Sometimes the late bird gets the worm

After a long week that included a trip to the hospital I was relieved to be able to get out into the woods. Originally the plan was for me to fish with two of my friends. Unfortunately due to circumstances they were unable to make it, so it was a solo trip this time.


I packed my car the night before, set my alarm for 0345 and went to bed. Now I remember the alarm going off and me turning it off. I thought to myself “I will just lie in bed for a few minutes. Unfortunately a few minutes turned into a few hours. I woke back up at 0650 and thought oh sh** I overslept.


After quickly getting dressed and brushing my teeth I got in the car and took off. As luck would have it on the drive I managed to get behind every slow driver in Idaho. One person in a Jag that I found particularly annoying would slow way down on the corners to around 25 MPH. Then when there was a straightaway and passing lane she would floor it making it difficult and unsafe to pass her. I eventually managed to get around her on a long straightaway however I had to hit above 80 to pass her.


After a bit of a drive I finally saw the turnout for my destination. I will admit that I was pretty excited as I just love fishing this particular area. Once I was on the dirt road, it was a while before I reached my destination.


I quickly got out of my car, got my gear bag and rods out of the trunk and got to business. I grabbed my pack and headed down the trail. A short time later the river was in sight.





Hmmmmmm should I fish here?





Once I was on the other side of the river I followed the trail towards the place I wanted to fish. On the way I noticed some flowers with these green bugs. I don’t know what they are but they look cool (sorry the pics are slightly out of focus I am still learning how to use my new camera. Maybe I should switch it from autofocus to manual focus).









After a while I reached the place that I wanted to fish. I decided to start the day throwing dries on with SPL. This proved to be a fine choice as there were plenty of little guys that wanted to play. I also managed to entice some larger fish to take my fly. Unfortunately the first one got off about 15 seconds after I started fighting him. The second decided that he didn’t want to play anymore when I was about to net him. Oh well they were still fun.










After a little while I decided to switch things up, so I grabbed my 5wt and set up a nymph rig. On the first cast I saw the indicator go crazy and I set the hook. When I got a look at the fish I knew it was not a trout; yes I had caught my first whitefish of the day. I landed him, released him and resumed fishing.



A little while later on a very nice drift I saw the indicator just get hammered. I set the hook and the rod came to life. Although this fish was not huge he sure was a feisty little guy. I landed him snapped a quick pic and sent him on his way.






What happens next is an example of why I am not 100% sold on Vibram wading boots. I was wading up river a little so I could get a better angle on an area I wanted to fish. The granite rocks in this section had some slime on them. As I was wading I slipped and was unable to catch my balance. Fortunately I was able to grab my new camera (that was around my neck) with my left hand and prevented it from getting submerged. After that close call I decided I had enough fish pics for the day. I waded back to where my pack was and placed my camera in it.



After that I decided to try something a little different I decided to dead drift a leach pattern (to hopefully entice a different species; if they were in the river at this time). Not to discriminate against the other trout I also tied on a second and much smaller nymph.


Well to my surprise when I cast it the first time I had a strike. So I set the hook and immediately could tell it was a small fish. Once I got him in close I saw that it was a whitefish; however the whitefish had the leech hooked on the outside of his mouth. Personally I didn’t think a whitie would ever go after such a huge fly but hey I guess this guy was hungry.


After a catching a few more trout nymphing; I decided to switch it up again and go back to dries. Like earlier in the day most everything that came up were westslopes. I did manage to catch one ok size rainbow in the late afternoon.


At around 1800 I decided to call it a day. I hiked back to the car, took my gear off and headed home. I had a really fun day. I just love fishing in that area and can’t wait to return. Here are some random pics I took on the hike out and a couple I took of the meadow on my drive out. Hope you enjoyed the report.

Nice scenery..If I ever move it will be to the mountains for sure

Nice report. Have to say I'm jealous, closest good trout fishing is about 7 hours away from me.

I agree with you about the new Vibram soles. I wouldn't hesitate to use them in most tailwaters or spring creeks, but in mountain streams I don't trust them. Especially since I am usually out there by myself.

