The Cutthroat's Spot

Been forever.

2012-02-18T06:25:00.002-08:00

Went out fishing for red fish on the coast a couple weeks back. Got the goose egg.

But for your viewing pleasure.
Steelhead ;)

One in Winter from ryan peterson on Vimeo.

Dedication

2012-01-03T18:28:00.001-08:00

Impossible catch of big brown trout in New Zealand from best flyfishing on Vimeo.

Teach you kid to fish

2011-12-29T06:54:00.000-08:00

This youngster can cast pretty well..... oh yeah and he catches salmon to boot.

Man this guy can cast

2011-12-19T09:10:00.001-08:00

Tossing the whole line.

I need to go do this

2011-12-19T06:21:00.001-08:00

3-4 hours from home.

BULLS ON TOP from SHALLOW WATER EXPEDITIONS on Vimeo.

2011-12-03T07:10:00.001-08:00

Saw this on the chum.

The Fish is Mine from Cuby on Vimeo.

Occupy this!

2011-11-28T06:57:00.001-08:00

Blogging Slacker

2011-11-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

Been slacking hardcore on my various blogs. Reviewed some of my family blog posts and got all nostalgic.

Went fishing on the Guadalupe over the weekend. Got to the river late. Tried the section right below the dam. Too much slack water for trout. Might be good for bass. Headed downstream to Rio Rafts. Still seems to be the best stretch for wade access. I might have to float fish this river one of these days.

It is a fishing fix, but Idaho it aint.

I will try to edit together the 2011 steelhead outing movie sooner or later and get it posted.

Stop the Pebble Mine

2011-11-12T07:22:00.001-08:00

Leaving from Pocatello, headed to Salmon.

2011-10-08T09:35:00.001-07:00

Kick Start Steelhead Fishing from Bryon Worthen on Vimeo.

Got Snow....?

2011-10-08T08:16:00.000-07:00

The snow has started to fall in Idaho. Hopefully our October outing is warmer than this:

Stanley, Idaho Steelhead 2011 from nick hoggan on Vimeo.

dam

2011-09-27T18:24:00.000-07:00

Good read!

9.5 hours from where I used to live.

2011-09-23T05:44:00.000-07:00

There is a place that holds monster piscivores like this. Quite the drive......... but worth the trip.

Link removed as I was tired of the auto-starting video.

Now get out there ;)

Steelhead run to date

2011-08-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

So far the run is a bit behind where it was this time last year. Given that the river was higher and colder than normal this year, the run started a bit later than normal but quickly hit the first peak in the graph. I am hoping we see another large spike in numbers and that this year soon looks more like 2009.

Nuff said.

2011-08-07T19:49:00.001-07:00

Silver Creek Outfitters - Spring Steelhead Fishing from Ross J Reid on Vimeo.

2011-08-01T11:10:00.001-07:00

MY new addiction..... kind of a cheap substitute for the real thing.

Watching the steelhead swim by:

The fishcam

What not to do

2011-07-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

When you go boating do not do the following: (this is not me nor anyone I know, just some random dude on the interwebz)

I lost power with my trolling motor 30 ft away from the spillway and it started sucking me in pretty dam fast so i tried starting my big motor but since it is an old motor it didnt start in time so went down the spillway like a pinball in a pinball machine. one of my friends the one in the black shorts in that pic was able to get up the other side of the mountain and get help the rest of us were helped by search and rescue..... free rock climbing lessons! They dont have a cable accross the spillway or buoys by it or any signs so anyone going to tarryall stay away from that spill way it has a pretty dam strong current from 30-40 feet out in the lake. (Im the one in the white shorts watching my boat get smashed up by a wench)

p.s. we caught 64 stocker size trout that day before all that!

Got Skiff?

2011-07-06T06:10:00.003-07:00

Check out the magazine of the East Cape Skiff guys for all things salt.

What I am missing

2011-07-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

First time in 10 plus years I will miss the Salmon Fly hatch on the South Fork. I usually am on the water a couple of days over the 4th of July Holiday. Though this year, with the water as cold and high as it is, if I flew out in August I might catch the hatch ;)

For those (salmon flies) about to die, I salute you!

Paradise Found

2011-07-01T07:27:00.001-07:00

Flying over the Sawtooth Mountains from Don Angle on Vimeo.

Reds

2011-06-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

Stalking Reds from Sharptail Media on Vimeo.

I need to make a trip south..... Maybe next weekend.

Meister Eckhart

2011-06-22T16:03:00.001-07:00

'God lies in wait for us with nothing so much as with love. For love resembles the fisherman’s hook. The fisherman cannot get the fish till it is caught on the hook. Once it takes the hook, he is sure of the fish; twist and turn as it may, this way or that, he is assured of his catch. And so I say of love: he who is caught by it has the strongest of bonds, and yet a pleasant burden. He who has taken up this sweet burden fares further and makes more progress than by all the harsh practices any men use. And, too, he can cheerfully bear and endure all that befalls him, whatever God inflicts on him, and can also cheerfully forgive whatever evil is done to him. Nothing brings you closer to God or makes God so much your own as the sweet bond of love. A man who has found this way need seek no other. He who hangs on this hook is caught so fast that foot and hand, mouth, eyes and heart, and all that is man’s, belongs only to God.’

Salmon Stories

2011-06-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

Idaho Rivers Salmon Stories - Hannah Stauts from Idaho Rivers United on Vimeo.

Part deux

Salmon River Stories

2011-06-16T06:09:00.000-07:00

Part 1:

Idaho Rivers Salmon Stories - Elmer Crow Jr. from Idaho Rivers United on Vimeo.

River of No Return

2011-06-14T06:49:00.001-07:00

I took up steelheading 2 years ago, and in the 2 years I have hit most of the runs in this video.

SPOOLEDTV - "River of No Return" from BCXHD Productions Ltd. on Vimeo.

(Well embedding seems to be locked out, but click the video or link and watch it at vimeo)

The stretch they cover in the first day is the same stretches I drifted with my 4 year old son, mom and dad last year. We did pretty well.

As an aside, I used to work in the same building with Lee Davison when I was at the INL, and we lived not too far from where he is located. He is one of the best spey casting instructors available. See his site at http://www.snakeriveroutfitters.com .

Chasing Riddles

2011-06-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

In Search of the Riddle from Evan Phillippe on Vimeo.

Steelheding video to feed the addiction.

Wade in the Water

2011-06-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Fueling the Addiction from Mr. Finback on Vimeo.

God's gonna to trouble the water.

Looking for a good time?

2011-06-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

Any NW area river rat should consider the upper Salmon river: shotgun falls, sunbeam dam, and piece of cake run. The river is currently at 4200 cfs and climbing, making a serious, solid class IV run with some big waves. This river is cold so make sure to take a wetsuit!

Paradise Lost

2011-06-01T14:47:00.002-07:00

Check out the Utah access history article in the latest issue of This is Fly (page 66)

With props to Lonnie, Corey K, and Bryan G!

So do videos like this?

2011-05-28T10:25:00.001-07:00

Help or make the symptoms worse when you are a steelhead junkie stuck in Texas?

Salmon Raw from Kåre Lundquist on Vimeo.

Ten & Two

2011-05-18T18:57:00.001-07:00

New Ten & Two issue is now available.

After my brother and I became good fishermen, we realized that our father was not a great fly caster, but he was accurate and stylish and wore a glove on his casting hand. As he buttoned his glove in preparation to giving us a lesson, he would say, "It is an art that is performed on a four-count rhythm between ten and two o'clock."

As a Scot and a Presbyterian, my father believed that man by nature was a mess and had fallen from an original state of grace. Somehow, I early developed the notion that he had done this by falling from a tree. As for my father, I never knew whether he believed God was a mathematician but he certainly believed God could count and that only by picking up God's rhythms were we able to regain power and beauty. Unlike many Presbyterians, he often used the word "beautiful."

After he buttoned his glove, he would hold his rod straight out in front of him, where it trembled with the beating of his heart. Although it was eight and a half feet long, it weighed only four and a half ounces. It was made of split bamboo cane from the far-off Bay of Tonkin. It was wrapped with red and blue silk thread, and the wrappings were carefully spaced to make the delicate rod powerful but not so stiff it could not tremble.

Always it was to be called a rod. If someone called it a pole, my father looked at him as a sergeant in the United States Marines would look at a recruit who had just called a rifle a gun.

My brother and I would have preferred to start learning how to fish by going out and catching a few, omitting entirely anything difficult or technical in the way of preparation that would take away from the fun. But it wasn't by way of fun that we were introduced to our father's art. If our father had had his say, nobody who did not know how to fish would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him. So you too will have to approach the art Marine and Presbyterian-style, and, if you have never picked up a fly rod before, you will soon find it factually and theologically true that man by nature is a damn mess. The four-and-a-half-ounce thing in silk wrappings that trembles with the underskin motions of the flesh becomes a stick without brains, refusing anything simple that is wanted of it. All that a rod has to do is lift the line, the leader, and the fly off the water, give them a good toss over the head, and then shoot them forward so they will land in the water without a splash in the following order: fly, transparent leader, and then the line—otherwise the fish will see the fly is a fake and be gone. Of course, there are special casts that anyone could predict would be difficult, and they require artistry—casts where the line can't go over the fisherman's head because cliffs or trees are immediately behind, sideways casts to get the fly under overhanging willows, and so on. But what's remarkable about just a straight cast—just picking up a rod with a line on it and tossing the line across the river?

