Dad and the Kid 2009

[...EZ...]

Good post big pappa!!! It looks as tho Big Mike and Chris had a blast, even without me. There really is no fishing like Idaho, as far as ive seen- and ive been around. You all made it apparent when you were rubbing it in my face!!! I mean im in Alaska on a secluded island and cant find a good trout anywhere Ill try and make back in time for the infamous Big Elk!!!!! Peace and love

[kglissmeyer]

EZ - Hurry!

Big Poppa

[Beaver]

Kelly,

Great post and some fine fish. My kind of creek. How many mile hike in is it? Thanks for the pics.

Beaver

[kglissmeyer]

Kelly,

Great post and some fine fish. My kind of creek. How many mile hike in is it? Thanks for the pics.

Beaver

Beaver, when I hiked it last year we went in about 2 miles or so. The guys went a bit further this past week. The trail is moderate at worst and it's a really decent hike with a good trail.

Kelly.

[kglissmeyer]

My apoplogies to everyone for the loss of pics on this thread. I had some Photobucket problems and had to delete my file there and then reload all the pics. Unbeknownced to me in so doing the pics here would be eliminated.
I'll try to rebuild everything asap.

Thanks,

Kelly.

[kglissmeyer]

I got all the pics reposted. I hope they are all the same. It's a bit hard to rebuild stuff with my memory that can't seem to get beyond this morning.

Kelly.

[gbflytyer]

kelly
i hope the hip gets feeling better, i'm still having trouble with my back ( can't row ) my boat hasn't hit the river all year. it is driving me nuts. glad to see everyone is still getting out.
best
gary

[kglissmeyer]

kelly
i hope the hip gets feeling better, i'm still having trouble with my back ( can't row ) my boat hasn't hit the river all year. it is driving me nuts. glad to see everyone is still getting out.
best
gary

Gary, good to hear from you. I enjoyed your e-mail about Big Elk Creek and being blown out from rain on Saturday and Sunday. Too bad, as it fished quite well on Saturday early.
For those who don't know, Gary and I went to Alaska together a couple of summers ago and formed a lasting friendship. We had a great time and here are a couple of great pics from that trip:


My largest of the trip


Gary with a Buskin Lake beastie

Thanks, Gary. Hope the back gets feeling better soon.

Kelly.

[kglissmeyer]

Well, another week and now a couple of reports to share. I have been grousing a lot lately about the bad hip and such, but I decided to make the trip up to Big Elk Creek anyway, especially since my wife wanted to go. We arrived at around 9 a.m. and started fishing around 9:45. Nothing by the parking lot was producing so I suggested we go up the trail a bit, which we did. After jumping off of the trail at around the 3/4 mile point I decided to "bushwhack" it as far as the bad hip would allow. Man what a tough trip!!! I had left my wading/hiking staff in my truck which the kid had on his overnighter to the spring creek, so I found a useable substitute from the undergrowth. I was able to get to several different pockets and found myself in a traditional pocket-water fishing situation where one or two fish only lived near a boulder in a fast moving mountain stream.
It was great fun and I hooked up but it was more work than I was really up to and I ended up paying the price a bit later. Maybe I can author an article for FAOL on the foibles of aging and fly fishing. This has truly been one of my toughest years physically, although I have had a better fishing year than any other previous year...
I hooked and lost a beautiful 20-inch Cutt that hit the rim of the net and then got off, but I landed another that taped at 17-inches and was just as beautiful.
After trudging quite a bit further upstream through thick brush I finally came to a point where I could access the trail again, and, wouldn't you know it, the stick I was using as a walking stick broke just as I put my weight on my left foot and I rolled my ankle. It's bad enough having a bad right hip, but add to that a sprained ankle, and, well, you can imagine what I looked like hoobling out of there.
Good part is, I had ended up a bit more than a mile up the trail, bad part is, I ended up a bit more than a mile up the trail...
It was a bit rough, but the memory of those native Cutts softened the pain and I hiked out OK.
Later we traveled to a little known creek called Bear Creek and had a riot catching very small Cutts and Bows until we were forced to leave due to inclement weather. This time I laced on my hiking boots and really cinched them down and it helped with the ankle, but I had to find a better walking/wading stick and it seemed to work, plus the brush along this creek wasn't near as bad as the Big Elk.
In all a great day and a lot of fun, despite a bit of pain. I realized had I put as much effort into just going up the trail rather than the brush-busting I would probably have been able to reach the better fishing and stream access upstream and foregone any of the other difficulties I had - live and learn.

Here are some pics:


In the net!


Typical Big Elk Cutt


Where we fish: Big Elk Creek, Idaho


Bear Creek beauty


Where we fish: Bear Creek, Idaho

Hope you enjoyed this post. I've got one coming from the Kid's overnighter to the spring creek where he had quite a trip...

Tight Lines,

Kelly.

[JohnScott]

Kelly -

After what happened to your big toe nail when you and Buzz and I hiked into Big Elk last summer, I got to give you a lot of credit for fishing there again with your bad hip. Take it easy before you do something SERIOUS !!

Good to hear the big cutts are in there. I'm getting eager, but I think I will wait a couple weeks so I can fish dries - maybe sooner if Buzz and Byron have any success with dries tomorrow ??

For sure, the Big Elk cutts are as pretty as they come, for my money, anyway. 20" is as big as I've seen up there ( had one last fall that size ) but I just bet there are some bigger ones to be had ??

Hope the ankle is better.

John