Yellowstone National Park Volunteer Fly Fishing Program - 2024
This opportunity is for high level intermediate and advanced fly fishers with considerable hiking and required fishing skills to assist the graduate students and biologists. This is for interest in next year's event only, and is not a firm commitment. The potential dates for the program are July 14 – September 14, 2024 but we won’t know availability until final dates are assigned.
Action items:
1. Determine if you are interested in participating in 2024. Dates will be open until they begin assigning them, so this is a general interest solicitation.
2. Please understand that the following are strong suggestions about participation, after our experience last year, and at the direction of the Program:
a. You must be in good shape and able to hike a minimum of 3 miles over rough terrain and hills with all your gear, including sufficient nourishment and plenty of water.
b. This trip occurs at altitudes from 7,000 – 9,000 feet so you will need pre-Yellowstone altitude acclimation and a good understanding of existing in high altitude environments.
c. Plan on being entirely self sufficient as this is NOT a guided trip. We are expected to catch as many fish as possible using our skills. You must have high intermediate or advanced skills as there will be no instruction or support and we will be expected to capture as many fish as possible in challenging waters.
d. You should anticipate possibly camping during the program, although other lodging sites are certainly available around YNP (although quite pricey) as options.
e. You will need to have the tools, experience, and skills to fish different types of waters (i.e. small streams, rivers, and lakes) with different fishing styles (dry, euro, dry droppers, indicators, streamers, etc.)
f. This is all volunteer work so you’ll need to provide your own transportation (carpooling of course) and the expenses for your trip. Last year we spent about $1,200 per person but that varies based on many items.
g. You should be well prepared, in camp and on the stream, for inclement weather including heat, thunderstorms, hail, rain, and even snow on the trip.
h. We will be in close proximity to much wildlife which may be dangerous including bison, bears, badgers, and wolves (not to mention “tourons”). A good understanding of how to behave in such environments, including bear awareness and use of bear spray is a necessary requirement.
If you are interested in possibly participating in next year’s trip, (if we get assigned some of the available openings) please register on this page. Note that your registration is not a firm commitment, and much more information will be available when we are selected for 2024 in order to make final individual decisions.
Registration and Costs:
Registration is currently open for 2024. Your registration here is only for the purpose of communicating interest for 2024.
Approximate costs of $1,200 - $1,600 dependent upon lodging, transportation, and length of stay. This is not a packaged trip with a definitive price.
Contacts:
For more information please contact Rob Farris, (925)286-5502; RFFarris@comcast.net
TVFF Cancellation Policy
To sign-up for a TVFF Event that is currently open for registration and chargeable (as set by the Fishmeister), you must both register and pay online, or via check or cash, within two weeks of registering (sent to the TVFF Treasurer) whatever fee is described for that particular Event (trip) at the time of registration. There may be multiple payments required before the trip is actually taken (usually in the case of expensive trips), but it is necessary that you do make payment in the above timely fashion for the initial amount to secure your position on the trip. However, please note that you are still responsible for the entire amount of the trip if you should need to cancel.
Once you are registered, there are no refunds for chargeable Events and trips. In the situation that a member is, for any reason unable to attend, they may resell their registration slot to another TVFF member (by first pulling from the waitlist if one exists). New participants must come first from the waitlist in the order they signed up. The member cancelling is fully and solely responsible for contacting potential members to replace them and notifying the appropriate Fishmeister.
If an event/trip is fully registered and closed to registration, you may still sign up on the Wait List to be notified if there are any cancellations. In such a case of registering provisionally on the Wait List, you do not have to pay until such time that you clear the Wait List and are confirmed for participation.
