Idaho: Snow and Rainbows

Kohler and I took a trip up to the Island Park, Idaho this weekend. It was the first time for either of us to fish the well known Henry's Fork. When we got there early friday morning we assumed there was a good chance we would have the river all to ourselves since it was so darn cold outside. Even the guy at Mike Lawson's Fly shop looked at us like we were nuts. Turns out we we didn't see another soul on the river all weekend, it was great.

The road leading into Ashton, Id friday morning.
Box Canyon on a cold October morning. We started our trip fishing Box Canyon below Island Park Reservoir. After pulling 6 fish out of the first two little pockets, we were very very excited, unfortunately things cooled off even more, especially the fishing. I didn't have another bite all day, but Kohler hooked and fought the biggest trout either of us have ever seen on the end of a rod. Guestimate: 23"-25" and fat as all get out! Kohler lost him as he made a final run back into the main current. It was too bad! We later decided the day sucked for fishing because I wasn't wearing my nice old red hat that Kohler loves so much. I made sure to put it on early the next morning and it paid off.
We saw some sweet moose, and 5 or 6 bald eagles while we were there.
This is the long stretch of river we hiked Saturday morning to get to Coffee Pot Rapids. The roads were very snowy and we were in my Jetta so we were forced to stay near main highways and do some extra hiking. Saturday morning we hiked and hour and a half in, and 5 hours later we hiked an hour and a half out. Long but wonderful day.


A nice fat 14" rainbow. Fortunately enough Saturday was a little warmer and the fish were more active. We had a great day at the Coffee Pot where we caught many beautiful rainbows. The fish weren't the biggest, but they made up for their size with their density and beauty. We did happen to see 4 or 5 fish that were easily over 20" but no luck getting them to bite.
Beautiful Coffee Pot rainbow.
Coffee Pot Rapids
Kohler with a fat rainbow.
These were the prettiest rainbows either of us had ever caught. Pictures never quite do beautiful fish justice.

A few hours into our day, the fog started to settle in on us. It turned out to be a beautiful mystical afternoon.

Spanish Fall

Bug Pictures

This year I have been able to take some cool pictures of aquatic invertebrates. Both of the adults and the larvae/nymphs. They are so cool!Salmonfly Adult
Damselfly adult
Callibaetis spinner
Drake nymph
Callibaetis dun

Bugs

Here are a few more of my favorite bug pictures from this year. It's amazing what all fish eat!Caddis adult
Mayfly spinner
Damselfly adult
Mayfly spinner

Caddis Larva

Diamond Fork Double!

I fished upper Diamond Fork this weekend in the rain. I got lucky and landed this double, two beautiful cutthroats.
There has been some massive stonefly hatches up there recently. They were everywhere! The fish are looking up for them so I was able to take a few on stimulators. Can't wait to get back down there one of these weekends!

Chesterfield Rainbows

Uncle Kimble and I fished a couple of lakes in Idaho this last weekend, and we had a blast! It wasn't the fastest fishing action, but we did land a couple of fat, strong rainbows. Kimble gave me some float tubing tips, and he made me a healthy, delicious roast beef sandwich for lunch (should have taken a picture of it, dang:) what a great guy! Thanks again Uncle Kimble! 

New Flies for 2009

Here are a few of my latest creations. This fly has been extremely effective this spring, and it has probably found a permanent spot in my fly box. It is similar to a Prince Nymph because of the white biots tied over the back. It has pheasant tail fibers for the tail, red wire, black dibbing for the body, partridge for the legs, and red thread used for the collar. The black tungsten bead adds weight, and ties in the consistent black color. Size 16 has been my favorite size, but it could be tied in other sizes as well. It has been making fish nervous this spring all over Utah.
I have not had a chance to fish these next two flies. This top fly is designed to look like the stonefly family Isoperla. It is tied with lead on the shank, natural biots, fine gold wire, superfine yellow dubbing, swiss straw/thin skin for the wing case, and rubber legs tied in around the thorax. For the two black lines along the abdomen I used a fine tip permanent marker and drew them on. Sizes from 12 to 16. I am excited to try this pattern in some cool, clean, well oxygenated streams where these stoneflies are abundant. 
Very similar to the fly above, this is a darker pattern also tied to imitate stoneflies, but of other families such as the perlidae (golden stones). I used natural biots, fine gold wire, a blend of black and yellow superfine dubbings for the abdomen, swiss straw/thinskin for the wing case, peacock ice dubbing for the thorax, and rubber legs tied in and dubbed over. Once agin with a golden bead. Sizes from 8 to 14.

All of these flies are very easy to tie, and hopefully they will prove to be effective in catching trout.