river and fish the edges and, you know, try to get out as far as you can Safely. Dave (31m 54s): Yeah. Safely. Right. We don’t want anybody swimming. Right. Lindsay (31m 57s): Exactly. Dave (31m 58s): Yeah. I, I just did an episode, I’m not sure if you’ve heard of Jim Tini, but he’s kind of a, a famous old guy from the West. Right. Who was Yeah. Who phished everywhere. And we just have him on the podcast and he told the story about his dad back in 1979, died in the river crossing. He was in a float tube fishing. Oh no. He was fishing in a float tube. Right. And, and I think it was on one of the rivers out in Oregon and, and he just flipped over and drowned. Oh Lindsay (32m 24s): Gosh. Dave (32m 24s): Right. And so it’s all these things I think people don’t, you know, You don’t always think about, I don’t especially, ’cause I’ve been on so many rivers, I don’t think about the safety, but it is legit. I mean, like, stuff could happen. You can get caught up on a piece of wood. Right. I mean it’s, it happened, it happens every year. Right. In all these dreams, I think. I feel like, what, what do you think is, when you’re waiting maybe that, maybe as far as safety, what do you think about, how do you say, what would be a couple of tips you might give somebody to stay safe while waiting or things you’re thinking about? Lindsay (32m 51s): You know, one of the things that I’ve done many times, I’d probably do it still head fishing more, especially when I was learning, is to take your weight jacket, have your waiting belt, put your weight jacket on, and then put a weight belt. Or quite honestly, a lot of times I use an NRS strap, a boat strap. Oh yeah. Yeah. And then just cinch that down really tight and then you’ll be able to wade out there a little bit deeper and you know, you’ve got a good tight, secure belt around your waist. Dave (33m 24s): Oh. So are you saying you put your waders on and then your waiting jacket and then you cinch the belt around your waiting jacket and over the waiters? Lindsay (33m 31s): Yes. Dave (33m 31s): Oh, that’s a good idea. Right. So now you’ve got almost like a dry suit kind of set up. Lindsay (33m 36s): Yeah, a little bit. You know, it helps Dave (33m 38s): To a certain point if you’re swimming, you’re gonna get water in. Right. But, but I feel like that’s one of the things, the waiting belt is a big safety thing. ’cause even if it’s just on your normal, just the waiters, like if you were to swim and it’s on tight enough, you know, you, you, you’ll be fine. In fact, the waiters have air in there, so they kind of tend to float a little bit. Right. At least for a while. Lindsay (33m 56s): And the other thing you know, I see with beginners especially, is a lot of times when they’re waiting they will have their feet pointed straight downstream and then the current can push you a little bit more. I always encourage people to get sideways with the current and then you can actually kind of brace yourself a little bit more. Oh yeah. And kind of dig that downstream foot in. Dave (34m 22s): There you go. That’s a good tip. Okay, so sideways. And then also you can in certain situations, right? Even a waiting staff can help. Do you ever use that? Is that something that you find useful? Lindsay (34m 32s): You know, there are a few and just a few runs on Steelhead Rivers where I use a waiting staff usually. Usually I don’t like to carry one and I feel like I’m a pretty confident waiter, but there’s a few where those rocks are just another level. Dave (34m 51s): They’re another level. Yeah. And it can be, now it can be helpful for other things too. I always, I always think of rattlesnakes in, in Idaho. Are there, are there rattlesnakes out there where you’re fishing or in Montana where Lindsay (35m 2s): The competition waters are? There won’t be, you know, it’s higher elevations, although there’s rattlesnakes around, I don’t see them very often in the, you know, lower elevations. But yeah, they, they do Dave (35m 16s): Exist. It’s possible. Yeah. Yeah. I find that out where we are, you know, definitely there’s snakes, so it’s nice to have that to kick the brush a little bit and you know, sort of thing. But, so, okay. So that, those are good. I think the tips on that. What about the, you know, the comps? So you got, you know, you got ladies, you got the youth, you got the, and the men is separated in masters and and seniors or no, what, what