The Plight Of American Wild Steelhead

With our steelhead season quickly approaching, it's important to take a step back and think about the fish that we work so hard to catch.  This documentary looks at the crisis that we're facing across the west coast: our diminishing returns of wild fish.  It provides input from steelhead anglers, guides, conservationists, and legends like Frank Moore.  Take a quick look.  The full documentary comes out this fall.  Click the link below to watch the video. Via Moldy Chum

http://vimeo.com/60525732#at=0

  

Winter Steelheading on the Oregon Coast

Once you've hooked a wild winter steelhead, you're ruined.  They live in some of the most spectacular places in the world, they fight like no other fish that you'll catch in fresh water, and they are as selective as just about anything you'll fish for.  Anyone who has caught a wild, coastal Steelhead will tell you that they act much more like a saltwater fish than a freshwater fish.

In our four short years living in Oregon, Cody and I spent more days than we should have exploring Oregon's countless coastal streams.  It seems that almost every piece of water, big or small that runs to the coast welcomes a run of winter steelhead.  I firmly believe that you could spend a lifetime steelhead fishing in Oregon, and there would be a handful of rivers that you didn't get a chance to explore.

This trip Cody and I focused on a couple of our favorite streams and fished them hard.  We started on a small piece of water that had been good to us in the past, and this trip it produced once again.  This small stream requires as much stealth as anywhere I've ever fished.  I've never been to New Zealand, but I would imagine the kind of "spot and stalk" method we employed there is very similar to the tactics used on the finicky trout of NZ.

After getting blanked on our first morning on the Oregon coast, we found what we were looking for just after lunch.  I caught a small, hot fish that spent a good portion of the fight cartwheeling through the air.  Shortly after this, Cody spotted and caught a nice fish, that put up a formidable battle.  We found a few more fish that day, but only the two could be coaxed into eating.

After landing a couple of fish, the pressure was off.  We discussed staying and fishing the small creek for another day, but decided on breaking out our  spey rods and targeting some fish on the swing.  With this in mind, we got up early on our second day and headed for the North Umpqua.  The North Umpqua is a beast.  Its slick bedrock bottom makes wading and effectively presenting a fly a huge challenge, but the draw of a massive winter fish keeps you coming back.  The Umpqua is also incredibly beautiful.  The relentless moisture that tests your dedication as an angler also makes for breathtaking scenery.  

Low water conditions on the Oregon coast have made it tough to find grabby fish.  We searched for water that wasn't too clear and found that green water that steelhead anglers dream about.  We fished hard for two days, and it felt like it was about to come together so many times.  The Umpqua isn't known to give up its steelhead easy, and on this trip it left us talking about what we're going to do differently next year.  We'll be back on the coast in a year's time armed with that insatiable hunger for a tug from a winter fish.  

Our Steelhead season is about to start in Stanley.  These are the counterparts of the winter fish that we were after, but they are spectacular fish in their own right.  If you want to learn more about fishing for Salmon River steelhead, swing by the shop! 

Winter midge fishing, Feb 22,2013

Winter midges are pretty tiny.  The fact that trout can even see them and then make the effort to feed on them is most amazing.  I would venture to say that most winter midges are less than a size 24.  Their huge abundance is the trigger for trout to turn to them as their major food source in the winter months.   It is much easier to catch trout dangling a stonefly nymph, or a couple of small weighted nymphs under a bobber during the winter.  However, if you want to hone your dry fly techniques, casting accuracy, dead drift mending techniques, hooking up with tiny flies on long supple leaders, and playing a nice sized fish to the net on a size tiny fly ,then some dry fly winter midge fishing is made for you.   Some folks search out midge feeders this time of year.   There will be occasions when you happen on a blanket midge hatch, and nearly all the trout are feeding near or on the surface, and you can’t buy a fish with your usual nymphing techniques.  It is time to break out the micro stuff and the 6X when that happens. 

Most steady, consistent feeding happens in soft current lines and back eddy waters where the trout don’t have to fight current or move much to feed on the tiny bug.  Some days the midge hatch will be fairly sporadic and you will see twenty different rises in a pool, but not steady enough to locate perfectly or to tease into a grab.  Those fish are difficult on a pure dry midge, but are a great indicator that there are midges around and that this is the food of preference.  Those fish are generally fairly easily taken with a dry fly indicator, a size 14 Wulff Adams or purple haze on 5X tippet with a zebra midge dropper about 14-16 inches under the dry on 5 ½ or 6x fluorocarbon tippet.  The small fluorocarbon tippet I have found to be invaluable in fishing midge imitations, is  the new  Trouthunter  tippet, which comes in .5 x.It makes a huge difference in getting a trout to eat.   It generally takes more than one cast to a rise to get a grab as the offering is quite small and it has to be in the trout’s window.  Occasionally you will get a grab on the dry fly which is a bonus.

