Will the Rain Ever Stop?

Kevin's Top Ten Signs you might be addicted to fly fishing:

10. You check water flows for more than 3 gauges daily.
9. You plan your summer vacation around the salmon fly hatch.
8. You buy your 3 year old a 3 wt so he can accompany you on the salmon fly hatch.
7. You over spend said 3 wts budget by $30.
6. Though your felt soles provide no traction on the slick clay mud you traipse up and down the trail, at time precariously hanging over the creek.
5. After startling the moose on the other side of the creek, as it is the best looking hole you've seen all day, you pray there is no calf near you and continue fishing.
4. Though it is raining hard, you still hike up the creek for a mile anyway.
3. When you get to the first ford in the creek, and step off the bank into thigh deep water, you contemplate for a second crossing, before common sense steps in.
2. Upon discovering you have no strike indicators, you rig up a 02 Salmon fly as an indicator.
1. You give no thought about the 3 weeks of continual rain, and what it might have done to the creek you are heading to.

When the bug strikes you and you really need to get out, sometimes foresight goes out the window.

Blown out, chocolaty goodness ;)

Though it has been raining for what seems like eternity, I had heard good things about a local creek for mid June, and really not thinking about what snow melt and continual rain had done to the creek, I hopped into the car and headed out. It rained during the drive up, and the local mountains look like the deep pacific NW. In fact my wife is starting to believe we are in Seattle, not SE Idaho.

Verdant foilage

SE Idaho ... or is it misty Washington?

The reservoir was filled almost to the brim and where the creek met the lake seemed a great spot for a flock of big birds.... I think they were pelicans.



My first sight of the creek was pretty discouraging. But, as I was already there I decided to hike up and fish anyway. I hiked up as far as the first ford, casting floating nymphs through likely slow water and softwater spots on the way up. I got to the first ford, stepped in, thought "this is nuts" and hiked back out. The rain really decided to come down at this point, turning the trail into a little stream.



I decided to make one last attempt at fish by a washed out beaver dam, where the was some slow water. Approaching the dam a big brown head popped up on the other side of the creek. Not 20 yards from me..... a moose. I quickly scanned my surroundings for a calf. Getting stomped into hamburger was not high on my to do list.




No calf so I kept fishing ;) Till I snagged up. I snagged dozens of times as there was all kinds of submerged twigs, stick and logs flowing down the chocolate water.

I hiked back out to the car and drove to the confluence of the creek and river, reasoning (finally applying a bit of logic) that if the fish were staging to spawn up the creek then maybe thet would be at the mouth of the creek. Yet, still nothing.

When, if, the rain stops..... I will try the creek again.

Salmon Flies

Snuck out last week for a couple of hours on the Henry's Fork to hopefully find some salmon fly goodness. Didn't happen, not only did I not see a single adult, flipping over rocks near the banks also proved a decided lack of nymphs. Needless to say Jon (now I am spelling his name correctly) and I hit a big goose egg. The first skunking for me in a long time.

Jon asking.... "where are the salmon flies"?

Now yesterday was a different story. The adults were everywhere! I have got to slow down on my strike reaction. Of the 30 some odd fish that decided to take a whack at my salmon fly, I only hooked 4. Of which I landed two, lost one quickly, and had another break off after a couple of minutes of fighting in a heavy current. I must have almost been at a 10:1 ratio for misses to hook ups.

Last week I remembered to take the camera but as the fish weren't on the bite I took very few pictures. Yesterday I took the camera only to discover when I went to take my first pic that the battery was completely dead................................... doh! So much for my goal of more and better pictures. A digital SLR is on the wish list. Those of you who fish with a digital SLR... what does insuring it against a swim cost? (Jay, Bryan, any one?)

The fly of the day was Robert Williamson's O2 air filled salmon fly. This thing is great! It will not sink no matter how hard you try to sink it. Unlike foam flies, spun hair flies, etc that eventually take on water and start to sink, the O2 is unsinkable. If it does go under for a minute it pops right back up to the surface. The profile on the water is great, and the fish loved it. Big smack attacks that I mostly, promptly missed. It is also indestructible. I fished 2 the whole day, only changing flies when the first was a victim of a tree. Did I mention the fish loved it? ;)

Props to Bryan G for the photo and Bushrat for the edit. This pic was "borrowed" from RAW's blog

Will be up on bear Creek in a couple of weeks,and perhaps the Teton before that but am anticipating and getting flies together for the SF mega event!

