SE Idaho Streams

[JohnScott]

Things are starting to settle down on a lot of the streams, although some are still running pretty high and fast. Decided to give Rainey Creek a shot. It is one of the smaller creeks around, and is managed for native and wild cutthroat. A weir quite a way downstream from where I prefer to fish keeps the other species out.

Upstream from my access point.



When the conditions are right, this little run will often produce a good number of fish. Got there a bit early today, and the water was still really cold. As soon as I stepped in, I knew I should have waited an hour or two to get started, but I was so looking forward to just getting out on this kind of water that I didn't have the patience.

Nothing in the first run, and no looks or hits for the first half hour or so. Then I came to a small hole, about the size of a bath tub, that looked really promising. It was.



This cutthroat is pretty typical of the fish in this creek. About 7-8", and really pretty. He ate a size 14 Yellow Humpy.

A while later, I came to this nice little run, actually, one of the bigger open pieces of water in the mile plus that I wet waded today.



I didn't land any fish from this run, but I did have a bunch of cutts looking at the fly and just missed hooking several. Saw somewhere around 8-10 fish here, mostly typical, and a few small ones, like 4-5".

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[JohnScott]

( Continued from above )

There is some absolutely beautiful water in this small creek, and some pretty neat views along the way, although a lot of the time it is impossible to see beyond the streamside foliage. Wading here is pretty much a matter of staying in the water, or on a very narrow bank area, once you get in and head upstream.



On the day, I landed about a dozen trout. Had about that many again look at the fly or hit it. On a slow day here, something under a dozen is not unusual. On a good day, a couple dozen is getting warmed up. There was something of a PMD hatch this afternoon, but I saw only one fish up for a natural.

The bigger fish in this stretch of Rainey Creek get into the 13-14" range. Kind of like this guy.



I've had a number of cutts in this creek bigger than this one, but not a lot bigger.

Fished several more spots up to my turn around point, mostly holes and deeper runs. Tried some riffles, but the fish just didn't seem to be in them today - caught only one smaller fish from a fast riffle on the day.

This was the last hole. Had several looks and hits but no hookups here and then called it a day.



Rainey Creek is a difficult creek to wade. Not because of size and depth, obviously, but because the streambed is extremely varied and rough, and very slick. Takes a lot of concentration to stay dry and in one piece. And on a good day, it's worth every minute of it.

[Beaver]

Great reports. Always look forward to your reports and pictures. Keep up the good work.

P.S. Beautiful country.

[JeffHamm]

What a great report and series of photos. Thanks for that.

- Jeff

[JohnScott]

Thanks, guys. Stay tuned. Lots more creeks to fish in the next couple months !!

[Wild One]

John,

There is no better water to fish on the planet than that style, IMO. Wonderful pictures and absolutely beautiful fish, you have to love native cutts.
And it is great to see someone else use the old go to Yellow Humpy! (one of the best flies every, also IMO)!

[alra195]

John,

Your having way too much fun! Wish I was there. Thanks for the great pictures of the beautiful streams and those great fish.

[tigfly]

John, I really look forward to your reports and pictures. Cutthroat, to me, are perfect trout, sensitive to poor water conditions so they are found only in beautiful surroundings, and willing to take dries. Small waters are what I like, secluded, uncrowded, and a feeling of isolation. Perfect. Thanks.

Glenn

[JohnScott]

Ryan -

Since I got a good lesson in how to tie the Humpy properly, I'm more inclined to fish it. It really was a bit too much for this stream. I changed it out after that first run where I didn't hook up with anything. Went to a size 16 EHC, which accounted for almost all the fish I caught the other day. That is a real standby around here on small streams in the summer.

Joe -

No way to have TOO much fun around here. Maybe if I tried really hard ..... NAH !!

Glenn -

If you are thinking about a trip out here any time from mid July to mid September, I can give you directions to this creek and a couple a bit bigger that generally fish better than Rainey within a matter of miles of it. The other two fish better from mid August on. One of them is another pure wild / native cutthroat fishery with bigger cutts. A friend of mine landed an 18" cutt on that creek last year, I took a 17" plus cutt last summer, and have had bunches of cutts in the 14-15" range there over the past five years.

John

[JohnScott]

Since the weather looked pretty "iffy" for our planned trip to the Central Mountains, we put it off for a couple days. As a "filler" I decided to take a look at Palisades Creek. Palisades is a popular hike since the trail leads to a couple mountain lakes which are quite pretty. The lower lake is about four miles from the trailhead, the upper lake another couple miles up, the last mile on a fairly steep grade.

I've fished Palisades about a dozen times over the last five years, excluding last year when the water levels were just too low and the water too warm to do any fishing in these SE Idaho creeks. When I hiked up to the lower lake this time last year, I saw seven moose. There was a cow and her calf and two bulls with full racks in the lake near the shore, and a bit later, three younger cows came ambling by quite close to my viewpoint.

In prior years, I've saved this for a late August / early September venture. This year, since I'm staying closer to home, I decided to give it a go a bit early. In past years the fish here have been a mix of native and wild cutthroat and wild rainbows. Both species usually run in the 8"-12" with a few smaller ones around, and an occasional cutthroat over 12". It is not uncommon to run into other fishermen closer to the trailhead. I like to hike back a way before I start fishing. Hardly ever see anyone fishing after the first mile or so.

This is the view from the first creek crossing, looking upstream.



Eventually, I get to a spot that has always produced any number of bows and cutts.



When the water is a bit lower, there is a fabulous little riffle here, just up from the left edge of the picture. Today, the higher and faster water just kind of obliterated it. I caught a smaller fish on the edge of the fast water on the near side of the creek and had several looks by smaller fish there.

But the real action was at the base of the rock wall on the far side of the creek.



Took ten trout close to the wall in about half an hour. Casting was a bit of challenge, with a lot of foliage to the rear and some difficult currents along the wall, but the Yellow Humph kind of liked it there, and accounted for seven fish. A flying ant did the rest of the damage, after it stopped flying and started drifting.



This cutt was just about the cookie cutter trout for this spot today, except for one which was noticeably larger but was very camera shy. The interesting thing was - all cutthroat, not a single rainbow, here or anywhere else on the creek today.

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