  Two zebra midges under an indicator on 5 ½ or 6 fluorocarbon with a small indicator about five feet from the first midge is also effective in this situation.  I like to use two different colored zebras when fishing two midges.  Usually black and olive, but red and tan or brown are also effective.  Some days they seem to prefer the red midge, others the olive.  All colors should be in your box.  Also, the warmer the day the more current they will feed in.   This is also a time when you should move slowly and take some time.  It is not hopper fishing. 

The other midge scenario that you are likely to encounter is the blanket midge hatch and mating midge swarm with bulging trout feeding in pods in the soft waters of a pool.  The tiny chironomids will be drifting down the current and the hatched bugs buzz erratically above the surface.  Most of the rises will be bulging feeds with dorsal fins or tails showing, indicating the feed is on the emerging insect.  Sometimes the entire face of the trout comes out in a true dry fly eat.  If your eyes are sharp and the surface water sheen allows, a pure single dry midge is the greatest dry fly challenge you can experience.

 Fish the dry midge with 6 or even 7X tippet for your best presentation.  Griffiths gnats, or any other tiny look alike is a good choice.  The feeding pod will get very selective so don’t be discouraged.  It may take a couple of fly changes to have success.  If you have difficulty seeing the size 20-24 dry midge try putting an indicator fly on your 5X tippet, such as the adams ,and tie the midge tippet on the bend of the hook about 2 feet from the indicator dry.  If the larger dry fly moves the midge has been taken.    When Clark Shafer was my store manager we put our heads together and with Clark, being a great tier, came up with the LRO midge emerger.  It is deadly in this situation.  It has a dark antron shuck trailing the black thread body, with a tuft of white antron pulled over the top like a wing case emerging from the shuck, a small black hackle helps float it and simulate midge legs.  The LRO midge emerger can be greased and fished dry or damp under the adams indicator fly.  Stalcup’s white midge emerger with the micro bead or naked is also effective.  As you are competing with many naturals on the water it is best if you can drift your offering through a pod of fish increasing your chances for a grab.  Most midge fishing can be done upstream which is an advantage to the angler.  Our winter trout don’t get too leader shy and if spooked,  they usually return to feeding fairly quickly.  If nothing else fishing the winter midge hatch is good practice for your summer trico fishing.  

Tight loops and lines,

Scott Schnebly/Lost River Outfitters

And don't forget! If you are having trouble catching fish, We can help! 

Also here is some more proof that everyone at Lost River Outfitters is passionate about fishing and can surely help you when you need some advice. Look at this great article about Rachel!

Rachel Pace on of Lost River Outfitters' employees!

Fishing report Feb 18,2013

Feb. 18, 2013 Fishing report

Let me diverge a bit first.  In the mid 1980’s a long time client stopped by the shop and told me he had some dates that he would like to book for the summer, but he had left them at his office.  When he returned to California he would fax them to me to see if they would work.  “Fax?”  I must have sounded really stupid.  “You don’t have a fax, he asked?   Come on, join the twentieth century.  O.K. I will call you with them.”  One fax machine was purchased rapidly.

In the mid 1990’s I got a computer to help with our bookkeeping.  Someone hooked up a modem, put me on the internet and gave me an email address.  It was late winter.  A few days later I received an email.  I managed to find the open window and a message appeared.  It was terse and to the point.  “I am looking for three guides for July 14, 15, and 16 for three couples while we visit Sun Valley.  Can you accommodate?”   With typing being one of my more stellar achievements in seventh grade, I penned an “absolutely can” answer under the reply window. I hit send, and it went away to somewhere, supposedly to a gentleman in North Carolina.  Sure it did.  Lo and behold a three word answer returned.  “See you then.”  Please understand me that almost all of our other bookings for someone wanting a guide were followed by one to six phone calls confirming such, and then asking what rods to bring, what flies to bring or tie, what hatches to expect, what the water conditions would be like, which rivers would they fish, did we have private water, beginner water, expert water, what clothes to wear, what waders to bring hip or chest, float or wade.  Not this time.  The three couples showed up at the shop the evening of July 13 and asked for their marching orders for the next day.  At the time I was worrying about how to pay the guides for a no show.  Worries abated and I became a believer in cyber space, resulting in a better, faster computer.

I am still somewhat of a skeptic.  In the last few years Facebook, blogging, and twittering have arrived.  It all sounded like something you would like to avoid in grade school.  Instead of trying to write a weekly fish report, just blog about your recent trip to the river or field was the latest advice.  I have been trying.  I don’t have Facebook, or blogging, or twittering accounts, I jot something down and forward it to my computer wizard and I guess it goes somewhere.    Susanne said she got 100 times more hits for paying $5.00 to Facebook about our Valentine’s Day sale at our shop in Ketchum.   “Big deal”, I said, “what good is that if someone in Florida reads it and isn’t in Sun Valley, Idaho.”  Answer: ’Well, they could very well visit some day and remember us.’  Lo and behold, again.  A couple from New York city googled Fly Fishing in Sun Valley.  They had Found Lost River Outfitters and read a “blog” I noted about a couple from Brazil that I fished with the previous week. They called the office on Wednesday, booked a trip with Lost River for Friday and, althoughthey were dropped off at the wrong shop by their host, managed to find us, were fitted with waders, taught the basics of winter fly fishing. They hooked over sixty trout, and finished the day with a beautiful 21 inch buck fish.  I have a fax machine, my computer is plenty fast these days, I guess I eat crow.  I am glad the fish aren’t changing as fast as our marketing plan.

