Day 3......Dry fly intoduction

It got cold that night!  We woke up to a thick fog and a layer of frost.  We were in a campsite that wasn't going to see the sun until about 10 because of the ridge behind us. We NEEDED that sun though.  We put the tent away wet again because of the frost.  We did however have time enough to set our wading boots in the sun to thaw out. After a breakfast of shredded wheat, I snapped some pictures of the fog burning off and of the sun shining through the golden trees.  It was a beautiful morning. 

There was a hole in the fog as it floated across the river. It was neat to see through the fog and see blue sky in the distance.  A boat floated by as we were packing up. I noticed that they were using dry flies. I thought it was awfully cold to be using dries. As they passed by they said  "Go back to sleep because the fish were still sleeping too."

This campsite was actually on a large island. The large trees were gorgeous in the morning sun.

I thought the sight of our boots thawing out in the sun in front of the boat was also neat. Once we were set, I decided to try the same spot I had such luck in the night before.  Again, I caught a few white fish on the same nymphs as before. No luck with trout though.

Further down the stream, we stopped at a gravel bar to fish the water around it. Howard caught the first Cutthroat here. These are the fish the river is famous for. He caught it on a stone fly nymph also. I caught a white fish. We were both a little disappointed because the water looked perfect. I couldn't help but wonder if our tactics were the best ones. Nymphing was usually the best tactic. Fish eat on the surface less than 10% of the time. It HAD worked so well the previous year BUT it also was a few weeks earlier in the season.

We got in the boat again, this time Howard rowed. Just at the far end of the island, my indicator dove downward. I could feel that this fish was fighting differently from previous whitefish. Then I saw the color and the red slash on the throat. I said aloud, "It's a cutthroat, a gorgeous cutthroat!" I think Howard chucked. I still value every trout I catch, I don't get out much and cutthroats are my favorite fish anyway. Howard pulled the boat aside to take some pictures of it. I appreciated this. I needed more trout pictures.

We floated to the next gravel bar. This spot looked absolutely perfect. I nice run emptied into a pool with a huge drop off. I decided I wanted to streamer fish this hole. Right away I pulled a large cutty up from the deep, chasing a black streamer. It turned its head on it right at the last moment. I was disappointed and excited both. Unfortunately I caught nothing here and saw nothing else. As Howard came down from fishing the run, I told him I hadn't nymphed this hole so go ahead and give it a try. He caught a real nice rainbow then. The biggest rainbow of the trip. So much for streamers taking big fish.

I decided I wanted to use my new rod and reel so I converted it from streamers to a nymphing system with two stone flies because that is what took the rainbow. At the next stop, I got yet another couple white fish. This is the first of many pictures with my new rod. I like how it handled the fish. It's a seven weight so it put the fish on the defensive and the large arbor reel easily handles the line. I knew I made a great decision in getting this rod. We continued with nymphs the remainder of the float that day. We stopped to set up camp around 4 so the tent could dry out and we could fish the water around the camp. I had seen I fisherman stepping slowly around a grassy bank throwing a dry fly right along the bank. I decided I wanted to try this trout stalking. I picked up the rod Howard had lent me that I had rigged with a BWO that I had tied. I then tip-toed along the bank working up river. I caught this small brown trout, the first brown trout. I was excited because I had always wanted to stalk around small creek (I worked up a creek that ran into the main river). Dry fly fishing is always the most fun way to fish. I walked the bank back to the camp.

When I arrived to the camp, Howard was calling it a day also. He had tried using a streamer where the water got deeper. He said he had caught a small brown also. This fish will be a formidable trout one day if it keeps after bait fish almost as big as itself. He mentioned that he had caught one of every fish in the river that day. I had caught all too including the rainbow from the night before. Not a bad day at all.

We decided beef stew was sufficient for dinner. Afterwards we shared some more butterfingers. I tossed a life jacket next to a tree and sat down to call Sara. Reception was not good in this spot so we settled for texts goodnight. It was going to be another cold night and stomping around in waders all day wears a person out so we went to bed by 8. We both fell right to sleep. Another great day on the Snake.

Day 2, 1st on the River

 It rained ALL night long.  Luckily though it was not bitter cold when we awoke the next morning.  We started the day with Cinnamon Toast Crunch and put away all the gear and the soaking wet tent.  I don't think the tent got put away dry much at all that week.  We arranged everything in the boat as necessary and we set off. It was about 10:30 by the time we got on the river.  There was a good stretch of water upstream of the ramp that I wanted to fish but hadn't the time for.  Maybe next time.

 It hadn't rained that morning but it was expected to rain for the majority of the day.  This being said we decided to throw a tarp over all of out gear in the back of the boat.  Clouds were always in view that day. 