Spring Outing

The rain is drumming a staccato beat on the roof as I type this (update: it has actually turned into hail and is coming down sideways. If it was any colder it would be a blizzard). It has rained almost every day for the last week and the forecast calls for another rainy week. So the good news is that the local reservoirs are almost full already and peak run off is still weeks off, the snowpacks in the region are all over 100%, and as I stated earlier there is plenty of rain in the forecast.

The bad news..... well this leaves the local rivers and streams raging torrents of chocolate milk. The South Fork has been around 17K cfs for the last 2 weeks and can only go up as the snowpack starts to melt. This makes thoughtful consideration of the local open waters paramount for a successful late April outing, you have to find a water that isn't blown out.

Some of the smaller side channels of the SF and the Henry's above where the Fall River enter it can be good this time of year, as well as some of the local stillwaters, but I rarely fish stillwater and have vowed to fish more creeks this year.

It was a sunny Wednesday afternoon and I decided as I haven't been on the water for over a month I had to get out. I called fishing buddy John and asked him if he wanted to tag along, and the close stream that seemed the best possibility for not being blown out........ Well if you are adventurous enough to withstand the 300 foot scramble down the cliffs, which is much easier and less tiring than the trip out, then you deserve to know the location, Willow Creek right below Ririe Reservoir.

Ririe Reservoir viewed from the canyon rim.

The creek is barely flowing, doesn't even reach the USGS gauge so probably around 50 cfs are coming out of the dam currently. It is low and clear. The hole right below the spillway where I had caught a couple of fish at various times last year, Willow creek being a ten minute drive from the house and convenient for quick outings, was pretty much dry. We scouted around the immediate area of the spillway and didn't see any fish, so we started hiking downstream.

The hike down looks easy. what you don't see is the 100 feet of cliffs.

After a couple of hundred yards, John spying through a break in the willows and brush saw some fish cruising in a deep slow pool. We bushwhacked through breaks in the brush and after a couple of false starts we made our way down to the pool. I at the foot of the pool where a small stream of water worked its way down towards the next hole and John at the head of the pool.

Looking at the water as it spilled from the pool, I noticed that it was liberally coated with midge shucks and there were a few midges in the air and on the water. As we hadn't seen any risers (though we did see a few as the day progressed) we both rigged up midges. I a small copper john with a midge emerger below and John tied on tandem zebras in red and black or as Ed Kent likes to call them; a chocolate and a cherry drop.

We were into fish in the first few minutes, and the fishing while not fast and furious was quite good. Slowly drifting the midges through the slow water saw a nibble every couple of drifts and a fish on every few minutes. The fish were very timid, the takes incredibly soft. I must of lost 3 times as many fish I landed, missing the majority of hooksets.

Surprisingly, the fish were all beautiful cutthroats, chunky and starting to show spawn colors. They ranged from about 10 to 15-16 inches, and were tenacious fighters.

Willow Creek native cutthroat

We worked the pool for a couple of hours then hiked further down looking for other likely water. There were a few other deep holes, but we didn't see any fish in them. Not to say that they are not there...... John and I had split up each scouting at different rates and with the thick brush you couldn't see past the next bend in the river.

Discouraged with the lower waters I returned to the pool where we had success and hooked up with a couple of more nice cutts, when I heard John calling my name. He was already up on the top of the cliffs and was ready to go. The hike out is no picnic and involves at least 300 feet of nearly vertical. Not quite as bad as hiking into the Gunnison, but still tiring.

Looking downstream from the canyon rim.

As we were driving out John was talking about bringing his kids dow to the pool as the fishing was so good. I was thinking that I would be hard pressed to take anyone down the canyon who couldn't get out on their own power, so dragging Lucas down to the creek is most likely not going to happen as I don't really want to pack him out.