Well, until man is redeemed he will always take a fly rod too far back, just as natural man always overswings with an ax or golf club and loses all his power somewhere in the air: only with a rod it's worse, because the fly often comes so far back it gets caught behind in a bush or rock. When my father said it was an art that ended at two o'clock, he often added, "closer to ten than to two," meaning that the rod should be taken back only slightly farther than overhead (straight overhead being twelve o'clock).

Then, since it is natural for man to try to attain power without recovering grace, he whips the line back and forth making it whistle each way, and sometimes even snapping off the fly from the leader, but the power that was going to transport the little fly across the river somehow gets diverted into building a bird's nest of line, leader, and fly that falls out of the air into the water about ten feet in front of the fisherman. If, though, he pictures the round trip of the line, transparent leader, and fly from the time they leave the water until their return, they are easier to cast. They naturally come off the water heavy line first and in front, and light transparent leader and fly trailing behind. But, as they pass overhead, they have to have a little beat of time so the light, transparent leader and fly can catch up to the heavy line now starting forward and again fall behind it; otherwise, the line starting on its return trip will collide with the leader and fly still on their way up, and the mess will be the bird's nest that splashes into the water ten feet in front of the fisherman.

Almost the moment, however, that the forward order of line, leader, and fly is reestablished, it has to be reversed, because the fly and transparent leader must be ahead of the heavy line when they settle on the water. If what the fish sees is highly visible line, what the fisherman will see are departing black darts, and he might as well start for the next hole. High overhead, then, on the forward cast (at about ten o'clock) the fisherman checks again.

The four-count rhythm, of course, is functional. The one count takes the line, leader, and fly off the water; the two count tosses them seemingly straight into the sky; the three count was my father's way of saying that at the top the leader and fly have to be given a little beat of time to get behind the line as it is starting forward; the four count means put on the power and throw the line into the rod until you reach ten o'clock—then check-cast, let the fly and leader get ahead of the line, and coast to a soft and perfect landing. Power comes not from power everywhere, but from knowing where to put it on. "Remember," as my father kept saying, "it is an art that is performed on a four-count rhythm between ten and two o'clock."

My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things—trout as well as eternal salvation—come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy.

~Norman Maclean

Rise Forms

2011-05-17T05:42:00.000-07:00

fly fishing literature, poetry and art. The newest issue is available here.

USAC Weber Navigability lawsuit

2011-05-09T05:07:00.000-07:00

with all of the details, including the filing.

2011-05-05T05:40:00.000-07:00

New issues of:
Bloodknot, &
Catch.

And SID 7 should be shortly forthcoming.

Dam Nation

2011-05-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

Salmon running the gauntlet.

See the video.

Despite all this chinook returns this spring look promising.

Re Thinking Water Rights

2011-04-10T16:12:00.001-07:00

Worth thinking about.

Sexy? ...... Sizzling!

2011-04-08T08:16:00.001-07:00

From The Cutthroat's Spot

This is the new RED Trout series Reel from Allen Fly Fishing.

From The Cutthroat's Spot

You know you want it............ go get one ;)

By way of announcement..........

2011-04-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

3 things hit my inbox today:

1> A new issue of Catch Magazine is available.

2> A new issue of This is Fly is available.

3> And to me the most important news: Justin at Allen and Co. is having a sale on his existing inventory of lines. $9.00 ea on his non olive green lines, but his inventory is going fast!

Think....?

2011-02-19T06:04:00.000-08:00

Think I can convince Ivana to relocate to BC?

A Steelhead Family - Official HD video 3.1 from Andrew Hardingham on Vimeo.

Probably not..........

Evaluating what matters

2011-01-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

I read an intriguing thought on the blog of self professed rod maker's widow Shannen Oyster:

Life’s “learning curve” that taught us to learn to make a living at what we love instead of learning to tolerate whatever activity makes a living.

And though I for the most part enjoy how I make a living I oft times am tempted to figure out a way to make a living in the "industry".

Always a good idea to routinely perform some introspection.

A bit of a solution

2010-12-12T16:44:00.001-08:00

an engineering fix for smolt mortality , but removing the dams would be better.

Connectivity

2010-12-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

If we can restore the connectivity we can restore the populations.

The Greatest Migration from EP Films on Vimeo.

Steelheading 2010

2010-11-17T19:46:00.000-08:00

My biggest problem when taking pictures on a fishing trip is that I really like to fish and never take time out to shoot (I am not sure how those of you like JayMore, Corey K, and FV manage to do both)..... so when I took my 4 year old son back to Idaho for a quick chrome outing with his grandparents, well I didn't get enough pics.

Now I am not a cinematographer, and partnered with my lack of photo skills, I do not produce the best videos....... but I try.

We fished 2 days, got some nice fish and had a memorable time. My son had a lot of fun, floated the river, fished a bit, rowed a bit, and played with sticks and rocks a lot. He enjoyed his trip with his grandparents and was a great fishing partner.

I am trying to build memories with my kids and hope to make a steelhead outing a yearly experience. As grandpa and grandma also had a great time, this may be an easier sell to Ivana (disguise my chrome addiction as a family outing).

My mother caught the first steelhead of the trip, and her first fish since our Alaska outing years ago. I tied into a few the first day, but it wasn't until the 2nd day that Dad and I landed fish. Both wild, hard fighting, big and both within a couple dozen feet of the other.

Dad picked up 1/2 dozen out of this hole but only managed to land a couple. He did find a very productive hole and had one big bruiser bust his hook.

I took my new spey rod and cast it for the first time. I need spey lessons ;) but I still managed to get into fish.

For the bigger, better version of the video click here.

Steelhead sneak peek

2010-10-31T20:12:00.001-07:00

Well until I can put together a montage of some of the pics and video clips from last weekend's steelhead outing...... I give you my current gear. 13' 7-8 Echo Classic Spey with Allen & Co. Alpha 9-10, and Allen spey line and my G Loomis 10' 8 wt GL with Allen & Co. XL 8 with 9 wt fast sink line.

The trip north and west was good and everyone except little L (4 yrs old) landed at least 1 steelhead. Even so, L had fun.

I will post more when I get the montage put together.

Magic

2010-09-21T05:24:00.000-07:00

There is a indescribable beauty in the MF Salmon River at Dagger Falls. Above the falls the river splits into its headwater creeks; Marsh Creek and Bear Creek, which remain among the best spawning habitat for Salmon and Steelhead any where in the world. And the fish that make the 900 or so mile 6500 foot climb from the ocean to these headwaters are among the "most fit" any where.

Salmon Film Teaser from Epicocity Project on Vimeo.

The mortality rate introduced by the dams on the Columbia is atrocious. But despite the dams, the returns for the last couple of years have been good. It is hard to know how much longer these runs can endure. I am taking my 4 year old boy up to Salmon in late October so that he can build some memories of this river and these fish while there are still fish.......................

steelhead ties

2010-09-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

Pulled the trigger and bought the tickets. My 4 year old and I are headed to the Salmon River on a 3 day lightning chrome run so I have been at the vice. Copying patterns we got from Rocky Maley and Marty Howard at the IF fly expo. Man those guys can tie!

I figure though it is going to cost a bit, it is worth my sanity to get a cold water and mountain fix.

Tex Hex

2010-08-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

A little Pflugerville hexagenia action from my front yard.

Recently purchased a new DPS, still trying to learn macro. Too exposed and not enough detail. Now to figure out where he came from so I can toss big mayflies to hungry bass.

Gibson Jack Creek

2010-08-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

I swear I wrote about this one already...... but am not finding it in my ramblings. This little creek is just a few minutes south of the Johnny Creek area, between Johnny Creek and Mink Creek. It is on public land up top and moves into private lands as it comes down the canyon. There are also a lot more houses up the canyon then when I was younger.

There is a nice parking lot and hiking/biking trail head where the road ends and some nice water in this immediate vicinity. The trail head fairly well is the forest service boundary. We used to paintball in the meadows and woods about 1/4 mile up from the traihead, and the area gets a bit of mountain bike use as it provides trails into the Mink Creek and City Creek drainages.

The creek is born of numerous springs in various locations in the headwaters of the north and south branches of the creek. With the added development up the canyon in the last few years I am unsure if the creek makes it to the Portnuef river or if it is disconnected during irrigation season, I suspect disconnected.

The creek has a wild native population of yellowstone cutthroats in surprising numbers but don't expect anything too huge.

Next Creek in the Pocatello Area

2010-08-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

The next creek north of Goodenough Creek on the west side of Marsh Valley is Bell Marsh Creek. It is smaller than Goodenough Creek. Both Goodenough and Bell Marsh have resident populations of cutthroat and are some of the better small creeks in the area. IDF&G inventories put healthy populations of pure strain yellowstone cutthroat in both of these creek in decent numbers.

Access to Bell Marsh creek is more limited than Goodenough and requires some traversal of two track and possibly permission from land owners. The most direct route involves cutting across from Green Rd, the same road that can provide access to Goodenough creek.

