'09 Elkhorn Bamboo Challenge

[JohnScott]

The South Fork of the Snake, which provided really good fishing this time last year, has been ramped up another 2,500 CFS the past couple days and is now running at 10,000 CFS. That's about four times as much water as there was last year in April. Really no point trying to fish it for a while, and even then it will be a real challenge.

Better to do some conditioning for hiking up to the mountain lakes I hope to fish this summer. No better place, for my money, than the Central Mountains. Sawmill Gulch is the first major canyon south of Elkhorn Creek, where I hiked a few days ago, in the Lost River Range. It is the primary west side access for Leatherman Pass, and routes to the summit of Leatherman Peak.



Leatherman Peak ( 12,230' ) is to the right of the pass and the unnamed Peak 11,899' is to the left. The picture above was taken from some meadows at the upper end of Mackay Reservoir, elevation about 6100'.

I parked just off the highway and hiked up a dirt / gravel / rock road. After about an hour, and just short of 1,000' gain, I arrived at a notch and a striking rock formation. Above this point, there were many interesting rock formations, mostly on the north side of the Gulch.



At that point, Leatherman Peak is still over a vertical mile to go. Leatherman Pass, at 10,400' is probably another four miles on the ground. Continued up another mile or so, just about to the top of a huge slanted meadow area at about 7,700'.



Didn't see any wildlife today, at all, and no other hikers. Kind of miss the wildlife, but did enjoy having the place to myself.

Before hiking up Sawmill Gulch, I stopped at an access on the Big Lost River. The fishing season is closed, but there was still some catching to be done. Click on the photo for the results.



Guess I'll have to check out the Henry's Fork this week. Not my favorite place to be, but maybe I can find some fishies to make it interesting. Might get in another hike, in the Lemhi Range, later in the week, and looking forward to being on Birch Creek over the coming weekend with REE and VEE.

John

[mnklagoon]

those fishies were thumbing their nose at ya john! nice pics as always.

[JohnScott]

Only one clap of thunder all afternoon. Looked like it might get serious, but after a few raindrops, it just went back to being cloudy on and off and windy. Did I say windy? I meant WINDY. Out of the SSW pretty steady at 20 mph with occasional quiet times, but more often with gusts well into the 30s.

Casting was easy, since I had the wind at my back and upstream to the front. Finish out the drift. Tighten up the line. Start a water haul. Aim it high. Give a haul on the power stroke. Let it fly. Wow, talk about easy casting for distance with a big weighted stonefly nymph and an indicator.

Now control and direction was another matter. No way I was going to cast across or down and across, except during those rare lulls in the gale. It was all upstream, with an occasional kind-of-across. Generally, I just needed to position myself close to the lane I wanted to fish and let the wind maybe put it close by.

Looking upstream toward the Chester Dam.



Fished for almost five hours. Caught a nice little rainbow, about 13", fairly quickly. Then it was quite a while before I caught number two. And then it was quite a while before I caught number three. And then ..... you get the idea. In the first four hours, I had five rainbows from five different spots, working my way maybe a half mile downstream from my access. They were all in the 13-15" range, very healthy and fat, and fiesty.

Fishing my way back to the truck, I finally hit a hot spot.



Three cuttbows on four casts. They were all really scrappy, and all three put a nice bend in the Elkhorn.


( Been wanting to get a pic like that for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it. )

The last of the three was the largest fish of the day at just over 16".



After that spurt, I had one more bow on and lost it. Looked to be another little guy.

Lot of hard fishing ( I'd say work, but I don't think that would go over too well ) for eight in hand and one on and off. Considering this was my first day on the Henry's Fork with the bamboo, and it was the first time I've fished a rubber legs stonefly nymph in this section of the river, and the conditions for fishing, I felt pretty good about things. May have to go back and do some more exploring in case REE and VEE ( and maybe MM ?? ), want to take a shot at it while they are here.

John

[mnklagoon]

that rod looks sweet with a bend in it!

[jimsnarocks]

Nice report as usual John. Also enjoyed your FOTW article this morning. Jim

[Grubb]

I really like that shot of the bend in the rod...

[MontanaMoose]

I like the looks of that water too John, also great FOTW.

Hard to believe it will be 70's here starting Saturday
when I'm looking out the window at snow and low 30's
but that's what 'they' are claiming. For now (MM) won't be
making the trek east, but thank you kindly for the offer
to show me around with REE and VEE, that would be a
real treat. I am now inclined to stay close, while waiting
for more stable weather for driving the passes and such.

Great report as always John, thanks !

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[JohnScott]

No wind at all today. But it did SNOW.

Got in a couple hours plus this afternoon, from about 2:30 to 5:00. Had the river to myself again, except for ....



.... blue wing olive spinners. Lots of insects on the water, but no fish up. There were hundreds of these spinners on a little backwater. First time I've had a chance to see them close up.

This afternoon it was fish after fish after fish. That would be THREE, altogether.

First one, a fat, fiesty brown came out of some fairly tight cover to catch a stonefly nymph. Just up from the overhanging limbs. Man, was he strong !! Surprised when he only measured at 17".



The next one was a step up, a one inch step. An acrobatic 18" rainbow that jumped several times on his way in.

Last, but certainly not least, was a 19" cuttbow. He got me on the reel almost immediately, and bent the rod the other way.



Those cuttbows are the strongest fish in the system, to my experience. Took a while to get him in hand, and a while longer to revive him, but he swan off in good shape.



Still have't figured out how to fish this section of the Henry's Fork with nymphs, so I guess I'll have to spend some more time up there. Maybe I can get some pointers from that Dad and Son tagteam from down the road ??

John

[Henrys' Lake Fanatic]

Great posts, and I love the whole thread. I started from the beginning yesterday and have finally caught up. Thanks for the great effort on this whole project. I will be sure to stay up to date from here on...

looking forward to the upcoming highcountry lakes posts this summer!

ed

[Fly Goddess]

HI THERE HLF a little too quite on the other site?