TIme well spent

As noon rolled around on Friday, looking out the back window revealed azure skies, and plenty of sun, and the weather site was reporting temperatures pushing 60 degrees. As we haven't seen a day over 50 in 5 months or so it was much too appealing out to remain cloistered in my basement writing code.

I asked my older son, who turned 3 a few weeks back if he would like to go fishing, and he excitedly replied in the affirmative. He knows that dad disappears about once a week to fish, and has fished with me quite a bit in the past. In his first summer, while he was still small I would put him and enough formula and diapers for a day into my car and head out for a bit of creek fishing. I would cary him in a chest pack and he would watch for a bit, find the fish interesting, but usually fell asleep within about 1/2 hour of arriving upon whatever creek we chose for the day.

SF Snake at the Ririe railroad bridge

For the following 2 summers (once he learned to walk) I would take him out on some of the smaller branches of the Snake and various "safer" spots around our house. He can cast a little, and last summer actually cast, hooked and landed a whitefish on a dry fly. No small task for a 2 year old.

My wife objected strenuously to my taking my boy fishing, but once she realized that he was going, she then switched to a litany of "you keep an eye on him", and "don't let him drown." I think she fails to realize just how low the river currently is, and just how little incentive a little boy has to play in water that is not over 40 degrees. Despite that, I did keep him under wary eye, though we fished in slow water areas with very gentle banks.

Lucas overlooking the river. Let's go FISH dad!

I called John to see if he would like to go, and upon learning that my son was coming, he decided to also bring along his 2 year old. Whose birthday it just happened to be.

Parker fishing

We drove out to the Ririe railroad bridge, and again the area was crowded. The nice weather seems to have brought every fisherman in the area out of their homes and onto the river.

Parker, warily eyeing a trout

We fished a bit and let the kids fight the fish and land them. Lucas (my boy) likes to just walk up the bank until the fish is landed. He used this technique on a number of whitefish (John caught the only trout). Parker, John's boy, was a little afraid of the fish. Causing quite the ruckus every time his dad went to release one.

Lucas landing a fish

John and son fighting a fish

We had hoped for some dry fly action, but nymphs were the order of the day. The river is still running very low and very clear. Hopefully some BWOs will start coming off soon in better numbers.

Only trout of the day, but the boys didn't mind

The kids were fairly well behaved. They threw rock and sticks into the river, poked around with this and that, chased bugs, demanded to cast and generally had a good time of themselves. Lucas cast chanting "forwards" and "backwards" in portuguese tryng to get the timing of his cast down little better. And fought fish like a pro. He wanted to keep every fish we caught as he thinks fish tasty, and became upset as I released them. I tried to explain to him that whitefish are not real good eating, and that we would keep any rainbow trout that we caught (doing our part with the cutthroat restoration) but he still did not like the fact that daddy kept tossing his fish back.

I plan on buying him a 3 wt, overlining it with a wf 4 wt line and taking him out on the SF during the salmon fly hatch..... now if I can only convince his mother to allow my plans............. I really like making memories with my family.

Crowds

Originally I had planned to head back up to the big lost this week at some point, but John's (fishing buddy) schedule didn't allow for it. So yesterday we snuck out for 2 hours on the SF of the Snake near the old Ririe railroad bridge hoping to find some top feeding fish.

When we got to our normal parking spot for this stretch there were already three cars there and fishermen up and down the river for hundreds of yard. So we drove up river another 1/4 mile. As we pulled over another car pulled up and a carload of hardware huckers disgorged 5 people who beat a hasty path for the river. Above us at Cress Creek there were more cars.

The fishing was pretty good on zebra midges, there were a few feeding on the top sporadically, but not consistently enough to warrant switching to dries. I picked up fish on my first 4 drifts in the hole we fished. John put the hurt on the whities catching half the whities in the river.

On the drive back home we saw 3 different cars at our normal pullout. 3 cars at Twin Bridges by the north bridge, people on the dry bed.... basically people every where. Amazing what a little nice weather will do. With the number of people on the river you would have thought it prime salmon fly hatch, and not a Wednesday afternoon in mid-March. I was quite surprised by the sheer number of people on the river. Side note: The river is running low and clear.

