Fishing Trout in a Desert Oasis

There is a little trickle of water that cuts through a steep rocky canyon not far from where I work that I never had considered fishing until I was hiking around out there a few weeks ago.  As I hopped from rock to rock across the creek in one spot  I was surprised to see a nice little trout take off in water that was not even deep enough to cover his back.  So today I headed back up this trail to see if any of those little guys would eat an artificial fly.

I kept things simple.  A couple Sparkle Duns in a small plastic box, tucked into my shirt pocket, and my 3 weight fly rod.  I made my way up the quarter mile trail to a nice little waterfall of about 30-40 feet (just a guess).  It's a pretty little spot and the fact that trout do in fact live in these waters is amazing to me.  Trout are very sensitive to high water temps and this creek runs out of some of the hottest high desert in the state.  The summer sun gets to be blistering here but the steep canyon walls and overhanging rocks and brush shade this little stream just enough to keep the temps within a livable range for the native Columbia Basin Redband Trout that swim here. 

As I arrived at the biggest and deepest pool right below the waterfall I could see several splashes from aggressively feeding fish.  I tossed the small fly in and almost immediately it was engulfed by a hungry little trout.  I continued to catch several small trout, the biggest ran in the 6-7 inch range.  Still they actually could put a nice little bend in my light weight rod.  These would not be considered trophy's in their size, but they are fish to be admired none the less.

 I was having fun, catching a fish on nearly every cast when I decided to try and land the fly as close to the base of the cliff to the right of the water fall as I could.  The rocks there looked a bit undercut by the current and I wondered if there was maybe a chance of a little larger fish lying in wait back in a shelter little nook.  The fly landed perfectly and as it drifted just an inch off the edge of the rock face it was suddenly sucked down.  I set the hook on what was probably a monster fish for this little water.  The fish ended up going a full 10 inches in length, indeed a trophy in this little desert trickle.  With a blazing red stripe down it's side that expanded to cover it's entire head the colors on this fish were amazing even to this colorblind fisherman. 

So I learned again that when fishing it's not always about chasing 20 inch hawgs.  There is something to be said for keeping things simple.  Fishing small waters for small fish that have adapted to live in conditions that would prove hostile to some of their very near cousins.  One has to pause and admire these fish, no matter what their size.

Down by the Lake

 

A Duck Takes Flight

The kids throwing some leaves around

 

An Interesting Trout Tidbit

So have you ever wondered how far trout can wander? I really haven't thought too much about it until I read Thursday's edition of the Idaho Statesman's Outdoor section. In their weekly "Ask Zimo" segment he mentions a fish tagged in Brownlee Creek that migrated up Brownlee Reservoir before they lost contact with the radio tag. Eventually the fish turned up in the Weiser River near Cambridge. That's about 106 miles from my calculations and through a lot of Bass and Catfish water, not exactly good trout water.

I understand this is not an unheard of journey for a fish that has very close relatives (Steelhead)that routinely travel multiple river systems and thousands of miles to reach their spawning grounds. However it did give me a new perspective on the fish I catch and where they really live. Probably not in one specific hole.

Some Pictures From the Holidays

Well we didn't do much over the Christmas break but relax and eat alot of food. It really couldn't have gotten any better. Here are a few scenery shots from the week and a few shots of some elk that were taken on a Donnely, Idaho cattle ranch where they feed a herd of elk each winter and offer a cozy little sleigh ride into the feeding grounds for an up close and personal look at these amazing critters.

Smile!

The Herd Bull...until someone bigger comes along anyway, which shouldn't be long now.

Showing off his magnificant toothpicks!

In the Heart of the City of Boise...

...there is a River that bears the same name. It's a pretty special trait to have such a gem running through the capitol city of Idaho, and I decided to take advantage of it's proximity today. I did a little hiking up the Greenbelt Trail to get away from the more highly trafficked areas and found a little bend in the river that pulled away from the trail. Other than the sound of the Boise State University Marching band practicing only a half mile away in Bronco Stadium, I could have sworn I was miles from civilization.

The fishing on the Boise River, in my experience, can be a bit hit and miss but there is a good population of Rainbow and Brown trout and there are some fish in this river that grow quite large. Besides trout, the Idaho Fish and Game releases several truckloads of hatchery Steelhead that are trapped below Hells Canyon Dam, where they reach a large barrier to any further migration, into the river offering a little extra sport each fall. The first truckload this year arrived this last Thursday and so I decided to get out and put a few of the Steelhead flies I have been tying recently to use.

I tied on an Egg Sucking Leach (I love Steelhead Fly names) and some split shot to get it down deep and wore out my arm working a very good looking, deep hole. I only had a couple hours to fish before I needed to get over to the Stadium and reserve some seats in the General Admission section for the Boise State football game for our group.