are the two Lindsay (35m 37s): Masters which are over 50 and then seniors, which is technically just adults. Dave (35m 43s): Yeah, adults. See and I always get that confused because I think in golf it’s the opposite, right? Masters is the younger and seniors. So that’s something maybe Glade could work on, move it ahead to get that on track, but no, we got it. So it’s seniors. So when you look at the four, is it, as far as if there was a head-to-head about like USA, right, the four, you know, ladies against the youth, against the, the two men, is it a fair competition or do you think that stuff like waiting and things like that are, are a big differentiator as far as being bigger or stronger? Stuff like that? Lindsay (36m 14s): You know, in here, in the US we actually all compete against each other in smaller regional competitions or even at, you know, the national level. And so, you know, I think I compete against the men, the women, you know, my teammates compete against the men and you know, oftentimes are very successful and do very well. And so, you know, I think the special thing about having a women’s only competition is it helps with participation and it gives, you know, more women the opportunity to be ambassadors of our country and ambassadors of the sport. Lindsay (37m 2s): And we hope that that encourages other women to get out and, you know, be involved in fly fishing or even hopefully it encourages them to be involved in other activities that they’re interested in. And I think not only here in the US but on, you know, a global level. Dave (37m 22s): Yeah, that’s well said. I think that that’s what’s, what’s awesome about, I think that, yeah, I mean we’re all fishermen, right? Where everybody’s anglers, whether you’re a youth or a, a man or a woman, right? We’re all in the same, but it does, I think gives it something, you know, I think it, I don’t know what it is. It feels, well again, if you look at all sports, you know, there’s not, you look at the NBA, it’s not men and women playing together, right? It’s not like there’s separation there for a reason. Lindsay (37m 46s): I think sometimes if it was always competing against the men, I don’t think as many women would participate. I think a few of us would. But I think this encourages a lot more to be involved. I really do Dave (38m 0s): Be involved. Okay. And at the event, what would be your shout out to people, you know, and to get people out? Do you feel like there will be, you’ve obviously got volunteers, we’re gonna try to round up some volunteers for it, but is there, on the event, is there an opportunity for people to come there? You mentioned the opening ceremony, but actually be around the event. Like how could people support this if they’re listening now? Lindsay (38m 21s): You know, certainly we always appreciate all the cheers and support. We are looking for volunteers. We, there’s still some sponsorships available for the event and then people can certainly come out and watch and the lakes, I would bring some binoculars, but you can watch anglers fish on both of the lakes and on the streams. You know, frankly, anybody who wants to come out and watch could walk up and down the stream and watch anglers fish. Dave (38m 59s): Oh, you can, yeah. So, so the way this is gonna work, so you’re gonna be out there, let’s say you’re on that warm river that day, you could come to the events and you could literally, as people are fishing, you could sit there and and just be there like nearby and what, and watch what they’re doing. Lindsay (39m 12s): Yeah, you certainly could. And you know, beautiful rivers, they’re just beautiful rivers to be on and Dave (39m 20s): It’s a beautiful area. So I think for me, I think what it is is, like you said, it’s the area, you know, we call it the start the golden triangle. It’s this famous area with the Henry’s Fork and all these famous waters, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho. And then it’s, you know, so it’s getting out there. So you could be doing, you know, just a trip in the area. But the cool thing is it has this event, right, where you could support, you could support, you know, you guys and the USA and the, and that whole thing, which is kind of another level, which is great. So, so cool. Well that’s that. I wanna, you know, before we get outta here in a bit, I don’t wanna miss some of the other stuff you do. So, and, and of