Both creeks are disconnected from Marsh creek in the summer due to irrigation.

Some related reading from IDF&G.

Creek of the day: Pocatello Creek

2010-08-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

From the east side of Pocatello it flows out of the mountains up around Moonlight Mine down into town. Many prime stretches run through ranchettes, farms and other private property. Years and years of grazing have left the banks impacted in this area and there are irrigation draw downs in the summer.

This creek has potential but I have never fished it. There ought to be some fish in there, but where the creek is on public land it is quite small and access to the lower stretches may be restricted. It is also detached from the river being diverted into a canal at Hiline Road.

Recent (last few years) IDF&G surveys for Yellowstone Cutthroat trout populations in the Portnuef sub basin do not show any cutthroat in the creek.

Cutthroat on TV

2010-08-06T05:09:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of PBS and MSU. Discussing the comeback of native trout populations.

See:http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=8666

Pocatello area creeks continued

2010-08-04T20:03:00.001-07:00

If you are looking for a nice Pocatello area creek within about a 30 minute drive of home (assuming home is Pocatello) consider Goodenough Creek. Goodenough Creek is on the west side of Marsh Valley, flowing down a canyon that separates Old Tom and Scout mountains.

The creek runs though a little canyon and is shaded by pines through most of its course. It is one of the larger creeks in the area about 12 feet wide and a foot deep around the campground and has the potential for some nice fish. It is known to hold cutthroat and produced for me the last time I was there.

There is a forest service campground on the creek at the top of Green road, that doesn't see a whole lot of use, but has some nice campsites.

creepy crawlies, things that bite and things that sting

2010-08-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

To interrupt my normally scheduled programing, a quick rant on venomous beasties in Texas.

Back in Idaho the list of things that would bite and were poisonous was pretty short (in ascending order of severity):

mosquitoes (not really poisonous but hey)

ticks

bees

wasps

hobo spiders

black widow spiders

rattle snakes

Here in Texas that list is about an order of magnitude bigger:

mosquitoes

ticks

chiggers

centipedes

bees

wasps

scorpions

black ants

fire ants (damn little beasties that inspired this rant)

big ugly spiders

black widow spiders

brown recluse spiders

water moccasin

cotton mouth

copper head

rattle snake

and I am sure I missing hundreds of other venomous bugs and a couple more snakes down here.

I write this as I have been spending a chunk of time eradicating the fire ants from my yard with the hopes that it will become a safe place for my kids to play. I have been bitten by exactly 1 fire ant................. a little tiny thing, teeny really. But the bite hurts, and then swells and then itches like crazy. Oh, not only do they bite, they also sting with their tails and inject some type of acidic venom. They swarm in mass. Who designed these things?

I can not imagine running afoul of a big mound of these nasties. I have been walking about the lawn spot treating the mounds and yesterday spread a broadcast treatment. I guess running into a mound while mowing the lawn is not a fun experience.

I hope to have some Texas fishing content up soon, looking at buying a sit on top kayak and becoming a bass fisherman. I may have to take up noodlin or jugging....................... ;) No cutthroat for at least 10 hours in any direction but there are some trout nearby. I will have to go hit the waters and report.

2010-07-29T19:21:00.001-07:00

What happens to headwater creeks when they are restored and connected to their watersheds?

the big fish return!

Fish heaven Creek just north of the Idaho/Utah border. The cutthroats are reoccupying the creek.

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-04T05:25:00.000-07:00

I woke up too early this morning. My mind spinning with dreams of fishing for trout in small creeks in the foothills around Pocatello, creeks that only exist in my mind. I seem to have a habit of doing that, creating watersheds while I sleep.

The realities of a double dip depression, high unemployment, and having a niche skillset for which there are not many positions in SE Idaho have relocated my family and I (oh on a family note, Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife!) to the hill country of Texas. North and east of Austin whose motto is "Keep Austin Weird." Austin has a good vibe and is full of music, food, activities, a zoo and shopping (shopping is high on my wife's criteria) but the climate reminds me more of Brazil than anywhere else I have resided and the local creeks are warm like my bath tub.

So as I ponder ways of becoming independently wealthy to the point where I can return to mountain headwaters, that or convince my wife to simplify, simplify, simplify our lives to the point where we live with a much smaller house, foot print and income..... my dreams about creeks return my thoughts to a project I had intended to undertake this summer; namely fishing the small creeks that flow into the Portnuef in the Pocatello valley.

I will start with the three northern most on the west side of the valley:
Trail Creek, City Creek and Cusick Creek.

Trail Creek is born from small springs in a notch south of Horward Mountain and the unnamed peak to the south which is essentially the top of the "west bench" valley view dr. area. It is a small creek, never really growing much more than 3-4 feet wide. It flows through some pastures and countrified residential areas in its lower boundaries before disappearing underground or to irrigation, and through sage and juniper around and above the BLM boundary. I have never caught anything here despite fishing it once or twice (plunking worms) when I was about 10 or 11 or so. My gut tells me if there are any fish in the creek they most likely reside in the shaded stretch right in the area where the creek crosses the BLM boundary. This is also where the creek is at its largest as various branches come together here (it may be a bit larger downstream but it is all in private land around meadowlark). There could be few hiding in here, but temps may get to high during the summer months.

On a side note if you want to view a cool rock go visit "holey rock" a large rock with various holes through it, in a horse pasture next to Trail Creek above where Meadowlark splits off of the main road.

City Creek is also the result of springs that feed it from a draw about 1/2 way up and more spirngs at the foot of Kinport peak. City Creek is a larger creek than Trail Creek and has more flow, probably about twice as big. The City creek area has always been used for recreation by Pocatello residents and is now part of a really good mountain biking trail system.

When I was a boy scout we used to go camp along the creek which was also a popular destination for partying teens. About 20 years ago or so the city got [more] serious about protecting City Creek as a part of the Pocatello watershed and banned camping along the creek (if I remember correctly). We caught small trout out of City Creek when I was a scout. I can not remember if they were Cutts or rainbows but I imagine that there could possibly still be some cutthroat in the creek. The best bet would be in the shady willowed and aspen lined areas below where the road up Kinport peak does the sharp bend back (just below the gate that is closed in the winter on the upper road).

City is a very scenic creek from the trailhead at the LDS church up to its beginning and I have hiked or ridden most of its length. Both City Creek and Cussick Creek are owned by the city of Pocatello as part of a 3000 acre watershed management area as part of the City's drinking water supply.

Cusick Creek is born of springs in a grove of pines about 3/4 of the way up Kinport. In the pine areas it is very shaded but lower down it is very exposed. Cusik creek used to be diverted and provided at one point much of nascent Pocatello's drinking water and the old holding pool can still be visited. I have never fished Cusick Creek but I think the creek could hold fish. If it does they are most likely in the more protected areas above where the old two track that is now part of the "Prison Trail" loop intersects the creek or down below in the canyon directly above the cabin area that the Pocatello Police Department has at the foot of the bench. I think this creek could hold some cutthroat ;)

The difficulty for these creeks is that they are all now essentially detached from the Portnuef River, and that the river itself through Pocatello, while once a major spawning corridor for Cutthroat is now severely impacted and largely turned into a large concrete ditch. Any fish in these creeks are either remnants from past plantings, or holdover from original populations now resident in the small creeks (must be a heck of a time in the winter).

If anyone who reads this has any knowledge of fish in these three creeks (or other Pocatello area creeks) in the last few years let me know, or if you have any photos of the area creek that I can use, well they would be appreciated!

I plan on writing about more Pocatello area creeks (and I know a few with a certainty hold fish and cutthroat) in the next little while and will visit a couple as soon as I can (which will most likely not be any time soon as we are now in the south).

Salmon and salmon flies.

2010-07-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

Sitting on the sofa in TX. The kids and I waded a local creek last Saturday. The bottom was a solid piece of limestone, kind of cool, and the temps were like my bathtub.

Hoping to make if back to the SF for a day next week, hopefully the salmon flies put in an appearance.

Support wild salmon and steelhead. Wild salmon at dagger falls on the headwaters of the MF of the Salmon. Nice!

Good Eats

2010-06-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

So if any of my readers ever make it to Cuba NM, make sure to try the pinon crusted rainbow trout w/ mango salsa at El Bruno's (excellent). The restaurant is very nice with an outdoor eating court. Since it sits at about 7000' elevation it was great outside in the shade.

Changing of my ways............

2010-06-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

Exchanging white water runs and steelhead, the little headwater creeks full of cutthroat that I love, and the Mecca of all things dry fly (SF of the Snake and HF of the snake) for Brushy Creek, Lake Travis, bass and possible trips to the salt.

Leaving my raft with family and most likely getting a SOT kayak.

Austin here we come.

Wet

2010-05-28T15:55:00.002-07:00

When it is pouring rain, and your waders are leaking also, wet is all you can become.

Tons of BWOs on the surface and little puffball birds picking them off the top, but the only trout I saw was 4 inches long.

So much for my last hurrah.

Little Creek, Big...........Salmon Flies?

2010-05-16T10:13:00.003-07:00

So I bought little L (my 4 year old) a set of waders in late April thinking he would wear them on a steelheading trip towards the end of the month (very nice bootfoot waders at reasonable prices by the way). Unfortunately the weather went to crap after they came in, and I couldn't see dragging a 4 year old up around Stanley in sub freezing weather for him to catch steelhead.

