Streamer Junkies - Eastern Idaho 2018

Eastern Idaho is a fly fisherman's dream; miles and miles of rivers packed full of trout. There's never enough time to explore all the water available in the time the average angler has on a trip. Those angling possibilities grow even more if you have a boat; a sobering reality to 3 fly fishing junkies. Joining me would be my long time fishing and hunting buddies, Camron and Kevin. Both friends had to move to Utah for work after college so our adventures have thinned in the last several years. Our trip had been planned since May: fish for 4 days on 4 different pieces of water in Kevin's new drift boat. Kevin had not been on a fishing trip with Camron and I before, so he was in for a treat.
"What's everyone thinking for breakfast? I'm pretty traditional; eggs, bacon, hash browns and sausage." Kevin asked in our group text message prior to the trip.
"Traditional for Cam and me is Poptarts and yogurt, man. We fish hard from sun-up to sun-down." I replied.
"If you want to wake up before light and make it, we won't stop you." Camron added. 
"You guys are hardcore! No sleeping in on this trip!" Kevin responded.
Our 4 days didn't exactly mesh up perfectly. I would drive over a half day early and they would stay a day later. Noon the first day I found myself standing in the peaceful water of the Henry's Fork with a streamer rod in my hand. I fished hard until dark and landed numerous browns; a great start to the trip.

At dark, Camron and Kevin showed up. They were quite the sight in a diesel pickup pulling a 30 foot camp trailer with a drift boat behind that.  

These were deluxe accommodations for Cam and I, and we certainly weren't complaining! We fixed dinner and toasted to a great trip.
"We're now all working in our desired careers guys. It feels good to be adults! We have arrived!" I said while toasting, producing a laugh out of all.

The first day of fishing we floated a new stretch of the Henry's Fork. Streamers and hoppers were the game and a decent number of fish were caught. It's always fun to fish new water, even if nothing monstrous was caught.

We immediately followed up our float with a night float! It was too hard not to take advantage of the full moon. We moused our brains out until 11pm only to receive a couple "kisses" to our flies.

By 7 am the next morning we were launching the boat on another new section of water. This float was long but fun, fish were caught and more tests will be needed in the future. 

By the end of the second day our arms were starting to really tire.
"Man, I'm getting too old for this streamer stuff!" I said, shaking my arm out.
"Yep, this is a young man's game." Camron added.
"Ryan, you're about the most prepared for this stuff. Camron and I both work desk jobs!" Kevin exclaimed.
"Well, if I wasn't casting this old rod with a boat anchor for a reel up here, Kevin!" I said referring to the oversized Pflueger Medalist click and pawl reel attached to a custom made 7 weight rod.
"Hey those reels are classics!"
"Exactly!"
I didn't have room to complain since I could be using my Helios 2 rod that was also sitting in the boat, but it was only rigged with a floating line. 

Day 3 we decided to hit a lower section of the South Fork of the Snake. The old cottonwood bottoms were gorgeous with the leaves just starting to turn. In a couple weeks this place would be amazing with colors. Bald eagles and osprey flew about. I could see how this river was so well liked. We had already caught a couple cutthroats on streamers before we pulled over on a great looking nymphing riffle.
Camron and Kevin immediately starting picking up fish; both whitefish and trout, including one very large brown trout.

Strangely enough, this 20 inch brown was the largest trout we had caught yet, and it wasn't on a streamer but on a stonefly nymph. 

We continued down the river with the fishing only improving. Kevin was on the oars when we hit a very "fishy", but short bank.
"Oh guys this bank looks good." Kevin said as we approached.
Camron threw a cast next to the bank. BOOM! A fish grabbed his fly and he was hooked up. I made a quick cast to a likely pocket and a flash darted out from the depths but missed the fly. I looked in front of me to see Kevin practically day dreaming on the oars, the boat flying by all the good stuff.
"Pull Kevin, pull!" I said shaking my head. "It would be nice to get more than one cast into a spot."
"Sorry guys! Gosh Ryan, didn't know we had a boat Nazi aboard!"
I laughed, "That's just one of those things you do when your casters are hitting a good bank; you slow the boat down!"

We drifted along, swapping spots frequently. 

 

"I think I love this river." I said, after releasing another brown trout as we drifted along towards the next riffle.
"Yep, this river is pretty incredible." Kevin added as he casted to another "fishy" spot.
We caught fish all the way down. Just before the take-out, Camron stuck another big brown. 

We finished out the float, tired and sore but with big smiles on our faces. None of us are much for trying to count the number of fish we catch, so we couldn't give an exact number, but I'm sure we each landed about 20 fish in a 7 hour float.
"Man, being a streamer junkie for 3 days is hard." Camron said.
"I think I just want to stare at a bobber for while!" Kevin added.
"Gosh Cam, I think we wore the poor little bugger out!" I laughed.
I had to head back home, but Camron and Kevin stayed until the next day, fishing more streamers and catching more browns.

It's always fun making special trips with friends. During the trip we talked about all the other potential trips the 3 of us should make in the future. A repeat to Eastern Idaho will surely be in the future! 