 We caught whitefish right off the bat that day and all day long.  We were using two sizes of stone fly nymphs that had worked real well for us in previous years.  We threw some streamers in some inviting water but to no avail.  I had a large cutthroat chase a big white streamer in but it gave up as it got closer to shore.  This was disappointing  because the hole I was fishing in seemed to be perfect. 

 We saw tons of Bald Eagles that day.  In fact we floated right underneath a couple.  I absolutely love hearing the call of these animals.  Its a very high distinct screech.  All day long we heard it.  It's a neat experience to watch them soar all around also.  I found it is very hard to row, fish, and take pictures while on a big rushing river.

We stopped at nearly every good looking gravel bar or inside turn to try our luck.  We caught a lot of whitefish with our nymphing rigs.  In fact I broke in the new rod with some whitefish (I took the streamer off and rigged it with a hopper and stone fly dropper). 

 We saw plenty of Eagle nests along the way too.  This particular nest had two eagles in it.  I wish the pictures had turned out better but its hard to focus in with a zoom lens and keep it still while floating down the river in a boat.

Along this stretch of water was a lot of nice cabins and homes.  This is the stretch of river that is above the canyon stretch that is nothing but wilderness for miles. This particular house was interesting.  The lawn was emerald green and immaculate.  I could see through every window.  I noticed that the interior was decorated as a rustic cabin might be.  Personally, I would probably want to buy this house but I can hear Sara now, "the drive way must be horrible in the winter!"  Can't ask for a better back yard though!

 Here was another eagle we saw later in the afternoon.  It's body against the blue blue sky makes for a pretty picture.  These birds watch as you float near but seem rather trusting as you float past because they never turn their head.

 We pulled into a campsite that we have used before.  It is the first one after the ramp that we normally use in Conant.  It is right across from a huge cattle ranch.  The field across the river had hundreds of cows in it and they made it all the way down to the bank of the river.  We set up camp early so as not to get caught in the dark.  After the tent was up and the rain fly was hanging on a limp because we were trying to dry the inside of the tent after it was soaked from being packed away all day.  Howard was cooking some cans of clam chowder up on the stove.  I decided to try out a run right in front of our campsite.

I waded out past the cove behind me in the picture and started catching fish right away.  I had tied on a bead-headed pheasant tail nymph to drop from my stone fly.  I was catching white fish on both!  Some of the fish ate the pheasant tail but got caught up on the larger hook of the stone fly.  This happened twice and you can always tell because it feels like the fish are twice as big as they actually are since you pull them in sideways.  It was a great half an hour or so of fishing.  I bet I caught nearly a dozen right there at camp.  To top it all off, I landed this monster rainbow (the first trout of the trip) with my last cast right before I walked in for dinner.  Howard asked if I wanted to keep it like we are told to do with the rainbows but I told him it was too much work to fillet it up and I had no problem with catching rainbows.

 Howard was gracious enough to snap some pictures of me fighting some of the fish.  These sort of pictures are always my favorite because they capture the action I was going through and shows the moment for what it truly was.  We went to bed a little later that night.  We just couldn't get up out of our seats on the bank.  The clouds from the day were long gone and the sky was full of stars.  It was a nearly full moon and the sky was lit up.  There was also the mooing of the neighboring cows in the air.  We had some Butterfingers that Karen had given me for my birthday for my birthday cake.  It was in fact my birthday that day.  Howard and I agreed that there is no better way to celebrate.

South Fork of the Snake, Fall 2011

I flew out to Salt Lake early Sunday morning and arrived around noon. Howard picked me up at the airport.  As we were driving back to his home, I couldn't help but notice the  mountain tops were capped with snow and the mountains themselves were full of fall colors.  This immediately got me excited because I was anticipating a beautiful fall week on the Snake River.

Once at home we discussed the agenda of the week. Howard thought it might take the rest of the day and possibly most of Monday to get all the necessary gear ready so he was thinking about setting off early Tuesday.  This would have been fine but we both REALLY wanted to make this trip as long as possible so we could thoroughly get our fill of trout and wilderness. Well, we decided to get the boat completely ready to go that afternoon so all we had to do was drive the next morning. Once the boat was pulled out, we loaded all the light gear into it and covered it up. It was ready to go.  I then made lunches while Howard packed his gear. I made 8 lunch meat sandwiches out of pastrami, roast beef, Cheddar and Swiss. I made 6 peanut butter and honey sandwiches.  I loaded up all the food into a plastic tote that didn't need refrigeration and put it in the garage.

