Looks fun.
8.03.2010
8.01.2010
Fishing Journal - Week 23
Well the Journal sort of took a hiatus last week with the trip to the South Fork of the Snake but we are back at it here.
July 26
I finally got back out on the home river after doing the float trip last week and realized it has almost been 2 weeks since I have fished here. The temperature was a balmy 81 degrees when I arrived on the water at 6:30 am. By far this is the warmest morning I have had yet. It turned out to not affect the fish too much. I quickly got the rust off by presenting my CDC Spinner pattern to a couple fish feeding regularly in a good slot between two rocks. The fly drifted over where the first fish was rising but it didn't make it far. The second fish gulped it down and a few moments later I brought a nice 15 incher to the net. Not a monster but still fun and a good way to break me back into the groove of finesse fishing as opposed to the run and gun style out of the drift boat.
Soon I spotted another feeder just up the river and put the stalk on it. I approached within casting range and made several fruitless casts over the fish. This fish was moving back and forth in the water feeding lane a bit so it was a challenge to guess where he would show up next. Finally just as I was beginning to wonder about my fly selection and if I should think about changing it my fly dissapeared in a tiny swirl. I set the hook and the point found paydirt. I could tell this fish was a little larger and I was right. Eventually a nice 18 inch fish with golden buttery brown sides and a serious lack of spots came gently into my net. It was a pretty fish and I was satisfied that the fishing hadn't diminished in the last two weeks.
July 27
For the first time in about a month my usual spot was taken as I drove up the river on this early morning. He wasn't fishing my exact run but close enough that I didn't feel comfortable just jumping in. I headed downstream a bit to the spot I used to frequent where midges hatch in droves and noticed the fish were definitely feeding. I had a frustrating day though from a hooking standpoint. I fished hard for over an hour and had many takes on my tiny midge transitional pattern but the hook was not making contact. Finally I found a fish slurping in ankle deep water that was close to the truck so I decided I better make a try at it. After many many casts I finally got the fish to slurp the fly. And this time the hook point found a holding point in the fish's mouth. I eventually landed what turned out to be the only fish of the morning for me, a nice plump 16 inch fish. I continued fishing for about 20 more minutes and had three more fish jump all over my fly but I never even felt them as when I set the hook they were already gone. To have so many takes and so few fish to the net was a bit discouraging but it was good to be out on the water again anyway.
July 28
A few pics from a great morning on the river.
July 26
I finally got back out on the home river after doing the float trip last week and realized it has almost been 2 weeks since I have fished here. The temperature was a balmy 81 degrees when I arrived on the water at 6:30 am. By far this is the warmest morning I have had yet. It turned out to not affect the fish too much. I quickly got the rust off by presenting my CDC Spinner pattern to a couple fish feeding regularly in a good slot between two rocks. The fly drifted over where the first fish was rising but it didn't make it far. The second fish gulped it down and a few moments later I brought a nice 15 incher to the net. Not a monster but still fun and a good way to break me back into the groove of finesse fishing as opposed to the run and gun style out of the drift boat.
Soon I spotted another feeder just up the river and put the stalk on it. I approached within casting range and made several fruitless casts over the fish. This fish was moving back and forth in the water feeding lane a bit so it was a challenge to guess where he would show up next. Finally just as I was beginning to wonder about my fly selection and if I should think about changing it my fly dissapeared in a tiny swirl. I set the hook and the point found paydirt. I could tell this fish was a little larger and I was right. Eventually a nice 18 inch fish with golden buttery brown sides and a serious lack of spots came gently into my net. It was a pretty fish and I was satisfied that the fishing hadn't diminished in the last two weeks.
July 27
For the first time in about a month my usual spot was taken as I drove up the river on this early morning. He wasn't fishing my exact run but close enough that I didn't feel comfortable just jumping in. I headed downstream a bit to the spot I used to frequent where midges hatch in droves and noticed the fish were definitely feeding. I had a frustrating day though from a hooking standpoint. I fished hard for over an hour and had many takes on my tiny midge transitional pattern but the hook was not making contact. Finally I found a fish slurping in ankle deep water that was close to the truck so I decided I better make a try at it. After many many casts I finally got the fish to slurp the fly. And this time the hook point found a holding point in the fish's mouth. I eventually landed what turned out to be the only fish of the morning for me, a nice plump 16 inch fish. I continued fishing for about 20 more minutes and had three more fish jump all over my fly but I never even felt them as when I set the hook they were already gone. To have so many takes and so few fish to the net was a bit discouraging but it was good to be out on the water again anyway.
July 28
A few pics from a great morning on the river.
7.28.2010
Choreographed Soccer Goal Celebration (and yes, it's fishing related)
Soccer players must have too much down time.
7.22.2010
Stonefly Madness on the South Fork of the Snake
Well I think I may be mostly recovered from a combination of a two and a half day fishing trip on the other side of the state followed up with a nice little flu bug. Talk about wiping a guy out. The trip was a great one though. One of the better years for us hitting the Stonefly hatch.
Night number one was spent at one of the upper canyon campgrounds. We pulled in at dusk and set up our tent in the dark. The two hour float down to the campground yielded nothing in terms of fish. I was wondering just how the next day was going to end up. After sleeping lightly due to high anticipation and lumpy ground we were back on the river at 7:00 the next morning. As I climbed into the boat that morning I noticed both the boat and the grass along the rivers bank were covered with many smaller Yellow Sally Stonefly's. There were also quite a few larger Golden Stones crawling around and it didn't take long on our float to notice a couple bugs the size of a small bird fluttering on the water. The Giant Salmonflies were out as well. We went straight to the Stonefly patterns starting out with a moderately sized #8 Stimulator. Sure enough the fish were eating it up.