Work has intervened on my life situation, meaning I have been laid-off and had to spend some time job hunting instead of fishing. The good news is, I am very marketable. The bad news is there are very few tech jobs for control systems security gurus in Rigby Idaho. But this is fodder for a later blog post.

As the weather finally turned back to nice yesterday, I decided L and I needed to go fishing. We initially were headed for Willow Creek but as I thought of hiking down the 200' of rock scramble and then hiking L back out..... well I decided to go some where easier to access. So we were headed to Hatchery Ford on the Henry's when we got to Rexburg and I had an epiphany about another little creek fairly close, that met 2 important criteria: not blown out, and open for fishing.

This little creek is high desert, one of the drier areas of the state but surrounded by towering peaks. We got there, got rigged and headed down to the water. The creek is small, generally less than 10 feet across. I was quite surprised when we arrived at the banks and found the willows crawling with salmon flies. This is the earliest in the season I have seen the big bugs anywhere around here. Especially considering the cold, somewhat rainy spring we have so far had.

The fish were looking up, not perhaps as actively as would have been optimal, nor were they very large, but catching fish in a small creek on salmon flies (O2 Stone) in mid May was fun for L and I. We tied into a few, landed a couple and had the big fish of the day break us of and leap, leap, leap to mock us with his freedom.

This could be my only Salmon fly outing this year. I am going to try to get out on the HF when they hatch but it with the upcoming move to warmer climes.... it may not be possible.

Low Holing

2010-04-23T12:26:00.001-07:00

To the Low Holing richard cranium with the spey rod and your buddy with the single hander who moved in not 15 feet below me as I was swinging to steelhead, I really don't mind your lack of courtesy and decorum. As long as you didn't mind the fact that after every third cast or so I stepped down stream, slowly squeezing you two out. I didn't say anything, and you knew better than to complain as I slowly moved downstream while still covering the top of the hole. It wasn't like there wasn't a couple of hundred yards of vacant river just above us..... oh yeah there was.

For all I know this might have been your most favorite hole on the river. Sorry I didn't abandon it despite your hopes that crowding me would get me to move. I just continued to step down after about every third cast. And when I started to cast on top of the water you were covering.... well just what did you expect?

The river wasn't but 20 feet wide here and less than 18 inches deep, so I guess you felt the need to get up and personal with a complete stranger.

Anyway, after moving up into the above mentioned vacant upstream water (after you left back up the hill) we found tons of fish.... Your loss.

Supporting local music

2010-04-09T08:38:00.001-07:00

Check out the new CD by Steelhead Redd. A folksy Pocatello band with a great name and great sound. Audio samples re available on the site.

Even though winters in SE Idaho

2010-04-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

Even though the winter here is long and ofttimes brutal it has its rewards.

Idaho Fly Fishing from RT on Vimeo.

I recognize most of the stretches in the video and most are less than 30 minutes from my doorstep.

Steelheading the headwaters

2010-04-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

Took a trip up above Challis and fished from a few miles above Challis to a few miles above Clayton. The water really gets skinny above Clayton but all of the water from Challis up is a lot more fly fish friendly than below the MF confluence.

We hit Deadman's Hole right at about sunrise and I saw a couple of big steelhead rolling in the hole right below the cliffs. Within a few casts I was into my fist steelhead. A big (around 30 inch) wild buck. I didn't take him out of the water, and so didn't get a picture.

As the sun rose more people started to crowd the hole right above and below the rock so Jake and I moved down 20 yards to a bend in the river. I worked the bend and picked up the hatchery buck after just a few minutes. Worked the hole for a while longer and then wondered a few hundred yard down and then up the river looking for other spots.

Jake and his dad stayed in the bend and fished it for a couple of hours with no success. They were getting ready to meet some friends down at Ellis when I came back. So I started to fish the bend again and again iin a few mintes tied into the hen.

After lunch I fished closer down by Challis for a while and had one good bite. I then drove up river scouting it out and fished a few areas above Clayton. The river is very skinny above the East Fork and will be for a while longer until run off season really starts.

Yellow was the hot color of the day so I tied up a bead bodied yellow spey when I got home.

This was my fastest day of steelheading yet and I hope to go 1-2 more times before the end of the season.

Steelhead

2010-03-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

So..........

Last week Jake and I went up to Salmon steelheading. Jake with gear and I on the fly. We perused the river a little in the morning trying to decide where to go. Jake decided he like the hole right under the bridge in town. So he "utahed" his way in and promptly got into double digits in fish (and he actually landed some too). We must have seen over 60 fish come out of that hole in an hour.

Being on a fly rod I went up above the hole away from the elbow to elbow crowds, but I didn't get any bites. The weather was incredible. Must have been near 60 all day. Forecast had called for rain. We didn't see hardly any clouds let alone any raindrops.

After about an hour we jumped into the boat and floated down to Carmen. I tied into one nice steelie at the Lemhi hole. Fought him for a while and then he spit me. We made it down to Carmen then went up rivers a ways and fished till dusk. Tally for the day: 2 suckers, 2 whitefish and one almost steelhead.

I will be heading up around Ellis in the next little while. Need to tie some flies this weekend.

Preparation Chrome

2010-03-13T18:26:00.000-08:00

So today in preparation of a steelhead trip at some point in the near future I:

Examined my old Chota STL wading puts and thought about putting the stud kit in them. 5 years of hard use and they are pretty much beyond redemption. Soles are destroyed, leather is worn through in a couple of spots. They were great boots but they are now gone.

Took the Reddingtoon Boots I purchased cheap last spring and put the studs into them. These have not been real good boots. I have glued the soles back on a couple of times. The nylon spots are wearing through without a whole lot of use. And they have always been a little loose. So I glued and the screwed the soles on, used the Chota screw studs. Soles won't be coming back off ;) and threw an extra foot liner into them from an old pair of sneaker both to tighten them up and so that the screw tips never meet my waders.

I am either going to get another set of STLs (those Chotas have been great boots for me) or a pair of Korkers to match my summer hikers.

Patched a leak in my waders. Hope I got that bugger. Though last time I went a couple of weeks back the water was actually much warmer than it was for my last fall trip.

Replaced the trailer wiring kit on my rig. It hadn't been working for a while and I purchased the replacement kit last fall.

Replaced the tail lights on my boat trailer with submersible LED lights. No more blown bulbs when hot light meets cold river. Though it does appear that I have a side marker out still. I'll have to chase that down later. Those LEDs look awesome... much brighter than my old filament bulbs.

Now it is time to tie up some replacement soft milking eggs. Lost 1/2 dozen last outing. Reports have 24 fish up to the Pahsemeroi hatchery so there are fish now most of the way up to Challis. I will most likely fish right around North fork or Carmen.

Allen & Co gear

2010-03-09T14:37:00.000-08:00

As the prices were too good to pass up I picked up an Allen & Co XL reel, a spare spool, and two lines. With shipping the whole shooting match was just over $100.00 (now where else can you get a LA reel, a spare spool and 2 lines for under $100.00 bones?). I have used the reel and line once and am pleased with the results. The machine work and tolerances look very good. The carbon fiber drag has nice adjustability and good stopping power. In all, I am very happy with the purchase.

From my interactions with the owner of the company, Justin, I would say that he is a very stand up guy. By my interaction and various other reports on the web it shows he goes out of his way to ensure that his customers are satisfied with their purchases.

So for anyone looking for some good gear at incredible prices check out Allen & Co.

Steelheading

2010-03-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

Got the fly box ready and went up to Salmon. Went too far down the river to deep water. Deeper than I could really cover on the swing.

As all I tied into was one 4 inch bow, one 13" cutthroat and one sucker fish I am just going to show the fly box ;)

Eggs of which I lost about 1/2 of the ones seen here. Luckily they take about a minute an egg. These are otter soft eggs in the 6mm size. I pushed a small red glass bead into the egg before pushing the egg over the eye.

Various flies tied over the last few months. Each takes me over an hour.

Another Spey Fly

2010-02-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

I am learning that material makes a huge difference. The last one I tied used only schlappen which was too short and too stiff, this one uses mainly marabou... a little too soft. I may have to try rhea or BEP for the next one.

I still need to figure out what to use to make a neater head coating.

But I am happier with this one.

Steelhead Flies

2010-02-21T21:43:00.001-08:00

Still trying to improve my ties.

First: Green Butt Skunk.

I am pretty happy with this one but next time need to use some type of hair wing for the lower wing instead of marabou fibers. Tied on a size 4 tiemco hook. I forget the number. Cut off the eye and replaced it with some 30 lb backing. Sharpened the point with a file to a long gradual transition for easier penetration.

One thing I would like to do better is the finish on the head of my flies. This one used nail polish and it is a little lumpy. I want to achieve a nice uniform finish.... I have tried flex cement with ok result. There must be a better cement/paint/something out there that the pros are using. So what is it?

Next a spey fly... supposed to look like:

(from silveysflyfishing.blogspot.com)

ended up like:

Sorry about the crappy photo, using macro in low light situations with no flash is not ideal.

