Joe Larson, and I fly-fished for 27 miles on the Yellowstone River Sept. 15-16, 2007, completing the third annual Cuttie-thon! It took us 33 hrs., 58 min, 22 sec. Larson of Jackson, Wyo, and an ol’ fishin’ buddy, is the second person to complete the entire event.

Several others joined in, fishing shorter beats of varying lengths. Mike Peck, of Buffalo, Wyo., and Kelly Kinney of Denver, Colo., each fished for many miles helping raise money for Cutthroat trout and diabetes research!

Also assisting in ’07 were my dad, Tom, my English Setter Mojo, Larson’s black lab, Sadie, and my Large Munsterlander puppy, Arielle. Dad made sure all participants were happy and healthy along the route by making meals, fixing Cowboy Coffee and making sure no one went in the drink!

2007 was another great event and 2008 is shaping up to be even better with more sponsors, participants and a change in location. This year we will be fishing on the Greys River near Afton, Wyo., starting Aug. 9th and continuing through the 10th.

I am happy to welcome Wyoming Trout Unlimited this year! They will be helping with publicity and fund-raising efforts, and are a large part of making this year the greatest year yet. New this year is the addition of relay teams. This will allow participants to fish shorter sections and help their team along. Relay participants can figure the third and fourth anglers will be “fishing” through the dark, and likely not catch many fish, but put down lots of tracks toward the finish line. It would help if one or two could be comedians, to keep night-fishing morale high ;-}

Participants completing the full, 26.2-mile Cuttie-thon will be limited to seven anglers, to reduce impacts to stream banks and substrate, and to keep plenty of fishin’ holes open for every angler. Participants must collect a minimum of $25 in cash or product donations to fish. Support staff do not need to collect donations, but it would sure help!

The suggested “ethic” will be to leap-frog habitat units, i.e. one angler fishes a pool, the next a riffle, the next the side-channel, etc… When the downstream angler is ready to move up, he/she will walk upstream to the next available habitat unit without an angler.

Thank you for your interest in this year’s Cuttie-thon! I am excited for the great energy we will bring the world ;-} But, my back and knees are sore thinking about it….