It was a beautiful crisp fall morning and the marching bands dull thumps in the background only confirmed this is the greatest time of year. When else are you going to try and catch a steelhead all morning then walk a half mile to the stadium and take in a great college football game. Ahhhhhhhhh Fall! By far my favorite season.

As I flung my fly into the slowly churning water over and over again my eyes began to wander up and down the river as they will often do when there is not much action on the other end of my line and I noticed a group of geese just up stream that were cleaning themselves and really playing around in the water. I took out my camera and tried to see just how close I could get and they played along and humored me for a couple photos.

Yes, I did get skunked. No fish, but I have to say the day was a success. As you can see the river that runs through the middle of Boise, is a keeper.

Bald Eagle Pics

Dolphins, Whales, and Turtles

Finally the highlight of our trip to Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii for me was the ocean life we were able to see. On Monday we snorkled in a spot where we saw a couple turtles.

Then on Christmas day we rented Kayaks and paddled out to Captian Cooks Monument which is an incredible snorkling spot on the Big Island. The down side here is that I happend to remember my camera but forgot the battery back at the resort on the charger so I have no pictures from my camera this day. And what a shame it turns out as on our way out in the Bay we spotted a pod of Spinner Dolphins playing and jumping. We paddled closer and watched in awe as they glidded all around us. Soon we had Dolphins breaking the water within 5 feet of our kayak. WOW! Finally we decided we needed to head on our mission and we had some excellent snorkling. I borrowed Kyla's Mom and Dad's camera for a few shots there and got some pictures of a large eel. Then on our way back we decided to see if we could find those dolphins again. We paddled into the same area they had been on the way out and sure enough they were still there. This time I decided I needed to jump in and snorkle with them to see if I could get a look at them under water. I was. It was incredible as I glidded over the top of them as they swam and then they began to rise up to the surface to breath and soon I was surounded as I kept pace. I couldn't hold their pace long though but it was amazing as they had several babies in the pod that were especially playful. It was one of the neatest things I have ever done. Here are a few pictures that Kyla's mom took of the Kayaking trip and then some snorkling pictures I took out at the reef.

The Eel

I think this guy was in "Finding Nemo"

Then on Wednesday we took a Whale watching excursion where we again got to experience an up close encounter with Dolphins. This time we saw both Spinners and Pacific Bottlenosed Dolphins. The Bottlenose are a much bigger species and are shier so the fact that we got to see a pod within 2 feet of our raft was a big treat. We also did see a couple Humpback whales. Here are the pictures I got during this excursion:

Spinner Dolphis right in front of our raft (the water really is that blue this is not Sea World)

A pod of Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins

A Bottlenose Dolphin swims right along with our raft just under the surface.

A Humpback whale waves "goodbye."

O'fer Two

O’fer: In terms of fly fishing for steelhead o’fer refers to an individual who has never caught a steelhead or has not caught one in a long time.

As I do more and more research and peruse fly fishing forums and websites for information regarding fly fishing for steelhead I come across the word o’fer a lot. Often used in baseball, when say a batter goes 0 for 4 in a game or simply o’fer, it is also a word that seems to work quite well with steelhead fishing. One forum I like to check for information on how others are doing and what methods they may suggest even has an o’fer contest which has some very complicated rules that I have yet to figure out. Mostly it appears that a bunch of novice steelheaders who have never caught a steelhead or are in the midst of an agonizing dry spell see who can be the first to break their o’fer streak while a few amused onlookers pick their horse so to speak and wager the currency of fly fishermen, hand tied flies, on who they think the slump buster will be. So I knew what I was getting into when I began fly fishing for steelhead and so really it is no surprise I am officially O’FER two.

My brothers and I along with our wives took a little post holiday trip up north to New Meadows, Idaho after gorging on turkey Thursday. The girls poked around the little resort town of McCall while the boys headed up to the whitewater capital of Idaho, Riggins, to do some steelhead fishing. We didn't catch a thing but we did all have fun. It was very cold on the river this day and I had a problem with my guides freezing up on my fly rod. It is kind of hard to cast when this happens but we got to fish some good runs, but just couldn’t coax the Steelhead to come out and play. We fished a couple places on the Little Salmon and the main Salmon Rivers. The canyons in this country are very deep so even though the sun was out all day it did not reach us much down on the river. I will try and post a couple pictures from the canyon although I have to say I am real disappointed in the way most of my pictures turned out from this trip.

Until next time,

“O’fer”

Main Salmon River above Riggins, ID

Little Salmon River

A nice little buck we came across up the Main Salmon River.