Ohh and I forgot my camera again..... DOH!

Counting

Lost River Range

I must admit I count fish. When I am planted in the middle of a small gin clear, alpine river, casting tiny 18 and smaller bwo patterns over the heads of a myriad of fair sized rainbows, I tend to keep track of numbers. I am not sure why, it really shouldn't be all that important, but it does help me to quantify the day. As my fishing ooportunitues are not as numerous as I would like (but probably more numerous than my wife would like :) ) I try to maximize my outings, and counting does help to quantify the day. I count when I catch 4 in 5 drifts or when I pick up 9 fish from the same run in under 40 minutes. When I am having a day to rival some of my good days of the SF during the mega hatch in July, I pay attention.

Though my eyes are seemingly going out because I have to tie a bigger size 14 parachute bwo on with the small fly as a dropper so I can use the bigger fly to direct my poor eyes to the smaller fly, the fly that the fish are actually intersted in.

Fishing in the shadow of the tallest mountains in the state is always a treat. I wrote Scott (of Cutthroat Stalker fame) on Monday and had talked to another buddy Daryl about hitting the Big Lost on Friday. Every day of the 10 days (farthest out weather forecast) leading into the trip I checked the forecast for Mackay. And all the forecast stated hi 30s to lo 40s and sunny. I thought that a bluebird day of such would surely bring the midges and bwos to the surface and hopefully make the trout take note.

Crag above the river

Daryl and I drove in from Idaho Falls and Scott from Logan. we met up with him in Arco, The morning started out well on midges, with me catching a few on a red zebra and then a black zebra. I was starting to approach double digits on nymphs when I noticed a pair of bwos on my chest pack. The hatch was on.

I wondered back down river looking for Scott and Daryl. Scott and I had worked our way up stream for about 1/4 mile with me nymphing and he casting dries to risers, but he had disappeared a while earlier and I knew Daryl was down on the slick water close to the campground.



I found Scott most of the way back to the campground casting dries at a pod of risers and we made a few more attempts before heading back to the car to find Daryl nd hit a bite to eat.

Daryl was in the slick slow water casting to the 100s of risers. There were fish rising everywhere in the slick water. Some looked absolutely huge down in the depths. The only difficulty in slick stuff, is despite the 100s of riser, they have all day to inspect a fly and decide if it looks right. A dozen or more refusals found me upstream a bit where there was a little more chop, and finally a fish.

The rainbows in the Big Lost are amazing. They tend to average 15-17 inches with a few outliers on either end and are brilliantly colored. Deep green backs, bright magenta stripes, lots of spots and they are currently staging for the spawn and so are turning deep spawning red and orange.

They are hard fighting and like to leap. Daryl brought a 2 weight and was a little under-gunned. Every fish felt like a king salmon on his 2 weight.

Scott moved on downstream, while Daryl and I ate a leisurely lunch. After eating I headed downstream and found Scott casting to a pod of risers on the downside of a big riffle. He had just released a big bow of over 20 inches and was using stealth tactics to fool the fish.

Scott working risers below a riffle

I moved down about 50 yards below him where I saw a pod of risers. I hooked up with a couple, only to loose them both when the hole went cold. I must of spooked them and put them down.

I moved down another 50 yards and proceeded to slay them on the small bwo. the bugs were every where and the fish were rising. The hatch lasted about 2 hours, and I really only caught the beginning and end of it, having broken for lunch in mid hatch.



The fish continued to rise after the hatch cooled and then after a while, no more risers. So I switched back to nymphs. I followed Scott downstream around a couple of bends and tied into one more large fish that promptly spit the hook.

Reviewing the day.... good company, great finish and great scenery. What more could one ask for?

I did take some pictures of Scott fishing and of the scenery, but I like to fish too much to really take pictures of catching them. As I plan on heading back next week, I will try to get some more trout shots.

Finally HB 187 is Dead

It's dead Jim.

Voted down this morning 31 yay to 43 nay. Won't come back till next year. Hopefully now the recreation user community can draft a bill that will be acceptable for presentation during the next legislative session.