I decided I wanted to have all my rods rigged and ready. I rigged my 5 weight up for nymphing. I had two stone fly nymphs tied on with an indicator (thingamabobber) and split shot.  I rigged my new TFO 7 weight rod with a black streamer.  I then rigged a third rod that Howard lent me, with a hopper pattern with a stone fly dropper.  Stone flies are what did the trick two years before when we went in the fall.  All these flies I had tied myself by the way. 

I then transferred all necessary clothes and gear of mine out of my suitcase and into a green duffel bag Howard lent me. This would just be more convenient for travel and camping.  Before we knew it, all was ready for the next day.  We were on the road by 10 AM the next day.  I had loaded the Lexus while Howard finished some mapping and last minute items. We had decided that we wanted to camp under the dam and float that upper stretch for the first day's float. Neither one of us had done that section before so this would be a new adventure.

Howard had a brilliant idea on the way to Swan Valley, ID.  We should stop at Golden Corral for lunch and FILL UP.  I had mentioned what our lunches were to be for the week.  Our dinners included beef stew, ravioli, soup, and chili....... all of which were to be cooked in their original cans. This actually is a great way to do dinner.  None-the-less, we stopped one last real meal that happened to be all-you-can-eat.

We arrived at South Fork Anglers around 3PM and made arrangements for a shuttle.  It was here that we were informed ( by a young, not so fish savvy girl) that the ramp we planned on using was not in good shape so we planned to use one about a third the way down the stretch of river we were to float the next day.  We bought my license and took off to see the campsite near the dam and to check out the area. It was then I somehow remembered that I forgot the milk.  Luckily there is Huskies', the convenience store fight across the street form our campsite. I ran in to get the milk and while in there I over heard a man tell the owner about a mountain lion hunting trip that almost went all wrong.  He apparently was using two goats, that were out in his truck, for bait and while he was using nature's facilities, a cougar came and he was without his gun. He frightened it off before it got his goats though.  Weird, they were good looking goats too. Made me think about keeping my knife very handy though.

 
We checked our the dam, saw people catching fish right under it and we both got excited.  We had no spinning gear so we didn't fish.  It wasn't the right environment to fly fish. We hopped in the Lexus and set off to set up camp.  We found the campgrounds in GREAT condition and to top it off they are free after September 30th.  We found an awesome site right along the river under some large cedar trees. Only one other man was in the area.  I saw an eagle's nest right on the other side of the river. Perfect!  Rain was predicted for that night and the next day.  We watched as it rolled over the mountain and toward us.  We heated up our clam chowder and hit the sack early, around 8. It rained all night long. We had forgotten to zip a vent closed and I got 2 drips directly in my eye but other than that we stayed warm and dry.  The tent was damp around the edges but no complaints for a solid night of rain. Howard bought two new sleeping bags for the trip, both rated to 0 degrees and -40 degrees. They worked wonderfully thank goodness because it did get COLD!

Thanks honey!

For my birthday Howard planned a trip to the South Fork of the Snake River with me and flew me out. For this week long trip I wanted a new streamer rod to take with me. I picked out a Temple Forks Outfitter 9 ft 7 wt rod. Sara not only got it for me but also got me a four piece rod case to go with it. This was a otal surprise. I put my Sage reel on it and created a nice outfiit. Thanks for the best birthday gfts ever honey! Blogs about the trip are on the horizon.

31 inch, 15lb Channel Cat!

On a trip to the Little Miami in early June, I was trying to catch any straggling white bass in the river. I did catch a few small ones no bigger than 8 or ten inches but it was obvious that the run was over. I did however see lots of gar surfacing. These prehistoric looking fish come to the surface for air so if you are still enough, you can see them break the surface. I can always seem to hook into them or at least get them to chase but keeping a hook set into their boney thin mouths is tough. In fact, I've only done it once. They are frustrating and a major tease.

After catching the small white bass, I walked further downstream because the water level was a little lower than it had been and it was deeper down past Bass Island. I had been trying spinners, rooster tails, and rapalas but decided in this deeper water I would try to drift a grub. I put a bright green two inch twister tail onto a eighth once jig head and started to let it drift along the bottom of a deep hole that I was standing along side. Instantly, on the second cast, I felt a huge resistance. There was no noticeable strike but instead just a large wieght on the end of my line. After a short tug, I felt massive head shakes and rolls. I got excited hoping for a big bass. I fought it in the deep for quite a while without even seeing it surface once. Finally though I saw its massive head and was instantly disappointed when I thought I saw a big carp. I wasn't that happy because carp taste like mud. It wasn't until I nearly had it netted that I saw the whiskers and its scaleless skin and realized that I had a big cat fish. Whew! Something to take home! This was the biggest fish I have ever caught and it was eadible! I was excited.

