50 years of family fishing

Secrets can come in all shapes and sizes. For the McAllister family, their biggest secret just happens to be the size of a lake.

Located to the east of Sanders County in the Mission Mountains Wilderness are a series of lakes that were sculpted during the last ice age when glaciers filled the cavities of the long mountain range. Today, the lakes are bordered by 8,000-foot summits and are a treasured part of the Flathead National Forest.

For the last 50 years the McAllister family has guarded this known, but not well-known, secret fishing hole. “Its been an awful good lake for us its got good camping and good fishing, we take the grand kids there,” Vic McAllister said.

Vic’s father has been taking him to the special lake all the way back in 1958.

It's been a family tradition to go to their special hideaway at least once a year and as soon as McAllister toddlers are capable enough for camping, they're taken along for the ride. Tammy McAllister said that Memorial Day and the Fourth of July are some of their favorite times to go and it's a fishing spot that almost guarantees a good catch.

Vic said that the fishing is so good that he can remember going out for a few hours one day with his brother-in-law and his two boys and catching more than a hundred fish.

“I think we caught and released 135 in one afternoon,” Vic said.

Tammy McAllister said that her kids always look forward to the campouts near the lake because of all the many places to hike and explore.

“It's a pretty big adventure for the kids, there's huckleberries along the trail and there's good hunting in the area as well,” she said.

In all the years that the family has been going to the lake Tammy said she's only found one draw back — that the fishing is too good. She explains that she's afraid her kids might get the idea that fishing is supposed to be as easy and simple.

“We can count on one hand how many times we've been skunked out there,” McAllister said.

Vic remembered the first time he took Tammy out to the lake, “The only time I got skunked there was when I brought Tammy,” Vic said laughing.

Vic said that one of his favorite features about the fishing spot is a 100-foot cascade of water that rolls itself down the bank of a nearby peak. “The water comes cascading over the rocks over a thousand feet and comes out from Turquoise Lake,” he said giving a clue to the spots location.

Speaking seriously, Vic said that the family only has only one rule when it comes to their favorite fishing spot: “If you use it don't abuse it,” Vic said. He described how his family always tries to leave as little trace on the land as they can. Vic and the rest of the family are adamant about this because they want the lake to remain in the condition it is in for the next 50 years and for future generations.

“I think that it's really neat to be going somewhere where generations of people have gone to before. It's nice that there are things like that still out there,” Tammy said.

Tammy's husband, Scott McAllister, said that he's been going ever since he can remember and couldn't imagine not being able visit the spot. “I've been going there ever since I've been a little kid, it's pretty tough to go anywhere else,” Scott said.