Float Tubing in the Mountains

September 2018
As fall approaches, the evenings cool and the days grow shorter, trout begin to move back into the shallows of lakes and reservoirs. These seasonal changes stir in them an instinct to pack on the pounds for the coming winter. Minnows and leeches become a prime food source, and if they're available, trout will even feed on dead Kokanee salmon. 

Katie and I planned our next adventure to put us in the Central Idaho mountains chasing trout in our float tubes. This particular reservoir was one I hadn't fished in years but had fond memories of. We chose to camp and fish where the river entered the reservoir. Google Earth revealed some great drop-offs and a distinguishable river channel; key features to focus our effort on. 

The first day of fishing started like most trips to a lake; calm, glassy water with fish rising everywhere. Once our float tubes touched the water, however, the wind kicked up and waves started lapping against our tubes as we kicked away from the shore. It's almost comical how many times this has happened to me and I suspect many anglers can relate. Regardless, the water was very clear and the sun was out, showing us exactly where the river channel was. We trolled our flies over to the river channel, tethered our boats together and anchored near the edge. I started casting a flesh fly and Katie a leech. BOOM! My line tightened and I set the hook on the first fish of the trip. A chunky cut-bow darted about in the clear water.

After releasing the fish, we continued casting and stripping with no success. Rather than moving on to another location, I reeled my line in and looked over at Katie.
"It's bobber time!" I said, grabbing the other rod in my boat already rigged with a balanced leech and a large yellow strike indicator.
Katie chuckled and grabbed hers as well. 
I started with an olive and brown leech and Katie with a halloween.
It couldn't have been more than 20 seconds before Katie's big pink bobber dove under the surface and she heaved back on a nice fish. This one was a gorgeous cutthroat.

The next several hours were filled with a lot of nice fish: rainbows, cutthroat and cut-bows. The trout were cruising the edge of the river channel. When one spot slowed we would re-anchor 20 yards away and resume catching fish. The chop on the water was also helping our flies dance under the water as our bobbers rose and fell with the waves.  

"Gosh, this topography is awesome!" I said in a humorous way, pointing to the steep drop-off in front of us leading into the depths of the river channel. "It's all about that topography!"

"You're silly," she laughed and rolled her eyes in the, 'I married a nerd' sort of way.

"Oh, this topography!" 

Topography became the joke of the afternoon, and I beat it to death. But you couldn't argue with the success we were having because of it.

We kicked back to the truck near dinnertime, finishing up a stellar afternoon of fishing.

The following morning we rose to the chirping of bald eagles. The skies and shorelines were full of them, as well as osprey, vultures, sandhill cranes and herons. Today we would try a different spot. Google earth showed a clear drop off that extended out into the lake a couple hundred yards. We kicked off from shore, this time trolling a flesh fly and a leech. I hadn't gone more than 30 yards from shore when my line went tight to a fish. I brought in the cutthroat and released it.

Katie was on next.

We continued to troll along the edge. To my right it was 4 feet deep and to my left, 10. We continued to pick up fish here and there.

We eventually lost track of the drop off and turned around, trolling our way back. We began picking up fish once we found the edge again. We decided to anchor up and try the bobbers for a little while. It worked like a charm, despite the calm water. From my experience, fishing a balanced fly under a bobber works about the same whether it's calm water or choppy. 

We took a few hours off from fishing to eat lunch and go for a hike. But at 5 pm we were back on the water to see what the evening held. We anchored our boats near the river channel and caught several more rainbows, cuts and cut-bows to finish out a great day.

The last morning of our trip we rose bright and early to catch the morning bite and the calm water before it was time to drive home. We tried trolling the drop off before kicking over to the river channel. On the way over we passed through some deep water with large pine stumps scattered about. My line quickly tightened to a strong fish! A silver flash came from the depths. What is this? A black, freckled, silvery fish came thrashing to the surface. A chinook salmon! I scooped the 17 inch fish into the net. Fish and game has been planting chinook in many reservoirs in Idaho over the last few years and in some locations they are thriving and reaching sporting size. This was the largest land-locked chinook I'd ever caught, but surely more to come in the future.

We released the fish and proceeded to the river channel. The calm, clear water enabled us to find little pockets of old creek channels, stumps and holes the fish were using adjacent to the river channel. The action was consistent, however today our hooking success was lacking. 
"Honey, you got one!" I shouted with excitement as I watched her bobber dive.
Katie heaved back on the rod, several seconds too late. "Darn-it! I was looking at the eagles! Oh, you've got one!"
I quickly looked at the end of my fly line to see my bobber one foot under the surface. I yanked back in a futile attempt, seconds too slow for a seasoned trout. "Darn-it! I was paying attention to your bobber!"
We both laughed. After re-casting, the same thing happened again.
"Stare at your own bobber!" I said, frustrated that we kept missing fish due to looking at each others bobbers instead of our own.
Even after we committed to looking at our own bobbers, something else would distract us, causing us to miss more fish. At least we were having fun. Despite the poor hook up rate, we managed to land numerous fish, including this nice rainbow.

We drove home with big smiles on our faces. The fall can be a fantastic time of year to get the float tubes back out, and most of the time, you'll have the whole lake to yourself. Concentrate your effort on river and creek channels, drop offs and flats. Locate these topographic features with a depth finder, google earth or simply clear water on a sunny day. Find these and you will likely find the fish. When things seem to slow down, remember: put a bobber on it!