SF Lorenzo to Menan 04-20-2010

Although peculiar to request the afternoon off on 4/20, I accepted an offer to float the lowest stretch of the South Fork with Gary and Jake. The fishing and catching were some of the best I'd had in years, catching some notable cutthroats and browns. The best fish to hand was this 19" Girthy Cutt, while I had one break off which was much larger, and had a piggy brown spit the hook 30 minutes after dark.

Better Bitterroot Pictures

My last post on the Bitterroot was accomplished quickly. Since then, I've had a chance to mold the photos. Below are the pictures that better capture the beauty of these fish and this incredible river.

Salmon River Steelhead Part II - 04/08/2011-04/11/2010

After a successful Steelheading trip on the Salmon River below Salmon, ID a month ago, Gary prompted a second trip this weekend. Gary and I headed upstream of our last trip by 50 miles, looking for the great Steelhead of 2010. One the way up, we stopped on the Little Lost River to take a look, and spooked a 12" trout out of a hole with our good looks. We kept on trucking up to Cottonwood Campground on the Salmon River.


After setting up camp, we drove down to the mouth of the Pahsimereau River for a couple hours of flyfishing. After wading across the river, I soon realized that the bulk of fisherman were on the road side. Most notable was "The asshole," surely named after him or the people who frequent this hole from dawn to dusk.

We fished the run for a couple hours, and had a couple fishy takes. We called it and headed in to Challis, ID and grabbed some dinner at the Lodge/Bar/Restaurant. Masters recaps, Bulls vs. Cavaliers, bottle of Cabernet, and good food sent us to camp for a nightcap and a few good stories.

















I headed to my tent, cooled to sub-freezing, and Gary headed to the FLTRIVERS Expedition for the night.


















After a cold night, we were back ready to fish. The bourbon flavored coffee started us off, and soon we were putting the boat in under a large bald eagle. I started the catching for the day, and landed a nice steelhead below the first fishy run. After pics and fish harvest, I ran through the same run, and hooked up with another steelhead.

More pics and harvest took place, and we moved on shortly after Gary caught a rare (for the Salmon) Cutthroat and a few whitefish. We saw a couple steelheaders on the bank, gave them a beer and some flies, chatted, and moved down. The steelhead ducked low until we cornered the last mile, when I landed the fish of the day (thanks Gary for the spot...).












The fishing didn't end here. The next Gary's friend Rick caught us on our way out of our broken down camp with a bottle of Pendleton and a big grin. We put in near Challis, ID and floated down through some great water, even meeting a few Austrians who had come over for the fish and family visit. One of the fisherman was a casting instructor engaged to a lady in Sun Valley. He had a much different approach, sight casting to steelhead. It was very interesting speaking to him about his method and love for Idaho. After a few hours, I had the only steelhead of the day.





After the float, we met up with Gary's brother in law and his friends for dinner and a shared campsite. The culinary dutch master Rick served a great Mexican dish, and shared a nice aged bottle of bourbon.

We put in the next morning for a short float, as Gary and I had pushed our spousal leashes to their fullest extent and he had to fly to Chicago in the morning. The river braided out more than we had experienced in this section, and we enjoyed seeing new water. After catching dozens of whitefish out of great runs, Gary landed a beautiful fish within a couple miles of the take out.

Easter Trip on the South Fork Snake Dry Channel

After a great Easter dinner at my parents house, Jess and I headed out to enjoy the minimal sunshine on a dry channel near Ririe, ID. This dry channel is appropriately named as they drain it every year. Thousands of fish migrate into this dry channel every year, including native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout. When the channel is drained, the Fish & Game open this stretch of water to all harvesting techniques, from netting to snagging. Although odd that the protected Cutthroat populations can be harvested, it is best that people take fish from the stream, since the would soon meet their demise after water levels are depleted.

Jess and I found a section off the main road, in the middle of some one-acre lots. The scenery was beautiful, and we saw a handful of Bald Eagles flying over the channel looking for fish in the shallow waters. No fish were caught, but we had a great time exploring new water. Bear had an especially good time jumping at flies and chasing lines.

Bitterroot River 03/25/2010 - 03/28/2010

Ah the annual brothers trip. Jake and I have been doing an annual trip on the Yakima River in Central Washington for almost 5 years now. The fishing on the Yakima was always spotty in March, so thankfully my memories of these trips were about our conversations around the campfire with PBR and good food. This year, as I've move to Southeastern Idaho, we decided to forego the Yakima, shucks, and meet somewhere in the middle. After plans on the Thompson fell through due to poor fishing reports, Jake offered to pick up an hour or two of driving for far superior fishing on the Bitterroot. The fishing was spectacular, and opening up the trip to one of Jake's friends and our father made this trip especially satisfying.

The fish pics are below. Evidence that a couple of ID/WA boys still know how the river runs.

Washington Steelheading - Saweet!

When Jess moved down to Idaho Falls, I was lucky to be taken in by my brother and sister-in-law so that we could move out of our West Seattle house. What I found was two months of good times with them, and many weekends of awesome steelheading and salmon fishing, catching my first king, coho, humpy, bull trout, and steelhead on the fly. The pics shown are evidence of the great times we had during my last 2 months in Seattle.

South Fork Snake February

Two guys on the South Fork of the Snake in February. After a week in the office, a little crisp air was needed. Gary and I schemed up a plan to put in at Palisades Creek, but we soon changed our plans finding that only a Targhee tram could get in to the put in. Obviously no one had put in there for a long time. We altered our plans and soon were sliding the boat down the Irwin Slide, a put in that is just a gravel drop near our family friend's cabin.

Upon launcing, the sun came out from behind the soupy fog, and we knew we were in for a good day.

The first run we fished gave us a big blank, so we moved down to a gravelbar that has a soft backside where hatches are always put down by eager Yellowstone Cutthroat. After fishing the faster run on river right, and finding nothing but a couple light whitefish strikes, we walked up to the softer water and observed. After watching for a couple minutes, we found a couple ripples, evidence of Cutthroats eating emergers.

I tied on a Parachute Adams, due to the lack of emergers in my depleted fly box. After a handful of long casts and poor drifts, evident of a long nymphing season, I had a decent drift. An eager Cutthroat lifted jaw directly onto my fly and my eager right arm lifted to nothing. On the next cast, I appropriately waited until the cutthroat had a chance to taste my fly, set the hook, and landed the fish of the year (6 weeks into it). This beauty pushed 19", and I was stoked.

Gary was in observation, and was called into action with my rod. After a few casts, he found the twin of my cutthroat under the same drift. We didn't pack the camera on our wade up to the softer water, so I'll have to make sure the visual of these fish sticks with me for years.

Grab some lunch, custom PB&Js, and we're off running nymphing rigs with a Pat's and a beadhead. After a few fishy takes, I'm hooked up with a bright Brown Trout. We switch rowers and move down to more rising fish. Nothing there except snobby trout (not) turning their noses at our offering.

We ended up catching a couple more whitefish, and one more brown trout under a giant cliff.

A great day, especially for February, warmed us up and I felt that spring was already had.