course as always, we’re not gonna get to everything, but let’s touch base a little bit because we do have some steelhead anglers and you know, and all that here. Dave (40m 2s): What’s your other, it seems like your other life, right? You got this Montana trout thing going and then do you switch? When do you switch and when are you heading out more towards like think and steelhead? Lindsay (40m 12s): Boy, by late September, actually mid-September I’m packing up my camper trailer and I’m heading west and I spend most of my fall guiding. And you know, I frankly I love trout. I live in Trout world, but my passion really is, you know, steelhead and holding that two-handed spay rod in my hand is like the comfort of holding a hot cup of tea. I just, I just love it and it’s where I wanna be in the fall for sure. Dave (40m 51s): Yeah, in the fall. So, so come, is that like, so you wrap up your season, the trout in say what, September and then by October? Is that when you’re heading there? Lindsay (41m 0s): Yeah, you know, I’m wrapping up my guide season, you know, my husband’s an outsider and we have other guides that still continue guiding for us in Montana. But my husband and I both head out to Steelhead World in late September and then we’re there for the remainder of the fall, whether it be for guiding or you know, some personal fishing as well. Dave (41m 25s): Yeah, I see. So, and the grand rod, is that the river you’re fishing All fall Lindsay (41m 29s): But the Grand rod is the river that I guide on. Dave (41m 32s): Oh, okay. Yeah. So you’re guide guy and what’s the operation? What, what are you staying at a lodge or what, what’s the, or is it your own program out there? Lindsay (41m 39s): I’m actually, Scott O’Donnell has a lodge Oh yeah. Out there. Spay Water Lodge. And I been out there with Scott for many years as well as my husband. And Dave (41m 51s): And who is your husband? We, we’ve talked about this a little or you’ve mentioned this. Who, who is your husband here? Lindsay (41m 56s): Andy’s offering? Dave (41m 57s): Yeah, Andy. Okay, good. Lindsay (41m 58s): And so he’s the one who really took me under his wing, taught me how to fish. He’s my coach for competitive fishing and Oh yeah. You know, obviously my biggest supporter. Dave (42m 9s): There you go. There you go. Yeah. So, and we didn’t get into your whole backstory, but that’s, that’s kind of how it, it came, right? You ran into, so Andy was, got you into it and then you’ve taken it to the next level it sounds like, Lindsay (42m 20s): You know? Yeah, he helped me take it to the next level for sure. So Dave (42m 24s): Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So talk about just a little bit on the Grand Ron, you know, again, so somebody hasn’t maybe fished it. What does that look like? And, and is October the peak or is it more like November? When is the time when steelhead where it’s really on, Lindsay (42m 37s): You know, it starts in late September and then, you know, with steel heading, you know, the later in the season the more fish that have, you know, potentially come into the system. But great fishing, you know, September through November and we run two different programs out there with Spay Water Lodge. One is where guests would come to the lodge and they get to fish for three days and come back every day, take a hot shower, stay in a, you know, cabin, get a great meal in the evening. The other program is where they actually come out and they float down the river and for four days and each night they camp out on the river and move down and you know, just a great overnight trip. Lindsay (43m 34s): Just one of, one of the best. Dave (43m 36s): One of the best. Right. So you’ve got the two. So you have the spay water lodge, which is actually a lodge. So you actually have a place at the, a normal typical lodge, all inclusive, like food, everything covers, is that how that looks? Lindsay (43m 46s): Yes, absolutely. And then for those overnight guests that are gonna be down on the downstream, on the river, camping out, they come into the lodge the first night, get a meal at the lodge, get organized, and then head out the next morning. And then they’re glamping. So you know, they’ve got great tents with, you know, oh yeah, cots and heaters and you, it’s com Dave (44m 9s): It’s comfortable. Yeah. The Lindsay (44m 10s): Comforts, it’s comfortable and you know, just the crew just does, you