After lunch I switched over to a small PMD pattern for a while as there was a tremendous hatch of the mayflies as well and I picked up several nice fish on the smaller bugs. Finally we pulled out of the river at 7:00 that night, loaded up the boat and headed back up river to put in to float the couple hours back down to the camp we had left set up from the night before. Again that upper stretch yielded nothing. Very odd.
The next day I was hoping to get another early start so we wouldn't get off the river too late for the 5 1/2 hour drive home. I slept much better though being worn out from the previous day and I woke up with a start at 8:30. We finally were back on the river at 9, a full 2 hours behind our day one schedule which put us at the take out at 7pm. I was hoping this late start didn't mean we would be arriving at the take out that day at 9pm. It turns out we were able to make better time on this day and still manage a few fish in the process.
The fishing wasn't quite as hot as we landed a couple fewer fish on the day but things were still happening on the river. We made it to the take out again at 7pm and cleaned up the boat for the drive home. We were on the road by 8 and made excellent time on the drive. All in all it was another tremendous trip down the South Fork of the Snake. I hope we are able to get back up there this fall for some streamer fishing for the big browns.
Night number one was spent at one of the upper canyon campgrounds. We pulled in at dusk and set up our tent in the dark. The two hour float down to the campground yielded nothing in terms of fish. I was wondering just how the next day was going to end up. After sleeping lightly due to high anticipation and lumpy ground we were back on the river at 7:00 the next morning. As I climbed into the boat that morning I noticed both the boat and the grass along the rivers bank were covered with many smaller Yellow Sally Stonefly's. There were also quite a few larger Golden Stones crawling around and it didn't take long on our float to notice a couple bugs the size of a small bird fluttering on the water. The Giant Salmonflies were out as well. We went straight to the Stonefly patterns starting out with a moderately sized #8 Stimulator. Sure enough the fish were eating it up.
After lunch I switched over to a small PMD pattern for a while as there was a tremendous hatch of the mayflies as well and I picked up several nice fish on the smaller bugs. Finally we pulled out of the river at 7:00 that night, loaded up the boat and headed back up river to put in to float the couple hours back down to the camp we had left set up from the night before. Again that upper stretch yielded nothing. Very odd.
The next day I was hoping to get another early start so we wouldn't get off the river too late for the 5 1/2 hour drive home. I slept much better though being worn out from the previous day and I woke up with a start at 8:30. We finally were back on the river at 9, a full 2 hours behind our day one schedule which put us at the take out at 7pm. I was hoping this late start didn't mean we would be arriving at the take out that day at 9pm. It turns out we were able to make better time on this day and still manage a few fish in the process.
The fishing wasn't quite as hot as we landed a couple fewer fish on the day but things were still happening on the river. We made it to the take out again at 7pm and cleaned up the boat for the drive home. We were on the road by 8 and made excellent time on the drive. All in all it was another tremendous trip down the South Fork of the Snake. I hope we are able to get back up there this fall for some streamer fishing for the big browns.
7.18.2010
Fishing Journal - Week 22
I am feeling lazy so it's going to be an all picture version this week.
July 12
July 14
July 12
July 14
7.16.2010
7.11.2010
Fishing Journal - Week 21
July 7
Finally got out again after taking some time off for the July 4th Holiday. The bugs were still hatching and the fish were still eating. The only difference today was that there was a BWO hatch in the wee hours of the morning and the fish were up on the mayflies rather than the midges. Midges were also hatching but it took 5 minutes of casting my midge patterns over actively feeding fish to realize something else was going on. I still hadn't seen any BWO's but when I am getting refusals and fish are munching on something I don't see I often go with a CDC Spinner fly. It does a good job of imitating a dead mayfly floating flush on the surface and these early morning fish will take the easy meal everytime. It was one of my first casts after the switch that I hooked into a nice 19" fish.
Then as I released that fish I noticed for the first time a BWO floating down the river and I wondered if that was in fact what most of these fish were feeding on. I quickly switched flies again and from there on things really picked up. I ended up landing 6 fish on the day and all were very nice fish.
July 9
Things can change fast here on the river. Two days ago the fish were up on BWO's. Today I was having no luck with my BWO pattern. I decided to try midges again and on the first cast with my Harrop's Transitional Midge I hooked a nice fish. A couple casts later I pulled the hook out of the mouth of another taker. At the end of the day 4 more fish came to the net with the little #20 midge pattern.
Finally got out again after taking some time off for the July 4th Holiday. The bugs were still hatching and the fish were still eating. The only difference today was that there was a BWO hatch in the wee hours of the morning and the fish were up on the mayflies rather than the midges. Midges were also hatching but it took 5 minutes of casting my midge patterns over actively feeding fish to realize something else was going on. I still hadn't seen any BWO's but when I am getting refusals and fish are munching on something I don't see I often go with a CDC Spinner fly. It does a good job of imitating a dead mayfly floating flush on the surface and these early morning fish will take the easy meal everytime. It was one of my first casts after the switch that I hooked into a nice 19" fish.
Then as I released that fish I noticed for the first time a BWO floating down the river and I wondered if that was in fact what most of these fish were feeding on. I quickly switched flies again and from there on things really picked up. I ended up landing 6 fish on the day and all were very nice fish.
July 9
Things can change fast here on the river. Two days ago the fish were up on BWO's. Today I was having no luck with my BWO pattern. I decided to try midges again and on the first cast with my Harrop's Transitional Midge I hooked a nice fish. A couple casts later I pulled the hook out of the mouth of another taker. At the end of the day 4 more fish came to the net with the little #20 midge pattern.
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