Spring Return

Well It has been a super long time since I have posted anything. Life has been hectic, but wonderful. In this Hiatus from blogging, I have gotten married to my sweetheart, and have a child on the way. I decided I would take some time to build my relationship with my wife and less with blogging. This doesn't mean that I haven't been fishing though. For 2015 I am going to try to post more often.

This weekend I was able to meet up with a good friend and do a little exploring. The salmon flies have been going on the Henry's Fork for a few weeks now, and this got me thinking about a small stream that the big bugs usually show up a few weeks after the HF. We pulled into the gulch that I like to fish and started probing the pockets with some imitations with not much action. If I am not catching fish, I usually don't last long before tying on a streamer. This trip was no different, and I found myself throwing a small streamer about 10 min into the trip. I immediately caught one brown and missed a few more.

This stream still was high and off color from runoff, so we decided to head down to Warm river and continue chucking streamers. We had so,so results and landed a few smaller trout. Just prior to calling it quits, I landed a beautiful brown. Not the biggest, but definitely a good fish for warm river also.

Here are some photos from this trip, and keep coming back for some more fishing reports.

Catchin up

The semester is over!!!!!! that means I will have a little more time to fish, which translates to more posts on the blog. Until then, here is a rundown of the past 4 or 5 weeks trips.

The Henrys Fork- I have not been fishing it lately, the water temps are too high on the lower stretches. But towards the end of June and the beginning of July it fished well. Streamers were the ticket for most trips, although I did run into some epic pmd, caddis, and drake hatches that produced consistent fishing on top.
Here are some of the goods.

And here are some pictures of some other fish from the area. 

Late May/June

Run off this year has been weird. It comes, then it goes and then it is back again. I believe it has finally peaked, and the fishing will be a little more consistent from here on out. I have been able to get out a little in between the runoff and the fishing has been great. He are a few cutts from the past few weeks.

Most of the fish fell for the Rusty Mess streamer. It really has become my go to pattern. A new streamer my buddy Brandon conjured up dubbed "Las Vegas" has taken a few good ones also. I will post pictures of it in a future post.

Paying your dues

If I were to guess the percentage of each trout species in my favorite river it would go as follows.

Yellowstone Cutthroat and Hybrids-Approx. 90%

Rainbow Trout- Approx. 8%

Brown Trout- Approx 2%

This being said, I have been fishing it for 3 years now and each trip that I make, I go with the hope of catching a big brown. The 4 people that I have regularly fished this river with have all hooked up with and landed at least one big brown thus far. I however have not had that experience yet. I absolutely love Browns and if you catch one from this river, it will be BIG!!!! The past two weeks I have been doing alot of grumbling to Zack and Brandon about how I feel that I have put in my time and payed my dues and I want a brown. I have had this feeling all of 2013 that this would be the year that it happens for me. 

Well this week it happened and the story behind it will always be special to me. 

I got to a certain stretch that I love to fish and decided to go a few hundred yards up river to fish a ledge that I have pulled some good fish from. I threw my go to streamer (rusty mess) out and started stripping it along the ledge. A big fish came up and clocked the streamer with power that I have never experienced. I quickly strip set and then there was nothing, The fish was gone. I knew from the big red adipose fin that it was a big brown that had just ferociously attacked my streamer and my heart sank. I hollered to Zack who was a few runs down from me and told him what had just happened. I threw back out with the hopes of the fish wanting a second go and to my surprise, he hit it again. Another failed hook up!!!!!! We decided to let the fish alone and fish down river for a few hours and try again before we left for the night. After a few hours we returned to the area and I tried again. TWO more takes and still no hookup. Well I was about to give up, but decided to switch it up and throw something a little more subtle and give it one more go. I opened up the streamer box and searched for something and decided on the Cutty Candy that Chris conjured up a few years back. Well that turned out to be the lucky streamer. After a solid fight, I brought to hand this 21 inch beauty. 

I could not be happier with this Brown. I paid dues to the river for 3 years and was finally rewarded.

Late April/ Early May

its back to the grind for me. Mid April I started another semester of college with a pretty heavy workload. Combine that with working 20 hours a week does not leave me with much time to fish. There is something to be said about the feeling of finally slinging some line after being cooped up inside with the normal day to day activities that adulthood requires. The trips that I have made have been stellar, some absolute monsters have been wrangled from the waters from me and my close friends. Here are some photos from the last few weeks.

The Warm River

One of the rivers that I seem to spend alot of time on is the Warm river near Ashton, Idaho. The warm river hosts a great population of brown and rainbow trout, with the occasional brookie thrown into the mix. This year I have been throwing streamers on the river instead of nymphing and the resulting fish have been stellar. Access to the river is very easy with most of the river being in the Targhee forest system. A agood spot to try would be the area in and around the Campground. Here are some photos from the last half dozen trips or so. 

 This wild rainbow will always be a favorite for me. The coloring was so spectacular and the take was epic.

 My personal best brown from this particular river

 This big spawned out bow chased down a streamer trying to bulk back up

 If you haven't tried this gem of a river give it a try. withing the next month or so, the caddis should start to show up and those guys who like to fish the surface will find plenty of action if streamer fishing is something that you are not into.