Our weather is making for some really nice conditions on the rivers.

 Silver Creek is low and clear flowing at 70+ cfs.  Be stealthy and cast medium sized streamers.  Philo Betto is my favorite.

 The Big Wood is flowing about normal.  Midges are showing with some rising trout for those of you who like casting micro dries to targets.   A 12 or 14  brassie with a zebra midge trailer on fine fluorocarbon tippet is a good choice for numbers of fish.  You might even get a trophy whitey. 

The Lower Big Lost will fish much like the upper Big Wood, but the fish are generally larger and more lively as the tail waters don’t experience nearly the temperature fluctuations that the upper Wood does. 

The Salmon will give up a steelhead to a swung fly if you are up for the drive to Challis. 

Tight loops and lines, 

Scott Schnebly/Lost River Outfitters

Bird Hunting in Idaho, Feb 16,2013

Feb. 16 Hunting

A couple of weeks ago I reported that with the bird season over until Spring Turkey season,  it was time to dust off the tying vices, patch your leaky waders, and go test your new Christmas fly rod on the river.  The only hunting left was for bunnies.  Most of you probably don’t want your prized pointers running rabbits.  Your dogs are probably bored and feeling jilted and wondering why they don’t get another day in the field. 

Just to remind you, there are a couple of local bird options still open.  Preserve hunts may not be every hunter’s cup of tea, but after doing two different preserve hunts with my Griffons last week, my thoughts are that they do fill a void and serve a purpose.   O.K. you have not hiked a thousand feet up a rocky sage covered mountain to a covey of chukar and a creeping dog to kill only the laggard bird while the rest of the covey flies across an impossible canyon leaving you with the decision as to continue up the ridge or chase the covey down and then back up again.   You do get to dig into your wallet and write a check for the released pheasants and the privilege of walking the farmer’s fields.  Defray the cost and share it with a couple of friends or, if you are feeling flush, treat a hunter in need.  There is also the possibility that you will encounter birds that have been in the field for a while and have learned the ropes.  The canned hunt is not as easy as it sounds.  They really are not faux pheasant.  They run, most fly very well and far, best of all they must smell really good because the dogs love to find them!  My young Griffon, Tucker, had three knock dead points in a ditch row running through corn stubble in a few inches of snow last week.  I was on top of every point and could not see the bird.  The flushes were great, Tucker was rewarded, and I decided to keep my wild dog after all.  The next day Tucker’s dad, Max, locked up in a wheat field with a big wind in his nose.   He crept about thirty feet, but locked several more times.  Max finally stopped the bird while my hunting partner closed from about eighty yards and made a fine shot in the blustery wind.  The old dog was pretty proud and trotted by his son, Tucker, head high, as if to say, “That’s how it’s done kid.”   Hey, you make them work for miles over barren ground some days.  Give your dog a treat.  Susanne calls it an Easter egg hunt for the puppies.  It is a bit more than that, but you know there will be something out there, go find it!

If you are interested in a guided bird hunt or if you just want to do it yourself give us a call at the shop and we will help set you up.  208-726-1706. 

The Ca Bull Elk Ranch has some great birds.  They fly very well.  They also have some exotic black pheasant, and are big birds.  They would like some of you to join them at their new property at the end of Burmah Road.  Gail and Cal are in the process of moving their birds and elk to their new ranch and would like to have you help ease that burden.

Jeff and Julie Ward’s Seven Mile Ranch in Shoshone has some of the best pheasant covers you can imagine.  He has two hundred pheasant left before the preserve season ends April 15.  Flushing dogs are great for the willow covers and pointers in his habitat fields of 16 inch tall wheat.  

Oh, and another plus, the birds are tasty and tender.  I can provide recipes.

Don’t wait until next year.   It is just too far away for both you and your dogs.

 Keep the wind in their noses and the sun at your back,

Scott Schnebly/Lost River Outfitters

Two Day love your Sweetheart Sale

My son once told me when asked about presents: Memories and Experiences are always better than THINGS when it comes to gifts.
Well, we have all kinds of things on sale for Presidents' Weekend, but we also wanted to offer a deal on memories and experiences for Valentine's Day. How about going on a guide trip with your Sweetheart or planning a trip to our Stanley Steelhead lodge? Doing things together is what this day is all about!