I walked back to the car after gathering my pole and net up. Everyone walking or driving past gawked at my fish and commented on not realizing the river held fish like this. I threw it in my small Igloo cooler by nearly folding it in half because I had only hoped to be bringing home white bass. I now bring what I call my ambitious cooler whenever I go (it's the biggest one I have).

When I came home, I told Sara that I had caught a small fish and brought it home. She was happy with just that much. She and the kids were amazed when I took out the 31 inch, 15lb cat fish. Sara didn't know they were even in the river. I then gutted and filleted the fish to the best of my ability (big fish are tough to fillet up I found) and we had it for dinner that night. I breaded it and pan fried all of it. It was enough to feed our family twice. Everyone loved it, even Lilly!

Little Miami in May

For years I have been wanting to hit the Little Miami in April and May for white bass but for whatever reason I haven't been able to. This year was no different. It rained a LOT. The river was near record levels consistently. I didn't get out until late May. The river was down enough at Bass Island in Newtown by then to wade to the better spots.

First thing I noticed when I got there was how many long nosed gar there were! They were everywhere and they were surfacing constantly. I was able to get them to bite and chase but setting a hook into a real narrow mouth that is boney and full of teeth is hard to do. I had one on that looked like it belonged in a tank at Bass Pro shop or Cabelas. It must have been 3.5 to 4 feet long. Like many other gar over the years, it followed the spinner and nipped at it but as soon as I though I had him, he saw my legs and bolted. This happens almost every time I go out on the Little Miami even though I am usually never targeting them. I was however targeting white bass. Using white rooster tails and silver spinners, I waould cast along the banks near the sides of currents and under trees and root systems. There seemed to be a descent number of smaller white bass in the river that I could see. I caught a couple that were just under 14 inch regulation. I also caught a few that were only about 10 inches.

I did however cast under a particular small tree right in a small back eddy that looked promising. Right when I started retrieving, I saw a flash of silver that must have been 20 inches long! He bolted out into the current and bounced on the line for a few seconds before he was gone. How disappointing. I could have cried. I decided to keep at this particular spot. I few minutes later I hooked another one that wasn't quite as big as the first. He too though was off almost as fast as he was on. I was very disappointed because not only did I miss two great fish but the spring run was virtually over and I was realizing what I had missed this year. I can't wait to try white bass again next year, in fact I think I'll try it on a fly next year.

Maumee River Walleye Run

This past weekend Leah's boysfriend John had me up to his place to take advantage of a somewhat local event........the Maumee River Walleye Run. This river is in the Toledo Area and really is only a fishable river in the spring and summer. The water level drops and the river turns into a trickling creek in the fall. This time of year though the river is high an d full of spawning walleye. I spent friday, Saturday, and Sunday up with him while he showed me the ropes with catching these big guys. I have only caught 1 walleye before this and it was by accident and not very big.

Friday John snagged a desent fish but had to release it because the hook was caught on its neck. This river is patrolled heavily by park rangers and others handing out fines to those who kept snagged walleye. This was a new topic for me, snagging fish. Very rarely have I ever snagged or "foul-hooked" a fish and never have I had to be told about it happening a lot. The fact is that this is a spawning place for so many fish that they try very hard to protect them. The daily bag limit is only 4 where as typically it is 6 in the summer.

We were using simple grubs on a floating jig head held down by a .5 oz weight. This carolina rig was needed to get down to the bottom where the fish were. The water was really murky and dirty so we used bright colors like pink, orange, bright yellows, and white. I found that the yellow grub on a orange and pink jig head was the ticket.

I caught a real nice 22 incher on Saturday that I ended up bringing home. This was my first REAL walleye. I found that even though these are BIG fish, they are tired out by the time they reach the spawning grounds so much that they don't fight much. In fact, they feel like drift wood. People were also catching sucker fish and carp. I saw one person take a BIG carp home. This is wierd to me because I heard that they taste like mud. They are fun to land though just because they are huge.

Sunday morning I had the rush and diappointment of a lifetime all at once. I pulled in a HUGE walleye. I couldn't even hold it properly because how long and fat it was. People all around were ooing and ahhing over it. The catch.........the hook was actually 2 inches outside his mouth, a clear violation and you could be fined for keeping them out of the water too long. People couldn't beleive it when I held this thing up just to let it slide away. At least I have John to vouch for me. This thing was FAT and long! A real shame, fun never the less. I caught other small one that didn't meet the 15inch minimum.

A small note, I saved John's life. He slipped in the river and went down face first. He laid there unable to get up until I pulled him up. He told me he was in shock from the cold and the waders were filled up instantly with water. Scary! The water was only 45 degrees. He had a crowd too. The banks were packed with fisherman all 5 ft apart for miles. It's amazing any fish make it through.