I used 5-7 inch schlappen and the fibers do not look as long nor as soft as the feathers in the fly I was trying to achieve. So if any one has any hints on what materials to use and how to tie the original, the hints are appreciated.

Getting caught up

2010-02-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

In late January, on a sunny afternoon I went out on the SF at the Lorenzo bridge hoping for some midges on top and possibly some BWOs. I had been thinking about going up to the Big Lost but decided to take the 5 minute drive instead of the 95 minute drive. Apparently it was the wrong decision.

No bugs on top, no rising fish seen all day. I couldn't even dredge up a white fish on a nymph. When you can't catch a white fish on a nymph on the SF you need to rethink your hobby ;).

So in an effort to get the skunk off of me, I and Mike S took a little trip down to a local spring creek that feeds a reservoir and has a run of large rainbows in the late winter. Fish that can average 5 lbs on a good day. The big pigs weren't in. This is a water I usually catch rainbows in, and the odd cutthroat. This day I caught brown trout up to about 18 inches, rainbows up to about 13 inches, no cutts and of all the unexpected things, a yellow perch. First pan fish I have ever caught on a fly, I reckon he was a fugitive from the reservoir.

Been tying steelhead flies as steelhead are another of Idaho native species. I purchased some better materials than the craft store guinea hen hackle and watched a couple of videos, and my flies are getting better.

Next couple of weeks will see me back at the spring creek, out on the Big Lost and then up on the Salmon around Challis for steelhead.

Update on Utah Water Access Battle

2010-02-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

I really need to post my shots from my last outing, but it may have to wait till after my next outing (couple of days till hog hunting on a local spring creek).

The battle goes on in Utah. HB-80 essentially died in the House Rules and Natural Resources committees and so it has been taken to the other chamber where it has been introduced as Senate Bill 267 (so SB-267).

2 Other bills have been introduced to the House. McIff's bill HB-141 that would essentialy overturn the Conatser decision and prohibit the public from utilizing any of the public's water and fish over private property, and HB-290 which require "wet boot". HB-290 also includes language stating that the public has no easement, again in direct opposition to the 5-0 Utah Supreme Court decision.

If you are a Utah resident make sure you contact all your representatives, both in the House and Senate seeking support for SB-267 and voicing opposition to HB-141 & HB-290.

Hopefully I will have some fishing pics up by the end of the week.

Going Viral Utah HB-80

2010-02-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well I was planning to post pics and a write up about my last outing on the SF.... but pleas to get the word out on the water access battle going on in Utah have reached me and so I will help the campaign.

There is currently a piece of Legislature before the Utah House sponsored by Rep Lorie Fowlke defining the easement to recreate on all waters in the state per the Conatser Supreme Court Decision. HB-80 was drafted following an open process seeking the input of both land owners and recreationist, with the goal of producing a compromise for both parties.

Currently the bill is being held up in the Rules committee chaired by Rep. Ferry (who sponsored a bill last year HB-187 that would have effectively gutted the Conatser decision boo!). The rumor mill also notes that there are two other bills in the pipes. Both have no public input. One of the rumored bills is seeking for a "wet boot" definition of the easement. The other, sponsored by Rep McIff would allegedly legislate away the Conatser ruling. Such a bill passing would most likely end up in court, as the Conatser decision was unanimous and based on public doctrine.

If you live in Utah an recreate on the state water ways get involved and contact your representative seeking support for the bill that was derived through a public process, HB-80.

The main clearing houses for information on the battle are the Utah on the Fly website www.utahonthefly.com and the Utah Water Guardians website http://utahwaterguardians.org .

Utah Water Guardians have solicited the aid of a full time lobbyist and so are accepting donations to help fund the battle.

Again if you in any way recreate on the many waters of Utah, be it fishing, rafting, kayaking, boating, water fowl hunting etc then you need to get involved in this battle. you do not necessarily have to be a citizen of the state. If you spend your $$$s recreating in the state and the outcome of this battle will effect the way you spend your dollars then contact member of the legislature and let them know.

There is a rally at the Utah State Capitol building Febuary 5th 11:30 am.

Get Involved!

TFO Great Customer Service

2010-01-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

Those of you who know or who have fished with me know that I am a fan of TFO rods. I own a TicR and TicRx both 9' 5wts and my dad has a TicR also. Dad broke the tip off his rod a while and my neighbor Chad, broke the tip off hisrod on our last outing so I sent both rods in at the same time to save on shipping.

$25.00 a rod and 4 days later the rods are back with new tip sections. Great service and quick turn around, what more can you ask for?

Kudos to TFO.

Loosing the Railroad Ranch

2010-01-19T06:36:00.000-08:00

There has been a flurry of posts on various forums and blogs about possibility of the State of Idaho shutting down Harriman State Park in a effort to cut costs. If the park is shut down under the agreement by which the land was awarded to the state, the land reverts to the Harrimans.

While I think it a pretty bone headed and shortsighted move, would the park being shut down cut access to the river?

If I understand Idaho law, no. The river is navigable and the public would still have access rights to the normal high water mark. Easy access across the meadows and along the banks could potentially be eliminated, but I do think that access from Last Chance and from the Osborne Bridge would still be legal. As the public has used the banks for the last 25 years there could also possibly be a public easement along the banks.

If I am off in my thinking please correct me.

New Idaho Cutthroat Wildlife License Plate

2010-01-14T18:37:00.000-08:00

While I have the wildlife plate with the trout on them this new one is sure nice. Wonder when my tags expire so I can upgrade? ;)

http://www.klewtv.com/news/local/81191377.html

Think Snow

2010-01-11T08:09:00.001-08:00

So for the most part the storms this season have parted around SE Idaho and left us with much below normal snow pack for this point in the season. While there is a couple of months of winter left the immediate forecast does not look too promising. Could be a dry summer.

Snow Report By Drainage for Idaho
http://www.wrds.uwyo.edu/wrds/nrcs/updatesur/update-id.sno

Other western states
http://www.wrds.uwyo.edu/wrds/nrcs/updatesur/updatesur.html

Feral Pigs

2010-01-07T08:51:00.001-08:00

I just read that some "bucket biologist" released some feral pigs in the Bruneau desert area of SW Idaho. Feral pigs are highly adaptive, reproduce like fleas, and are incredibly destructive to the local ecology being both a vector for disease and trashing flora. These pigs they noted were most likely transported from California. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is going to try to eradicate them through the winter hoping to impact the population before they are able to reproduce. If you are in the SW corner of the state and see any sign of the oinkers please report the information to the Idaho Department of Agriculture.

This is another case of somebody's personal selfishness like dumping lake trout in Yellowstone Lake. As the pigs can severely impact stream-side vegetation they could adversely impact trout habitat.

Put your christmas tree to good use!

2010-01-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

Recycle it as trout habitat. Many of the local conservation groups, fish and game departments, TU Chapters etc collect clean fir, or spruce tree to use as habitat.

Here is a link for a program in the Teton Valley. http://www.tetonvalleynews.net/articles/2009/12/23/news/doc4b315cb83e8bf047395350.txt

I may post more links as I find them.

SE Idaho Fly Tying Expo

2009-12-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

One of the premier shows in the country. April 16-17 2010 Idaho Falls Idaho. Mark your calendar. The Snake River Cuttroat organization that hosts this show raises significant money which is used for cutthroat conservation and habitat restoration.

2010 East Idaho Fly Tying Expo from Idaho Falls Magazine on Vimeo.

Idaho Yellowstone Cutthroat Management Plan

2009-12-23T16:18:00.001-08:00

From 2007. This one has some good information and can be a good resource for finding new fishing spots.
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/fish/programs/yellowstone.pdf

Good Reading

2009-12-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

Discussing the differences between fine spotted and large spotted Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Snake river cutthroat and Yellowstone Cutthroat) and whether the constitute separate sub species. An interesting paper from a couple years back: http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/caribou-targhee/fisheries/documents/proceedings_yct_spot.pdf .

Restoring Cutthroat Habitat in Colorado

2009-12-17T06:37:00.000-08:00

Final decisions on how to go forward with cutthroat habitat restoration in Colorado after a decade of legal wrangling. The area in question is below the reservoir on Long Draw Pass. The operations of the reservoir dries the creek below during the winter months. The compromise still keeps the creek dry in the winter but in exchange the operators have agreed to restore 43 miles of habitat elsewhere in the watershed. The plans should be available in January. See http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20091207/NEWS01/912070310/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02/Trout-habitat-now-on-the-line for more details.

Downright Balmy & Protecting Westslope Curtthroat

2009-12-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

After a week+ of sub zero temperatures today it is supposed to actually get over freezing. I went out this morning around 7:00 am and it felt pretty warm, almost tropical ;)

Glacier national Park is proposing some regulation changes to boost westslope cutthroat populations, namely:

1. Catch-and-release for cutthroat trout west of the Continental Divide.
Exception: Catch and possession limit of two cutthroat trout from Hidden, Evangeline, and Camas lakes.

Justification: Native westslope cutthroat trout would benefit from additional protection to maintain strong populations in the park in the face of expanding non-native species, and they are extremely vulnerable to angling. The proposed change would result in increased consistency between GNP and the State of Montana westslope cutthroat trout fishing regulations on the west side of the park. Hidden, Evangeline, and Camas lakes contain non-native Yellowstone cutthroat trout populations which may pose a genetic risk to downstream native westslope cutthroat trout populations. Allowing harvest of Yellowstone cutthroat from these waters allows for continued angler harvest opportunity for non-native fish.

