I’m about to head out the door to go fish JohnScott’s home waters. I’m looking forward to meeting the legend. Consider this a pre-report. I’ll follow up when I get back.
You’ll have a great time with him, he doesn’t know he’s a legend.
… of the eight or nine stretches we hit yesterday.
Patrick caught fishies in all but one, as I recall. I had fun playing guide, which he didn’t really need, by the way.
John
Over in Northern Idaho, rumors exist of a legendary angler. The Legend of the Lochsa they call him. He apparently knows the Lochsa River more intimately than anyone else - he knows its deepest secrets. Some even say he turns into a fish and night and sleeps in the deepest pool of the river. No one has ever seen him though. The only evidence that he actually exists are unverified photos of his left hand. I set out on an adventure to see if I could find indisputable evidence of his existence.
On Thursday I made it to the river, and quickly hooked up with a couple of small cutthroats and a baby steelhead. If he’s one of the lucky few, he’ll survive the 1200 mile round trip journey to the ocean and back and we’ll see him again in a few years.
I built a new net last week, and got to christen it with this guy. I certainly didn’t need the net for him, but I needed to get a fish into my net, so…
I bounced my way around the river, learning what kind of water the fish were holding in, and what they wanted to eat. I picked up a couple of dozen fishes or so in several hours on Thursday. Friday, I met up with JohnScott, and once I saw his left hand and was able to verify that I was indeed standing face to face with the Legend of the Lochsa, we hit a few of his favorite spots. Being guided by John definitely sped up the learning curve on a new river. He mostly let me fish and just watched, but occasionally he put a fly out there just to try to put me to shame.
And just to prove that he does exist…
After John and I parted ways, I hit up a few more spots that we didn’t get to during the day. I landed this cutt that had by far the best coloration of any fish on the trip.
Saturday morning, I hit up a few more spots on my way back east. I picked up this baby steelhead who had some real nice rainbow coloration.
I hit up one hole where I could see a dozen fishes hanging out, including one that would have easily been the nicest fish of the trip. I don’t know if there’s a 20" cutthroat in that river, but if there was, this was him. He came up and looked at my fly three times, but never broke the surface for it. So I had to settle for this guy.
Finally, on the way back up to Lolo Pass, I stopped along one of the main tributaries, which quickly gave up this cutthroat and another of the same size.
All in all, it was a pretty fun trip. The fish weren’t huge, but they were healthy and plentiful. Most of all, I had the pleasure of fishing with the Legend himself. Too bad it’s 10 hours away, or I’d go back more often.
Like I said, Patrick - “Legend” of the falls.
The falls being in 2009, broken tibia; 2010, broken left thumb; 2011, broken metacarpal; 2012, broken finger; and 2013, dislocation of the right ring finger distal knuckle. But the year is young so I can improve on that dislocated knuckle thing.
I did stop on the way home where the lady fisher from Washington and her gold digging husband were taking up space. Guess she didn’t sing before they left. Hooked up several juvenile steelhead and about a half dozen mature cutts in about half an hour. The biggest one was 17-18" and very colorful.
There is a possibility that you toyed with a 20" West Slope cutt. I had one on a couple years ago that I think would have hit the 20" mark but I lost him to some subsurface structure. Last year I did land one that was 19.5". Maybe that one grew a half inch and gave you something to dream about.
Enjoyed fishing with you. You certainly picked up on some of the subtleties of the Lochsa quickly.
Now, I need to get some more info about a couple places in Wyoming. Look for a PM soon.
John
I stopped in there too, after you I suppose. I only picked up a couple cutts. The big one I toyed with was, I believe, one or two pull-offs upstream from that spot. Maybe more, I don’t remember, but definitely upstream.