been busy turning feathers… after 6 years of making bugs for these rivers… these have been my favs… http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc203/Dblhaul2/IMGP0210.jpg
Z
Nice looking bugs, Z. Gots a recipe, pleeeeeze?
Hook: Daiichi 4 thru 10
tag: red dubbing
short tail: elk hair
under body: burnt orange or smolt blue flash
body hackle: color of choice (slipped in bigger sizes)
back wing: Elk hair
post: polly (if required)
legs: rubber (your choice of color)
collar: grizz or ginger
thorax: red dubbing
ther are a few steps to this fly, I tie it para and “standard”… both work
Thanks Z. I’m heading to the St. Joe this Saturday. Looks like I have some tying to do. 
Wish you could be there.
Z, Lotech…
I fished the Joe last week on Thursday. I started above Red Ives and worked my way down to Avery, The fish moved out of the deep holes and into the riffles in the afternoon. Turks, Stimulators, Caddis, and Hoppers worked on top and small black nymphs drove them crazy under the surface. It was a good day; lots of fish in the 18-24" size, and as always, very, very skiddish. I was using my 3wt Z-Axis and 15’ of 6x/7x leader/tippet. Good luck and Best Regards…
Thanks Z, I spent the day tying some up. Had to subsitute red punch yarn for the dubbing!
Joel, any chance you can make it down to the Fish-In? I’ll be getting in to Spokane fairly late Friday the 19th. My brother is picking me up and we are heading down to Lowell on Saturday the 20th, he lives in Worley, ID. We are coming back to Worley sometime mid day on the 25th then I’m flying out late in the morning of the 26th. Sure wish we could hook up, like to meet you.
Joel,
Thanks for the insight. I’m taking a 9’ 4 weight, but I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to cast a 15’ leader. I’ll be using a 6 foot furled leader and about 2-3 feet of 4/5X tippet. Sounds like I should use a 2-3 foot dropper w/a black Doc Spratley maybe. What do you think?
Joe,
Above Avery is single fly only water. No droppers. If you toss a 6" furled leader, tie on another 6’ of 5x or 6x tippet. Anything larger than 5x will spook the fish. I use a good fluorocarbon tippet. I was using the “TCTK” pattern from the archives here on FAOL, weighted a little bit, in black and dark olive; or a BH pheasant tail; or a copper john; or a weighted prince nymph. Good luck and Best Regards…
Jack,
There is too much going on here at work that weekend… catch a few for me. Best Regards…
Steve Nice ties. I might try to tie some up.
Question, is there good fishing above the Gateway campgrounds on the lochsa? I was wondering about maybe staying a day there before zipping down to Lowell coming in from the Montana side. ( I think Gateway was the name of that campground and lodge towards Montana from Lowell )
Roger,
Plenty of great fishing above the Gateway campground. It is all C&R, single barbless. Lots of small campgrounds there also, typically free, if you by chance find good water… G
Joel,
St Joe is always fun, thanks for the report! I may hit it on the way home from Lowell.
Z
Z,
All any of the deep holes would stand for was about 10-15 minutes of fishing. After that, they went silent and I moved on to another spot. The fish were really spookey…Best Regards!
Joel, could you clarify this for me. Your comment sent me back to reading the Idaho regs and I couldn’t find any restriction on the use of droppers, even in the catch and release waters.
I have fished the Joe a lot and have been using droppers. If I am in violation I will not do it anymore.
Thanks;
Shaky,
I don’t have a regulation book handy…however, all of the signs along the river upstream from Avery speak of one fly only. I will look on line to see what else I can find. Best Regards.
Hi Joel;
The 2008 Idaho regs list the following restrictions for the St. Joe river upstream from Avery. No bait, Barbless hooks, and Catch-and-release. Here are the published definitions associated with each restriction.
[i]?NO BAIT: Requires the use of artificial flies or lures, with one barbless hook ONLY per fly or lure. Up to five separate flies or lures per line may be used, except where specifically prohibited.?
?BARBLESS HOOKS: A fish hook without barbs or on which barbs have been bent completely closed.?
?CATCH AND RELEASE: Effort by permitted methods, to catch or attempt to catch a fish or species of fish is lawful, with the restriction that any fish or species of fish so caught must be released immediately, unharmed, back to the water. NOTE: Species of fish not specifically listed as catch and release may be harvested under their appropriate limits.?[/i]
I must admit that on my last few visits I have not stopped to read the signs posted along the river and they may be more specific. I will certainly do so next time. I believe the confusion arises from the statement ?one barbless hook ONLY per fly or lure? which I believe is intended to prohibit the use of treble hooks on lures not single hook droppers. I will try to call the IDFG office for a clarification.
Shaky,
You may be 100% correct. I interpreted the sign to mean only one hook. It would be nice if I used a dropper when on the Joe. Let me know what F&G says. Thanks and Best Regards…
We fished the St. Joe this last Saturday. We started at the hole across from Red Ives and worked our way down stream. First fish caught was at 11:00 AM with a Bi-Vis size 14, on the surface. We had several rises there, but no more hook ups. We moved downstream about 9 miles just before the confluence with Gold Creek. We worked our way down a steep embankment to a really great looking hole, and had several hits but not hook-ups. I’m guessing I saw a 24" bruiser roll on the surface there, but no luck. I threw lots of stuff at him, but he wouldn’t come out of his deep hole again. Next stop was Tin Pan Flats, but there was already someone in the spot I wanted to fish. So we went downstream again to a place with no name. It was a free camping place and surprisingly enough, there was only one rig camped there, and nobody fishing. So we plied our dry fly craft there and it worked out well. We only took a few but at one point we had doubles on. I wanted to take a picture of my partner catching a fish, but I was busy catching a fish of my own. Same thing for him, so unfortunately we have no pictures. Remarkably, I caught my first one on a small minnow imitation on a floating line with a greased leader stipped in irratiacally. The rest of my fish were caught on a size 14 Royal Coachman with feather wings. My partner caught all his fish on a bi-vis and a size 14 renegade. We were told by a fellow having success, that you had to use really small midges (22-24) and nothing for a leader larger than a 6X. I was using 5-6 X tippets and my partner was using 4X tippets all day long. We caught fish, had loads of fun, and came home happy. I can’t believe that a Royal Coachman worked better than a Red Humpy, but I’m going to learn to tie some. It’s an old fly and just as reliable as it was 60 years ago.
Joe,
I’m glad to hear that you had a good day and caught fish as well. When you go to Red Ives, what route do you travel? Best Regards…
We went to St. Regis first. Never again. It was 4 hours before we got to a place where we could wet a line. We left my place at 7:00 AM and got to Red Ives at 11:00 AM. TOO LONG for me.