I love a good "virtual fishing" trip. Thanks for sharing.

What part of Idaho is that? I know the hole is sacred. Just wondering if its driving distance for me.

Well, I live in the Boise area; I left my house at around 0700 and got to the area a little after 1000.

Thanks for sharing another great report! I still cant get over how clear the water is out there, I have never seen anything like that before.

Lotsof your evergreens are dead in those final pics.......Do you guys have the bark beetle infestation like we do in Colorado? Our forests in summit and grand county are decimated

I've got a question. I live in North Carolina and I love to trout fish, the only problem is that there are no rivers around that have big wild trout in them because of the hillbillies that like to catch them out. So if I want to catch wild fish, it's 5-12" brook trout. I mean occasionally you can catch a nice brown trout but you have to get lucky. Why is it that in Idaho you can just go to a spot and catch fish like that?! I'd do anything to be able to have that. Although I can drive about 2 hours into Tennessee and fish the South Holston river which has a ton of fish in it. Including huge brown trout. One reason they have so many fish and such big fish though is because it is a limestone river and it's dam fed so it stays about 42 degrees year round.

I've got a question. I live in North Carolina and I love to trout fish, the only problem is that there are no rivers around that have big wild trout in them because of the hillbillies that like to catch them out. So if I want to catch wild fish, it's 5-12" brook trout. I mean occasionally you can catch a nice brown trout but you have to get lucky. Why is it that in Idaho you can just go to a spot and catch fish like that?! I'd do anything to be able to have that. Although I can drive about 2 hours into Tennessee and fish the South Holston river which has a ton of fish in it. Including huge brown trout. One reason they have so many fish and such big fish though is because it is a limestone river and it's dam fed so it stays about 42 degrees year round.

Jealous, I am!

Sounds like a perfect day.

Nothing quite like a secluded mountain stream w/ no tourons and a fly rod in hand on a beautiful day... It's even better when the wily trout cooperate.

Congrats on a great day and excellent trip report w/ nice pics Adder13!

B2

(Beautiful fish BTW. I usually get brain-dead relaxed and immersed in "God's Country" when I manage to get away and typically forget to take pics of anything... I hope to get a couple of killer dry fly days in Sep/Oct before the snow flies and it's time to go ski! )

Not totally sure; however what you cant see from those pics, is that area is on the edge of where a massive wildfire came through several years ago.

Well different systems do different things. There are plenty of waters up here with small fish in them. That is one reason I have 0wt fly rods in addition to my others. The system I was fishing in the report is a freestone system and it is a huge system. The fish are able to move around into some big water (and go to the ocean if they so choose). There are also quite a few tailwaters here that grow large fish; maybe one reason is that the systems here are more suited for trout. Then again aren't the native "trout" out there brookies?

Yeah the brooks are native. They are beautiful fish and I like to catch them, but they're just so small. I like catching brown trout and rarely do you catch wild ones.

Don't look at any of my brown trout reports then

When I was kid we'd do a hike in/fish/camp overnight/fish/hike out Saturday/Sunday on a creel across the mountain from my grandmother's house.

Brook trout, never caught one bigger than 10" but man did they taste good fried in a skillet for supper.

We took a few feet of light line, some small hooks, some small splitshot weights and we cut and stripped small saplings of 8 to 10 ft. long for poles. The line was tied ot the end of the pole and the hook with bait dipped into little "holes" around rocks, logs after we stuck the pole thorugh the laurels we'd quietly and slowly sneaked through.

The bait was worms, grubs, beetles, etc. caught when we rolled over logs, rocks, etc. in the woods around the creek. I regret not taking my kids over there when they little and doing the same thing. Those were fun weekends, except when that darn dog my buddy had ate the trout while I was building a fire. That was the last time we took that dog camping with us.

Damn dude, I just looked through some of your posts, those are some awesome browns. Man, I would do anything to catch some brown trout like that. I sent you a PM too.

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