2. Place lower McDonald Creek under the general park fishing season dates, limits, and methods of fishing.

Justification: Continuing a special catch-and-release regulation limited to the use of artificial flies or lures on lower McDonald Creek is not likely to have a measurable impact on westslope cutthroat trout abundance in the McDonald Lake system, and this change would simplify the regulations. Allowing anglers to catch and harvest non-native fish species such as lake and rainbow trout from lower McDonald Creek would also be consistent with park fisheries management direction.

3. Modify and clarify the regulations for Hidden Lake and outlet. The outlet of Hidden Lake and an area extending 100 yards into the lake would be closed to fishing through July 31 to protect spawning cutthroat.

Justification: Hidden Lake supports a population of non-native Yellowstone cutthroat trout that can provide a harvest opportunity for anglers, however the current regulation permits only catch and release fishing. Clarifying open dates of fishing in and near the outlet of the lake will provide clarity for anglers using the fishery.

4. Increase the daily catch and possession limit for brook trout to 20 fish park-wide.

Justification: A “no limit” regulation on brook trout is biologically justifiable as they compete and hybridize with native fish species, but it is possible for anglers to confuse brook trout with juvenile bull trout. Twenty fish is more than the average angler is likely to catch, and would serve to limit any potential adverse impacts to bull trout populations should anglers incorrectly identify juvenile bull trout as brook trout. This change would improve consistency with State of Montana fishing regulations.

5. Modify language regarding the use of lead downriggers to read that a “cannon ball” style lead weight greater than 2 pounds may be used when attached to the downrigger cable.

Justification: To clarify the intent of the fishing regulation regarding the use of lead downrigger balls.

6. Catch and release fishing only on Midvale (Two Medicine drainage) and Wild (Hudson Bay drainage) creeks.

Justification: To protect remaining genetically pure populations of westslope cutthroat trout east of the Continental Divide in GNP.

See the proposed Fishing Cahnges to Park Fishing Regulations document on the following page for more info: http://www.nps.gov/glac/parkmgmt/planning.htm .

Brrr

2009-12-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

There is cold, damn cold, hell has frozen over cold and then there is SE Idaho, which still isn't as cold as Stanley ID (consistently the coldest spot in the lower 48) or even West Yellowstone (a close second). The last week we have been seeing double digit negative temps at night and single digits above during the day. That is not counting wind chill.

So last Saturday Chad and I had the bright idea to head out bright and early to the SF. This was the first days of the cold snap and so the river was not iced hardly at all... contrast that with when I drove over Lorenzo bridge Thursday...... well after a week of sub 0 nights the river looked like a slushie.

The air temps must have been like 6-7 above but with the howling wind, it sounded like a jet taking off as it tore through the cottonwoods, it must have been -15. It was the coldest I have ever been while fishing even though I have fished with colder temps, just never with a bitter wind like that.

The good news is we caught fish. A good number of brown trout sitting deep in a hole. Didn't see any fish on redds. It was so cold that the ice that usually accumulates in the guides froze on the line faster then you could strip it in through the guides... hence not too many solidified guides. The fish weren't huge, but they were plentiful. They must have been a little sluggish from the cold as they didn't fight incredibly hard.

Chad took a nasty spill on the way back on the one chunk of ice on the river. The felt on my boots would freeze solid as I walked so I was skating over the rocks. Chad also broke his tip clearing out the ice. But still a good trip. I contemplated going out again today as it is warmer....... but decide against it.

Gary Loomis joins Temple Fork Outfitters

2009-12-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

A while back the Drake was running a spoof notice of how the re-animated corpse of Ernest Hemmingway had joined the staff at TFO, and I read it and was amused as it at times appears that every industry "great" has joined the staff. TFO's list of notables in the fly fishing world seems to grow every time I turn around, running the gamut from Lefty Kreh, Bob Clouser, and Jim Teeny and now notable rod designer and builder Gary Loomis is going to have significant impact on a line of spinning rods that TFO is introducing.

As one who owns several TFO products I have been pleased with the value of the product, and their great customer service. I look forward to seeing Gary's input on their product lines.

(Researching this a little further... I guess this is somewhat old news, but it was new to me ;) )

Cutthroats on the South Fork

2009-12-09T17:49:00.000-08:00

I have heard from two sources now, but have not seen an official report yet that the cutthroat numbers on the South Fork are down and that the rainbow numbers are up. Both sources have noted that recent electro surveys around Conant have resulted in an increased presence of rainbows in that stretch.

I fish the stretch from Irwin down to Spring Creek or Conant more than any other stretch of the river and in the last couple of years my non-empirical methods of just counting what I am catching had me catching cutthroats at a rate of about 7:1 to rainbows, and the number of rainbows I have been catching was decreasing yearly. My methods must have produced bad results as the electro shocking is showing otherwise (cutthroat have always been a bit easier to fool on a fly).

Anglers, if you fish the SF please keep all the rainbows you catch. Give them to friends, neighbors and colleagues, but don't just release them back into the river.

Fate of the Teton River and it's wild cutthroat

2009-12-08T21:43:00.001-08:00

As a native of SE Idaho with the Teton River some 20 minutes from my house I have watched with a mixture of fascination and disgust as every year local state legislators and water companies try to introduce legislation to rebuild the dam. The dam that failed 30 some odd years ago, catastrophically. Strangely enough they want to build a new dam in the same geologically fractured area as the original dam, which seems to me a bad idea. Especially as my house sits in an area that could possibly be inundated if the dam was to fail again.............. a secondary concern to what the dam would do to one of the best cutthroat fisheries in the nation.

There is a good article at The Cleanest Line on the Teton. Go check it out. And a good TU Video.

Whirling Disease White Paper

2009-12-03T18:01:00.000-08:00

The University of Montana together with Trout Unlimited have published a Whirling Disease White Paper detailing research into the life cycle and management of whirling disease/ check it out at http://whirlingdisease.montana.edu/resources/publications.htm . Other resources are also available at the site.

Update: Not only are other resources available they are in the form of two free videos. One on whirling disease, "Black Tale" and the other on cutthroat trout: "Rising From the Shadows." The videos are free and they don't even charge for shipping. I should have mine shortly.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming

2009-12-02T07:24:00.000-08:00

So steelhead season for me is mostly over. I will still spend some time tying steelhead flies and from time to time will post pictures of the flies, but for the most part I am returning to news on non anadromous fish.

From The Cutthroat's Spot

As cutthroats are one of my favorite fish, the namesake of the site, and the species I most often fish for I am going to try to cover more cutthroat specific topics the next little while. I spent most of the late summer and fall chasing native snake river and fine spotted cutthroat in SF tributaries. I am going to try to branch out to more species the coming year as I know of some creeks north of here full of west slope cutts.

Speaking of other cutthroat species, the Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit seeking protection for threatened Colorado Cutthroat. Their suit makes the argument that the colorado Cutthroat was not listed because it is doing fairly well in it's current range, but that the historic range was not considered (size of historic range) in the decision making process. The questions then becomes would federal management of this species have better results than what is currently being accomplished by state by state management (mostly in Utah and Colorado)?

Most of the discussion from anglers and conservation groups that I am aware of considers state management a better option, but feel free to disagree and to discuss.

Learning about steelhead flies.

2009-11-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

As I get deeper into this steelhead obsession I am learning more about constructing steelhead flies. The internet is full of information, most of it pretty good about steelhead flies. One of the points most sites have made is that more steelhead are caught on a hook covered with a piece of yarn than just about anything else and so when it comes to flies steelhead are not too picky. Presentation and getting the fly in front of the fish are the most important factors.

(I am not the best macro photographer in the world. A tripod would likely help.)

But when it comes to flies for steelhead:

1: Use the right material for the current. Stiffer less likely to collapse materials for heavy current and softer materials for soft slow currents. So kip tail, spun hair, stiffer hackles and such for the fast water and marabou and bunny strips for the soft water.

2: Have the sharpest hook possible. I read a few bits on filing a hook with a mill file, watched a couple of online demos and broke out the file. Tapering the hook point so that is a long gradual transition makes a hook that will better penetrate a steelhead's mouth. Though modern hooks are fairly sharp increasing the transition length so that the transition is "smoother" with a file (at least in my no scientific tests) does make the hook penetrate easier. I will start carrying a file with me. This also allows for on stream hook repairs.

3: Hook eye. For steelhead on the swing and dead drifted it seem a straight eye is probably best. With the hooks I am using for my shank flies I am tying a type of "egg keeper" knot. Basically I run the line through the eye, make a loop and pinch it with my finger and then whip four - five time around the shank. This way the line come straight off of the shank and through the eye, inline with the shank and is not actually tied to the eye. When I run out of these hooks I will get some straight eye hooks. Another trick is to cut off the eye and tie in an eye with mono or somesuch.

Orange fast water fly.

4:Color. Many guides say fish any color that you like....... as long as it is purple. I am still playing with lots of colors, but am tying some purple. I also am playing with orange as it is supposed to work well. My tying supplies are somewhat limited, but white hackles and sharpies can create a range of colors. All the hackles on these flies have been colored with a sharpie.