know, fantastic meals out on the river and it’s, you know, sitting out eating dinner underneath the stars. It is just fantastic. Dave (44m 22s): It’s perfect. So, so that’s it. So you got the, you got the lodge and the river. I mean both of these are, it sounds like just epic trips, you know, and you’re getting both in, what is it? You know, I always have to check in on just ’cause the steelhead, we fish, you know, all over kind of around the Pacific Rim, a lot of that. Plus we’ve done some great lake stuff, but obviously that’s different. How have the runs been as far as numbers are you find, have you seen some big ups and downs in the grand Run since you’ve been out there? Lindsay (44m 49s): Oh, absolutely. You know, it’s one of those where when I was first learning to do this, you know, the numbers of Dave (44m 56s): Which was when, when, when was that? I’m just curious ’cause we’ve talked a lot about the Steelhead Run stuff. When, when did you first kind of, when was your first steelhead or spay, you know, action? Lindsay (45m 5s): Mid two thousands. Dave (45m 7s): Okay. Yeah. So you’re right. Yeah. So you’re right in the middle of pretty much mid two thousands was right. We were starting to get into like some of the best runs. 2008 was like huge right. Big runs. Lindsay (45m 17s): Right. You know, huge numbers. And my ability to go out there and, you know, cast well and fish it well, you know, I was just learning and, but I was catching fish and now I feel like, you know, I’ve gone through this transition where, you know, now I can cast far, I can fish it well and effectively and there’s fewer fish. Dave (45m 40s): There’s fewer fish, right. It’s hard. So you’re catching, right. And so what, back in, I guess it’s hard to say, but now on the Grand Ron, there’s a typical session, you know, like, and I think this is just steelhead in general. If you go out and you have a shot at a fish, right? Maybe one interaction, you know, maybe one fish landed something like that in a session. Is that pretty typical for the Ron? You Lindsay (45m 60s): Know, I say, you know, if one fish a day is a great day, you know, and, and sometimes we’re lucky and you know, we, we find more than that. But you know, a fish a day is a successful day. And you know, for me, I love this balance for myself, you know, of loving to fish for steelhead and one fish or no fish is just fine. But then when I go to competition, I want enough fish, it, you know, it’s one fish or enough fish to win. And so there’s days where I love doing both and it’s this really great balance of, you know, respecting the rivers and the fish and the situation. Dave (46m 46s): Right on. Well let’s take it out here really quick and we’ll hop out. I have a few more random questions for you, but this is our, this is our casting challenge segment that we have here. And we’ve got a really cool thing doing. We’re doing a basically a casting challenge where we’re gonna have everybody go through a series. We’re gonna have some of our biggest casting instructors come on and talk about some tips, right. Some exercises they can do to get their cast. And we’ve got Bruce Richards. Bruce Richards is coming up and, and the cool thing is, is that they’re gonna win, potentially win a Rod Togiak River Lodge has given away this really cool custom rod. So whoever completes the challenge has a chance to win the rod. But for this casting challenge for you, maybe talk about that, the spay. What would be your tip for somebody thinking spay? Dave (47m 27s): Maybe they’re thinking they’re a single hand caster, they’ve been trying a little bit, they’ve been struggling. Do you have a tip or what was your, what was your transition into spay like? Did it take a long time to get up to the, the next level? Lindsay (47m 39s): You know, fortunately for me, I was able to be surrounded by some of the best, right? Dave (47m 46s): Like Scott O’Donnell. Scott O’Donnell is a famous, right. Famous angler. Lindsay (47m 50s): Yeah. You know, I learned from Scott O’Donnell, Mike McCune, Whitney Gould. Oh wow. And my husband Andy’s offering. So I learned from some really great casters and that really helped me, you know, with my learning curve. But my number one piece of advice for anybody with their cast, especially a spay cast, single hand cast, my number one tip is watch, watch your line. You must see and witness what is going on. If you do not