Steelhead Season is Upon Us!

March is just about here, and that means Stealhead on the upper Salmon.  While the big numbers aren't to Stanley yet, it looks like it's going to be an early run.  We've heard good reports out of Challis, which means if the weather warms up a little bit, the fish should be here in no time.  LRO runs a Steelhead lodge in Stanley and we still have openings.  We also do day trips for these spectacular fish, so give us a call at (208) 726-1706, and we can talk about availability.  If you haven't done a lot of Steelheading, this is a great opportunity to catch your first fish.

 

Good Winter Fishing on the South Fork of the Boise

Zac, Rob, and I drove west yesterday to fish the South Fork of the Boise, and it turned out to be a great day.  The sun was shining, which made for pleasant conditions but no dry fly action.  Midges were flying but very few hit the water.  With nothing happening up top, we got dirty under indicators and picked up some nice fish on nymphs.  We didn't catch any monsters, but the average size was pretty solid.  Here are some shots from the day.

Daydreams

Have you been dreaming about summer nights on the creek?  Me too.  Bob Mallard sent us this picture of a fish he caught on the creek last summer, on a guided trip with Cody.

This caused me  to start looking at other Brown Trout that we caught last summer...man I wish it was June.  I'll be counting down the days to the Brown Drake hatch.  Here are a few shots to remind you of how cold it is outside.

Mild Weather but Tough Fishing on the Salmon

On Wednesday I made the drive to McCall to visit my parents and do some steelheading around Riggins.  The weather forecast called for cold, wet, and windy, but lucky for me, the weather man got it wrong again, and we got sun and mild temps on the river.  Yesterday we hit the little river, in hopes of getting my dad his first steelhead.  The river had gone up about about 60 cfs and leveled off, which looked prime, but it fished harder than usual.  We fished all day without a grab, but I managed to pick up one small hatchery buck at the end of the day, which I released before the camera came out.  My dad didn't get a steelie, but he did pick up a nice Bull Trout, which showed glimpses of steelhead-ness before we got a good look at it.

Today we got an early start and did about an eight mile float.  Realistically, we probably shouldn't have fished.  With about a foot and a half of visibility, the water looked a lot like a Louisiana noodling pond, but we gave it hell anyway.  We swung about five runs and nymphed in between.  We saw no signs of life until the last run.  Ian fished down in front of me and after about 20 minutes saw a fish roll at the bottom of the run.  Then he saw another roll.  After I swung through about half of the run, I went back to the boat and changed flies.  I made a few casts towards the bottom of the run and watched a big fish jump over the top of my sink tip about five feet from my leader.  This led to furious spey casting, fly changing, and fish cursing.  At one point I lost my mind and put on a skater.  I was prepared to transform in to a legend, by catching a giant February steelhead on a dry fly.  However that didn't happen.  We finally gave up and rowed to the take out, before it got dark.  We ended the day grab-less, but I know where to go next time.  Looks like I'm going to be Challis bound soon to try to get my fish on the swing.

South Fork of the Boise Report 2/20/2012

Frank fished the South Fork on Friday and provided us with a quick report.  They fished under clear skies and reasonable temperatures and managed to find a few fish.  It was a nymphing game, and zebra midges were the ticket.  There were reports of a few baetis and a couple of risers, but all the fish were hooked below an indicator.  Here is a shot of a nice rainbow, the hounds, and the smooth road in.

Big Wood Report 2/17/2012

I fished the Big Wood from about 1:30-4:00 yesterday.  With colder temperatures, I didn't expect to see anything happening up top, but after walking for about 20 minutes, I noticed fish sipping midges in a back eddy.  While they weren't spread out in the riffles, like they have been, there were definitely fish to be had on dries. Other than a few spots with really soft water, it was mostly a nymphing game, but fish would still eat nymphs in the deeper pools.  My camera ran out of batteries, so I didn't get any pictures, but stay tuned for South Fork of the Boise and Salmon River Steelhead reports.

Midge While the Midgin's Hot!

The last few days have shaped up perfectly for winter time dry fly fishing.  Yesterday on the Big Wood we walked only a hundred yards or so, before Cody spotted heads breaking the surface to sip midges.  We found a pod of rising fish and fished dries to them until we had had our fill of slow, delicate, takes.  Temperatures are supposed to cool off after tomorrow, so get out there and give it a go.  Swing by the shop and we'll set you up with all of the necessities to enjoy some of the best dry fly fishing of the year.

   

Perchapalooza 2012

There are certain species that are overlooked as game fish.  Personal experience tells me that sometimes you can have just as much fun catching those as you can the others.  Zac and I headed to Carey on Monday to put this theory to the test, and it didn't disappoint.  Our original plan was to target Bluegills.  We had heard reports of delicious fish dinners, so we showed up with lots of nymphs and a couple of buckets.  We definitely found the gills, but after about 50 landed, all of which were too small to keep, we switched strategies.  I tied on a bugger in hopes of finding some bigger gills, or possibly a bass.  Instead of a nice Bluegill or a lurking bucket mouth I hooked up on nice Perch on back-to-back casts.  At this point it was all over for the whoreds of Perch waiting anxiously for a well presented (or a poorly presented) bugger.  They came to hand on just about every cast.  We released far more perch than we kept, but we each went home with plenty of meat for some land locked fish tacos.  We also tied in to a couple of large mouths towards the end of the day, which was an added bonus.  Many don't consider the mighty perch a formidable foe, but I promise you after a good day of perching you'll be sore from extreme laughter.  Here are a few shots of the carnage and the end result.

Big Wood Report 2/8/2012

After waking up to an overcast sky and decent temperatures yesterday, I decided it was time to cover some water on the wood.  I trekked through deep snow to get to the river, but upon reaching the bank I was pleased to see midges sitting on the snow.  I started the day fishing heavy stonefly nymphs, with small nymphs tied off the shank.  The fish weren't in every hole, but once I found them, they were stacked.  I landed a good number of fish, mostly on the smaller dropper fly, before seeing trout starting to come up and sip midges.  I decided to try my luck with a griffith's gnat and found a few fish willing to take the dry.  This was my first dry fly action of the winter, which was a huge treat.  After a couple of nice dry fly eats, I headed for the car and something to warm up my frozen fingers.  These next few days should be even better than yesterday.  The wood is void of people and fishing well.  Get out there see if you can catch a midge hatch.  Here some shots from the day.

Weather Conditions Shaping up for Some Great Winter Fishing

The winter trout fishing game is highly dependent on daytime highs that allow sleepy trout to wake up and feed.  While the lows around the Wood River Valley have been nasty, daytime highs continue to stay above freezing.  Here is this weeks weather report from NOAA.  The rest of the week should be good once the sun pokes out from behind the mountains.  I plan on hitting the river a few days this week, so stay posted for some reports.  Get out there and enjoy these beautiful winter days!