Idaho water and lots of it...

John and I connected Wednesday to fish some Idaho water. The flows were up quite a bit but the water was clear. John scouted it Saturday and landed a couple on a stonefly dry. Even with the water high, some bugs were coming off when he was there Saturday. He saw an adult Salmonfly and had a Golden Stone land on his feet.

We felt it was worth a shot Wednesday so we headed off on the short, picturesque journey. It was my first time on this highway and it was gorgeous. The ride was very quick with the conversation and the scenery.

We stopped off at a hatchery on the system to ask some questions. Not a lot was happening on the river so we just shot the bull for a few moments then headed to some likely spots.

From the flows and the feeder tribs being super aggressive, the flows looked to be super high. I was in shock to see the water that clear though.

Here are some beautiful views of the river:

We didn't see any fish move. We focused our attention on the slower water along the bank. John had on a creation of his own that was salmonfly-like in size 6 or 8. I didn't have any salmonfly or golden stone patterns to start the day with so I purchased a couple Trina's Carnage Stonefly dries from Bob Ward's in town prior to leaving. That is what I started the day with. I ended the day with a simple Chernobyl in tan.



Around 2pm I saw a couple reckless stoneflies fluttering in the air. One came to land close to where I was standing on the bank. It was probably a 6ish and was golden olive. My first golden stone since learning to fly fish almost 5 years ago. We also saw at least 2 dozen mayflies hovering. I imagine they were PMDs but I was not able to get a super close look. John landed a nifty 14" cuttie, our only strike of the day. I took a skunking. What the heck, I learned a lot about runoff and high water.

Regardless, it was great to get out. I was fortunate enough to see some wonderful country, some beautiful wildlife and bask in the wonder of an amazing Idaho river.