watch, you will not be able to take it to the next level. Dave (48m 30s): Right. That’s awesome. Yep. So watch, so basically the whole thing you can look at where your, your D loop is, where your anchor point, like just watch the whole thing and you can do it pretty easy, right? All you have to do is turn around as you’re setting your D loop up to see it. Lindsay (48m 44s): Well it’s watching the initial setup, watching, you know, the anchor watch, you know, watch the lift, watch the line, come off the water, watch, watch, watch, watch your line, pivot in the water, watch the dute form. Watch, watch, watch. And that will also help build consistency. Dave (49m 7s): And why does that, why, how does watching it help build consistency? Lindsay (49m 11s): A lot of times, you know, with your space cast, with that initial setup, if you just lift, sometimes you got way too much line upstream. Sometimes you got way too much lying downstream. But if you watch and you can always get it in the same spot, then there’s this, you know, what’s happening and there’s this thing that happens with the hand eye coordination. It’s a lot harder to tell your arm to be at a particular angle in this degree versus hey, just watch it and your body and hand eye coordination will naturally make things happen. Dave (49m 48s): Oh right. Lindsay (49m 49s): Almost kind of like, you know, shooting a basket ball. Dave (49m 53s): Oh right. Lindsay (49m 54s): You know? Dave (49m 54s): Yeah. Is that how it works? I think ’cause basketball was definitely, I’ve shot, you know, lots of basketball hoops. But yeah, I guess that’s how it works. Yeah. You shoot and you can actually see your form like the follow through and that that helps to see it, see it going in the hoop. Lindsay (50m 8s): Yeah. You know, it’s just, you know, really watching and knowing what’s going on and you know, you can’t make a good forward stroke if everything is not aligned properly. And many times with the spay cast, people are trying to make that forward stroke while they still have, you know, a bloody L in the line for instance. Dave (50m 34s): Right. Yeah. That’s it. That’s why it’s so important. Yeah. Because you can’t, the forward stroke isn’t gonna be good if you got some crazy stuff going before that. Awesome. So what and what about spay? So we talk steelhead, but what about trout spay? Is that something, because a lot of people listening here probably, you know, maybe aren’t going steelhead fishing, but is trout spay, like say out in the Yellowstone, it seems like that with those bigger rivers that might be good. Are you doing some of that? Oh, Lindsay (50m 59s): Absolutely. You know, Yellowstone’s a fantastic river for that. And you know, part of the fun about spay is you can cast far. It’s not necessary most times, but it’s fun. And the Yellowstone does allow us to do that. It’s got some great riffles and you know, if we can be out there and, you know, say there’s a great CADs hatch going on and we can be swinging soft tackles. Oh my gosh, that’s just so much fun. Dave (51m 29s): Yeah. Soft tackles. Lindsay (51m 30s): That’s it. That’s just a dream. That’s Dave (51m 31s): It. Awesome. Yeah, there’s lots of overlap here, so, cool. Well let’s, let’s take it outta here. We’ve got a, a little roundup segment, like I said to check in here and a couple things you mentioned today. So first on the, the drift boats. Going back to that, I’m curious on the drift boat, what’s your, what’s your boat of choice? Maybe talk your drift boat in your raft. What, what brands are you using out there? Lindsay (51m 50s): You know, my favorite drift boat is an adipose Dave (51m 54s): Outta Helena. Right, Lindsay (51m 56s): Absolutely. You know, another Mon Montana company, which is great. And we have the runoff and then I also have an old CL that’s just got the huge bow up front. Just you can hit some big waves with it. Dave (52m 12s): Like old school, you got like a cl a big, just a normal pointy high Lindsay (52m 16s): Side bone. Yeah. The wave forward. Yeah. You know, I just love that boat. You know, it’s been in the family for many years and we’ve thought about selling it at times and we just keep hanging onto it. That’s Dave (52m 28s): It. Lindsay (52m 29s): And then my fleet of rafts are all heirs out ofs Yeah, sure. Out of Idaho. Yeah. Dave (52m 36s): Heirs are great. Lindsay (52m 38s): Yeah, they really are. I’ve only had one