Purple fly with stiff materials for heavy water.

I am tying more flies for heavier water. This is due to the fact that I find myself fishing the tops and bottoms of rapids more than anything when I am on the Salmon. "Resting water", due to the fact that the "holding" water has been shoulder to shoulder spinning guys...... not very easy to fish with the crowds on a fly rod, so I head for the uncrowded spots.

These flies are tied:
Orange fly has some flash behind the tail collar.
Dry hackle collar tail.
Floss body
Chenille Body
Light silver wire over body
Colored turkey flat under wing (the stiff hackles not the webby part)
Large dry fly hackle collar
Hen hackle topping wing
Hen hackle collar
The purple one also has some peacock herls in front of the hen hackle collar.

Last Steelhead trip of the Season?

2009-11-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

I have decided that I really like tying steelhead flies. Even though I am not very quick at it. Each fly takes me over 20 minutes and so I do good to get 2-3 out a night.

Flies I tied for this trip.

I have been following Mike D's blog and he had a post about tying on waddington shanks. They looked pretty nifty but no one in my area carried them and they were pricey. A bit of internet searching revealed that some people tie shank flies by making their own shanks out of cotter pins. So I bought 100 each of 1/16 X 1" and 1/16 X 1.5" steel cotter pins. I built a "mandrel" out of a piece of wood and a finishing nail and made my own shanks. The flies turned out pretty nice. I attached the Gamakatsu hooks using some small yellow silicone tubing purchased at a small engine repair shop. I am thrifty. ;)

I am now contemplating making some Christmas ornaments out of steelhead flies put into clear acrylic balls.

Home made shanks and mandrel

I tied about a dozen flies in preparation of my last trip up to Salmon. I awoke at just before 5:00 am and drove up. The weather has turned colder and water temps have dropped about 10 degrees or there abouts. Now I am not a steelhead expert but I think the cooler water equates into less active fish. I fished for about 8 hours and had one on for a few seconds but it was slower than my last rip where I had 3 on and I didn't even catch a sucker fish. The skunk is on me. As the temps continue to drop I think I am done till spring (steelheading that is, I will still be out on the river casting midges and nymphs on the SF)....... Unless some one can convince me otherwise.

Two shank flies on the 1.5" shanks

Another perspective

Still the country up there is gorgeous and I enjoyed the trip. I will head up again (hopefully somewhere between Challis and Stanley) when the ice starts to melt.

Steelhead Country

I switched form my 9' 8wt Rivendell rod to a 10' 8wt G Loomis glx and have liked the change. But after watching the guys with spey rods roll out 80 foot roll casts where I have to work hard for 30 feet, well I am contemplating selling all of my single hand overhead 8wt gear and getting an Echo 7 or 8wt spey set up. On the Salmon where you are often fishing with the bank right behind you back casting is impossible a majority of the time and roll casting becomes key. I was making 40-50 foot casts with back casting in a couple of spots but casting 2 heavy tungsten bead flies on my 8wt seems harder than casting a pair of much smaller nymphs on my 5wt or even a set of big dries like a salmon fly and a golden stone on my 5wt. I was using a fairly long leader to allow the flies to get some depth and dead drifting them nymph style. I don't know if the casting difficulties were my own lack of experience with the 8wt, the way the leader was constructed or what exactly but I can not cast as far with the 8wt as I can with my 5wt. Between that and the omnipresent bank at my back I am really starting to lean towards purchasing a spey outfit.

Steelheading and other things

2009-11-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

Mid to end of October saw me out fishing the SF above Lorenzo bridge. There were some tremendous BWO hatches in the afternoon and the fish were looking up. Tons of fish for both outings but nothing huge. Lots of medium cutts with some twink browns thrown into the mix. Nice and easy access. 2 minute walk after a 5 minute drive from my house.

Went once with Jon and once with Chad. If you look close at Jon you can see him talking on his cell phone while fishing. He is never without that phone ;)

Took a quick jaunt up to Salmon the weekend before Halloween and chased some chrome. Weather was nice only rained towards the end of the day (good conditions for steelheading). The number of returning steelhead this year is huge. A new 30 year record. Needless to say the fish are back in sufficient numbers that even a complete newb like me can catch a fish. This first trip I fished a couple of miles downstream of Salmon.

These trips are lightining trips. Get up at 0 dark 30 in the morning and drive the 2.5 hours to Salmon and maybe another hour or more downstream. fish like a berzerker for 8 hours with breaks only to fuel and pee. Drive home when it is too dark to see. Watch for deer on the drive home as that stretch of hi-way between Salmon and Gilmore is full of the darn road hazards. I love the colors of the Lemhi range as the sun first lights up the valley. Wild, wild country that makes me think of the rugged men and women it took to homestead that country 130 years or so ago. Also interesting to think that the populations of places like Gilmore and Leadore were once much greater than they are now,

I fished a likely drift in the morning with no one else in it. I worked it from top to bottom, casting a few times and then taking two steps down, swinging wet flies on a sinking line. After fishing the run I got out and walked the bak back to the top to try again. As I did a drift boat with a guy, his father and father's buddy came drifting through. We bantered a bit as they went by, I expressing that I was going to be bummed if they caught fish out of the run that had produced nothing for me. They picked up 4 nice fish. ;) With a strengthened resolve I again fished the drift..... and caught a large bronze sucker fish.

River a bit downstream from salmon

Moved downstream and fished the crook of a riffle. "Resting water" instead of traditional holding water. Here I did manage to hook and land a nice steelhead. Fished for about 10 hours for 1 steelhead and 1 sucker. Still not bad for a newb steelheader on a fly rod.

Confluence of Main and MF Salmon

Picking up the sinking line with the 9' 8wt was tough so when I saw a 10' 8wt G Loomis GLX for sale used at a decent price I picked it up. Went again last weekend with Jacob. this time we drove way down all the way past the MF confluence, almost to Corn Creek as the numbers being reported by IF&G were indicating that Corn Creek and below was producing the best. The river was lined with RVs, trucks and fishermen. Being one of the few guys using a fly rod in this stretch I again headed to a less traditional spot. A slow resting pool right on top of a rapid. I had three hookups in a short period and managed to land one. A nice hen of about 25 inches. I let Jacob fish the hole after that, and then we moved up and tried a couple of more locations.

The 10" rod does make a bit of difference and I am now contemplating a 15' or so spey rod. Maybe for next year. I managed to pick up a sucker fish again so my record for the two outings is a sucker fish and a steelhead per trip. I saw the guys using tackle pick up a lot of fish. They are able to cover more water than I am, but the spey rodders seem to be able to cover the same amount of water.

I am having fun steelheading and am tying up more flies. The fish from this last trip were all on my own creations. Will try 1 -2 more time depending on the weather and kitchen passes. Hopefully as I get better at this my ratio of steelhead to sucker fish will improve.

Hard to tell, but this is a 25" fish

A Couple of More Steelhead Ties

2009-11-05T20:14:00.000-08:00

One inspired by a pattern from Mike's Trout Tripper site. Both are on size 4 heavy wire hooks. I have very little actual steelhead fly material; floss, wire, tinsel. etc. so these flies are improvised. Tied with 6/0 thread and holographic flash + marabou and a bead.

Will be up on the Salmon soon and will blog this upcoming and the past trip after I get back.

Steelhead Fly

2009-10-31T07:52:00.000-07:00

Went up up past Salmon ID, on the Salmon river last week chasing chrome. Picked up a sucker and a steelhead of about 26 inches. So I have the bug.

I have been out on a few other outings in the last month and will blog them a bit later. But now for your viewing pleasure.... my first attempt at steelhead flies.

The proportions may be a bit off, and on the next one I will trim the front marabou back a bit so the rear color is a little more prominent. This fly is essentially hot orange marabou over hot pink marabou, some silver and blue flash with a bit of copper wrapped down the shank and a tungsten cone head to sink it a little faster. So my first big salmon/steelhead style fly is a fairly simple one.

One day I hope to be able to tie some of the georgeous steelflies you see in the books and magazines. ;)

All Good Things

2009-10-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

The old saying goes "That all Good things Must Come to an End" and so.....

It was a Tuesday afternoon, the weather pushing 80 degrees but the high forecast for the morrow.... 40 something. With..... snow. Did I mention snow?

I had been in the basement coding all morning when I got a serious case of the "I got to get out and toss hoppers before they are gone" blues. Why am I the only one afflicted by that malady?

So bout 2ish I dressed L, packed up the gear, made sure I had some ponchos and emergency space blankets in the fishing pack and headed out with L in tow. We headed up to a creek somewhere between "No Tellum" and "Willowy" creeks.

Now L loves to fish, so he is always willing to tag along with dad. And it is always easier to get a kitchen pass when I take him along. Though he does get mad when I toss the fish back. In his mind fish are for catching, then eating. I'll have to work on his catch and release ethic ;) .

This creek has about as much water as "No Tellum" but in its lower stretches is very turbulent. The trail head starts in a narrow canyon where the water tumbles and drops off falls and rocks. Classic pool and drop structure with fish hiding behind and in front of the rocks. It opens up a bit higher on, but I must say this is the most scenic of the local feeder creeks. At least to my eyes.