incident where we popped a tube and that was actually on a Grand Canyon trip and came through a rapid thought. We came through clean and all of a sudden one tube was deflating very rapidly. Oh wow. But Dave (52m 55s): While you’re in the rapid Lindsay (52m 58s): And so we’re trying to get to shore as quickly as we could. Yeah. And, but you know, with that inner bladder system repair was just so easy. Dave (53m 8s): Oh, that’s right. Yeah. Inner, that’s a cool thing about air is they have the unique thing. They’ve got the outer layer, which is a normal outer layer, but then they got that thin, the actual tube is inside. Right. It’s inside it. Lindsay (53m 19s): It is. Yeah. We were, gosh, we were able to just do a quick repair with some duct tape and Oh wow. Get us back on the water and then, you know, then when we had good camp, we were able to re repair it. There you Dave (53m 32s): Go. You know, there you go. Yeah. Duct tape is my tip of the day Is, is Gorilla Tape. Right? I, I’m a huge duct tape. I I love the duck duct tape, but I’ll tell you, that fixes Lindsay (53m 42s): A lot of things. Dave (53m 43s): It does. The gorilla tape if you haven’t used that yet, it’s like even stickier, like that stuff. Duct tape will eventually wear out and fall off. Gorilla Tape never wears out. Lindsay (53m 51s): It’s good stuff. Dave (53m 52s): Yeah, yeah. It’s crazy. So, okay, so that’s your, so you got the Drift put, you got the adipose, you got the old Clack, and we’re actually gonna have a, another Clack of Craft episode, I think coming up soon. So we got that. And then what about on the random segment? So YouTube, are you doing any YouTube videos for your phishing or are you like watching, like if you were to, you know, turn on YouTube, what do you get sucked into? What, what’s your videos out there? Lindsay (54m 13s): You know, I will be honest, I am horrible at social media. I’ve always felt like for me, I either spend my time on the water or I spend my time at the computer and I’ve really have always preferred to spend that time on the water. You know, I do love using YouTube and you know, I love listening to the podcast. And frankly, my husband and I are both readers. We have a, you know, massive library of fishing books, new as well as the classics and, you know, that’s it. I just, I love a good book. Dave (54m 51s): Do you have a good book you’re reading now or do you have a good, you know, maybe a fly fishing book classic or something like that, that you really love? Lindsay (54m 58s): You know, I kind of giggle big, this is my husband’s influence, but, and still head, but Greased Line Fishing is, oh Dave (55m 6s): Yeah, by by, is that Jock Jock Scott, or, correct, Lindsay (55m 9s): Yeah, yeah, Dave (55m 9s): Yeah. Right. Yeah. Grease Line. That’s old school, right? The little old school book from whenever it was back. Yes. I think he wrote that for Atlantic Salmon fishing, right? Correct. Is that back in the day? Yeah. Yep. That is really cool. I love that. Because especially now, because we’ve got, I, I’ve always been a summer steelhead fisherman, right. And got in winter, but the summer, but I’ve never fished for Atlantic salmon. So this year we’re doing that for the first time. Right. Heading out to to sea. Oh, cool. So it’d be cool to tell the difference, you know, feel like, okay, this Atlantic salmon versus the summer steelhead, you know what, and then, and then to actually have the right, because I remember that I have that book on my shelf too. I remember when I was a kid reading that. And it’s pretty awesome because it’s, it’s a different game, isn’t it? Summer steelhead versus winter steelhead, Lindsay (55m 50s): You know, it is. And you know, just, but you know, it’s always just trying to use the best techniques for the situation and Dave (55m 58s): Yeah. Awesome. Okay. Well, and you mentioned podcasts, so I don’t wanna miss that one. Before we get outta here, what is your, do you have a certain podcast types genre, or do you have a favorite podcast you listen to? Lindsay (56m 8s): You know, I listen to all the phishing ones. Oh, you do? Of course. So what, Dave (56m 12s): What’s your favorite, which other than ours of course, what’s your Lindsay (56m 15s): Favorite, well, yours of course, right? Dave (56m 16s): What’s your favorite other fly fishing or fishing podcast you listen to? Lindsay (56m 21s): You know, I think April does a good job. Oh Dave (56m 24s): Yeah, yeah. April does. Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. The anchored. And I think she’s still, I think she’s still going strong with her stuff as well, so, so good. All right, well that’s, I think what we have for today. Like we said, the, the competitions are coming. So that will be the big shout out today is to check out what would you leave people with today as they’re thinking, you know, we talked about the upcoming, you know, in July it’s right around the corner or even the next year. ’cause the men I think are gonna be in the same area the following year. What would you like to leave people listening now with that to understand about, you know, maybe with the competitions, with the, you know, team USA, just everything you have going there, Lindsay (57m 0s): You know, it’s gonna be a fantastic event and you know, to see people from around the globe who are all coming together for a common purpose, you know, we kind of sometimes think about the Olympic values and it’s excellence in sports, creating friendship and you know, just respect for the event the other countries respect for, you know, the fish, the river. And it’s gonna be a really fantastic opportunity to see this level of angling happening here in the United States. Lindsay (57m 40s): Certainly we welcome spectators volunteers. We are looking for, and we can definitely, we’ll have a link, but you can also go to us angling.org. And under the women’s team there’s a form where you can sign up to volunteer. Dave (58m 0s): Oh, nice. Lindsay (58m 1s): And so, you know, we’re gonna have that opening ceremony parade. We’ll also have a closing ceremony with awards. There’s a conservation symposium that’s also going to be part of the event. And so just truly exciting to be able to represent the United States. And, you know, the sport of fly fishing is really, truly an honor. That’s Dave (58m 29s): Perfect. I love, I love how you said that, the excellence, friendship, respect. Right. That’s the, a good way to leave it. I think we could leave this one today. So like we said, we will, we’ll also send everybody out to fly fishing only adventures.com if they wanna check with you and see about any trips coming up here. But yeah, Lindsay, this has been awesome. Really appreciate your time today and shed some light on all this, including, you know, the upcoming events and everything. And we’ll hopefully be in touch with you and, and maybe see out there moving ahead. Lindsay (58m 58s): Great. Thanks so much Dave. Dave (59m 0s): Alright, quick call to action for you today. Before we get outta here, if you can check in with Glade at Team usa, we’ll have links in the show notes. You can find out how to get involved if you want to be a volunteer, they’re always looking for volunteers. And if you just want to go hang out and watch some of the best in the world this year and next, we’re gonna have the men next year as well following up. So check in. You could also check with me dave@wew.com anytime, and I can get you information. But, but head over there and support team USA. If you haven’t heard, we are kicking off the YouTube channel fully. We’ve got it out there. It’s been out there a while, but now we’ve got great content coming every day. And the, the most recent YouTube video is Jonathan Farmer. Dave (59m 41s): He did a fly tying demonstration on Steelhead. This was almost a two hour session we did with him and, and actually next week we’ve got Bruce Richards coming on live, our live webinar series. You can go to web fly swing.com/webinar anytime and sign up to join one of those webinars. These are awesome. It’s a way to see some of, take this further, take some of the best guests we’ve had on this podcast and see them on video and take everything a bit further. If you’re interested in some of our trips, we are heading to the lodge at Palisades Creek. This is also out in this neck of the woods on this snake. If you wanna fish the south for the steak, which we’ve heard about, check in with the lodge at Palisades Creek. And check in with me again. Dave (1h 0m 21s): We’re gonna be putting together a crew of people who want to fish one of the iconic rivers out here. We’re gonna be floating it, staying in an amazing lodge at the lodge at Palisades Creek. Thanks for checking out Travel today. I hope you can live that dream trip this year and experience that road less travel.