The flora was putting on a show. The colors were gorgeous. L had to pick a few maple leaves to take home to mom. He studied rocks and crag, pointed up various tracks ranging from deer to bicycle and had a great time. He also got a spinning light up toy at the convenience store on the way out.... which I couldn't get him to put down so it shows up in the majority of his shots.

The fish are nice sized cutthroats. We did pretty good till the winds of the oncoming cold front kicked up, knocking every leaf in the valley into the river. I think the fish will hit a few yellow cream colored leafs thinking they are hopper and then give up hunkering on the bottom.

L landed a few nice cutts. Big fish was in the 16 inch range. He had fun tossing rocks, picking weed, and finding sticks, punctuated at time with casting and occasionally catching a fish.

I really liked the creek and will have to hit it again, but will most likely be next year. We have had at least 2-3 snow skiffs now and it is sticking at the elevation of the creeks. High temps for the last week have been below 50 and nights have all been below freezing. Think any hoppers are left?

A Tale of Two Creeks Part 4: Return to "No Tellum" Creek

2009-10-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

The second to last week of September found me up on "No Tellum" Creek again. I left the house a bit earlier determined to hike up at least past the old guard station cabin before wetting a line. The weather had definitely cooled some in the evenings as the hills were full of color (this is before the cold front we are experiencing now which produced some snow in the high country. Think there are any hopper after a week of sub freezing temps?).

The parking lot was as full as I have ever seen it with 5 horse trailers parked helter skelter. The outfitters must be setting up camps for the oncoming hunting season. And though the trail head was packed... I didn't see any other anglers on the creek. The hike up saw multitudes of hoppers, some quite suicidal jumping pell mell into the creek. A hopper in this creek is not long for the world. The fish are watching..... waiting for an unfortunate grass hopper to be their next big meal.

I hiked up past the guard station and fished the creek up to the confluence with the North Fork of the creek. The fishing was quite good with the familiar hopper and smaller terrestrial combo being a success. This time the fish were more on the larger hopper than the smaller grumpies.

The fish in this stretch were larger than what I had experienced a couple of weeks earlier averaging 14-15 inches with a fair number of twinks, but the larger fish being more common. There was some beautiful terrain. I especially liked a stretch where the whole creek narrowed through a tight bit of canyon. Lots of good fish in that stretch inhabiting the deeper pools. I also thought that the narrows would be a good place to come with a gold pan at some point.

I fished for a number of hours catching at an incredible rate. As dusk started to approach I knew that I should probably head out before dark. Just belwo where the North Fork came in I noticed a tightly balled pod of fish sitting deep in a hole. Some of decent size. I switched to a nymph and tossed the nymph at them for about 20 minutes but didn't get any takes, nor would they rise to a dry fly. I am uncertain but can only guess that they were whitefish. I have never caught a whitefish out this creek, but it wouldn't entirely surpise me to find some pods of them in its environs.

Hiking out I saw a back packer on the "high" trail about a quarter of a mile down stream of me. By sticking to the "low" road and its various fords I was able to cut quite a distance out of the trek and beat him back to the trail head.

These creeks are an amazing resource for anglers. Especially on the fly. In the late summer and early fall the appearance of hoppers seems to make them ravenous. It is most likely the best feeding season for the resident fish of these creeks.

A Tale of Two Creeks Part 3: Willowy Creek

2009-09-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

View down the canyon from the trail head parking lot

No "Willowy Creek" is not the actual name of the creek so if you run out to Willow Creek (another local creek) you may be disappointed. Names have been changed to protect the innocent ie to keep undue pressure off of some great creeks.

I initially was going to fish "No Tellum" Creek on this afternoon in Mid September but as I left the house later than I really wanted to, I realized that the drive and hike associated with "No Tellum" Creek would leave me with very little actual time on the water. So I decided to hit another creek that I knew about in the area that would be a 1/2 hour shorter drive, giving me an additional hour on the water. This was in some ways a scouting trip on a water that I have had on my radar for the last couple of years.

Arriving at the trail head I found no other vehicles. I hopped the fence and headed over to the creek. The creek is smaller in volume than "No Tellum" creek, runs a bit colder, and has numerous very large beaver dams which hold some decent fish. The creek is braided and locked in on both sides with thick willows. As the creek is very sinuous, there is realy no way to stand in the middle and cast up the creek as I can in some of the other local creeks. Just no room for back casts. The only place to get a longer cast is across some of the 180 degree bends of the creek. Standing in one side of the bend and casting across the banks into the far side.

After pushing through the willows and arriving up the creek I hiked up a few yards and found a beautiful drop hole where two braids of the creek came together. I must of had 10 different fish hit my flies in this first hole and I managed to land two nice cutts. This was the easiest hole of the day with an unobstructed roll cast and no snarls.

first hole I hit

After playing out the first pool I snuck up the larger of the channels casting into each deep hole. The casts were tricky and most likely spots had branches or root balls blocking the cast. I picked up the pig of the day, a 16-17 inch cutthroat out of a hole no bigger than 2x3 feet across and probably 2 feet deep.

The fishing continued to be productive as I worked my way up the creek. The fish tended to be larger than the fish from my previous outing on "No Tellum" creek, with the average fish in the 14-15 inch range and fewer twinkies.

The hot flies for the day were again the Stone Flopper as a hopper with the unsinkabeetle tied off the bend of the hopper's hook.

After working the creek up to the first major trail crossing, I hiked down to my car and drove down about 1/2 mile to a primitive camping area. The fishing was slower in this lower stretch but I still managed to catch a few. The elevation for this creek is lower than "No Tellum" and the vegetation has a more desert feel. More junipers and sage in the immediate vicinity with lots of pine and fir higher up on the North facing slopes.

There is a cutthroat hidden in this picture. Can you see it? ;)

A Tale of Two Creeks Part 2: No Tellum Creek

2009-09-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

Jon and I hit "No Tellum" creek one afternoon in early September. We fished from the parking lot up to the cabin. The parking lot was empty except for one horse trailer with a group of guys gearing up for a horse packing trip. The hoppers were everywhere and the fish were keyed on them. This trip I actually did better on the unsinkabeetle than the hoppers. The fished seemed to like the smaller terrestrial, but hit anything with legs. They really responded to the cream belly and brown backed beetle, which I think they viewed as one of the smaller hoppers.

Jon and I split up with him hiking quite a ways up above me. He forgot to bring footwear that he could immerse, so I ended fishing a bit more than he did. Which is ok, he seems to enjoy the scenery as much as anything.

There is a little spring at the cabin and a nice green meadow with a lot of shade. I keep threatening to hike the wife and boys into the meadow for a 2-3 day pack trip. I may have to wait a couple of years yet as I can't imagine packing little J (who is a right regular butterball at 1 year and around 26 lbs) and a 60 pound pack. I have tossed L on my shoulders and hit the creek a couple of times. He is approaching the point where packing him on my shoulders will no longer be an option. We hit Big Elk Creek over Labor Day and he proved that he can hike when he wants to, but will default to "daddy put me on your shoulders" whenever he deems it convenient.

Last year when we fished the same stretch I got a number of exceptionally large cutthroat for a creek this size with a couple of specimens exceeding 17 inches and one 19 inch whopper. This time nothing quite so large, though I did spook a couple of very large fish from a couple of the deep holes. The little twinkies were all over the flies. I stopped counting fish at 30..... and that was only after about an hour of a 5 hour outing. Every other cast was a strike and about every 4th cast a hookup. The large fish for this outing were in the 13-14 inch range.

Hopper fishing small creeks in the fall is truly one of my favorite times of year. Oh I must admit to some hog hunting on a couple of secret waters during runs of big fish, but the explosive takes of wild cutthroats on terrestrial in a small creek really pleases.

A Tale of Two Creeks. Part 1

2009-09-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Two creeks on opposites sides of the drainage, about 15 miles apart as the crow flies. One a familiar haunt, the other scouting new water.

The first flowing from the west to the east, through a broad valley. Thick pine and fir on the north facing slopes creating a deep black forest. Cottonwood and willow in the valley floor, and juniper on the south facing slopes.

The second smaller and braided. Locked in on either side with thick willows. A 15 foot cast on this creek was long. Flowing to the west through a tighter valley, colder water and the toughest casting conditions I have faced in years. Technical casts to fish holding in deep pockets, hidden below branch, root and snarl. Small pockets around every bend, behind every drop and under every snarled mess of limbs.

Both replete with native snake river and yellowstone cutthroat. Cutthroat that smash a hopper at times, and at other times follow it for a while and slowly, agonizingly slowly try to sip it in. Causing a twitchy fisherman to pull the terrestrials out of hungry mouths.

These fish are not too wary, but will usually spook after the a second take. A fish rising for a third drift is rare. They love hoppers and beetles. I can't say which took more fish, the stone flopper or the unsinkabeetles (Plural as I lost a few, some to trees others to fish). But after loosing my last unsinkabeetle the grumpy frumpy (in a couple 3 flavors) also pierced its share of lips.

This is what happens to a hopper that has been nibbled by countless fish (many much too small to actually ingest the fly, but they try anyway) and eaten by over 3 dozen cutts of good size. Cutthroat are toothy critters.