Lochsa

Articles Trip Reports & Travel
1

Still some snow to contend with getting to the river.

In fact, there were very few places where it felt safe to even try getting to the water. But where I could, it was in great shape.

The run I chose to fish is really deep and fairly fast. Getting a nymph or two down deep enough was problematic. And futile.

However, and as much as I hate to admit it, swinging the big nymphs down and across finally hooked up my first Idaho West Slope cutt for 2012.

There will be more !! And on dries soon enough.

John

2

Cool photos…lol Thanks again for the reports, if all goes well today I’ll be having some of your fun in my area… :wink:
I tried to get the stuff to tye one of them flies you been useing but didnt write down the stuff I needed thought it so simple and I got the wrong stuff… lol I couldnt get that type of floss and tried use something else but the rubber leg material i got was to big… please keep up the reports I always enjoy them and I hope you have a great day today…

3

[QUOTE=Grubb;448483]Cool photos…QUOTE]

4

Credit the digital age. My Olympus 850SW just keeps on getting it done, with the original battery, no less, after the best part of four years and many thousands of pics.

And credit what is on the other side of the lens. Hard to go wrong when you have that kind of scenery to “point and shoot.”

Good luck on your outing today, Tim.

John

5

I agree, excellent pics John! Looks just like Iowa…except for the clear water, rocky stream, mountains, pine trees, cutthroat trouts… :wink:

6

Thanks John, I did have a very good outing, went up in the moutains, hiked in, caught some very nice brookies on a beatiful stream with water falls, came back down, went to a flat land stream very near by and landed some nice rainbows. Had a couple rainbows dance for me on the water, that was way cool! I was waorn slap out, had a great day and slept like a baby that night…:wink: Please keep your reports coming! oh and if you eat out there I’d like to know what you carry with you…:slight_smile:

7

Grub.

My usual fare for the day is a banana, an apple, a couple slices of bread ( two whole wheat or one each of whole wheat and white from a local bakery ) a large handful of mixed nuts ( peanuts, cashews, almonds, brazil nuts, pistachios ), and a couple whole wheat oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

If it turns out to be a long day, I’ll add a couple Nature Valley Oatmeal and Honey bars.

John

8

… the past week, as the Lochsa took a bit of early runoff and about tripled in volume, then dropped some and cleared nicely.

Last week, just before the big bump, I hit the worst water clarity I’ve seen on this river. Maybe a foot or so of visibility, at best. Fished several places with nothing to show for it except some exercise, which is always a good thing.

Today, it was still running quite a bit higher than my first trip over there, but the water was in great shape. The first place I tried carried a much faster current and an additional foot or so of water. Not a problem to get the flies down, but didn’t get any takes.

Planned to fish a place that fished really good late last summer and fall.

Had to walk about half a mile from the closest spot on the road wide enough for parking, then walk a couple hundred yards through the woods in, over, and postholing through snow varying from a couple inches to a couple feet deep. When I got to the river, the current was much faster than it appeared from afar, and I didn’t even bother testing it.

Headed on upstream a few miles. More tough conditions, but definitely water that should hold some fishies.

With the trailing rubber legs stonefly nymph the best part of 10’ below the indicator, and fishing fairly soft water through some neat structure, I finally started hooking up with some trouts. Had six or seven on in about an hour - and didn’t land a single one. I saw all but one of them, all cutthroat, and had several just about in hand before they came unbuttoned. Not a landing day.

I did manage to finally land a fishy. The way he pulled, I thought I had hooked one of the biggest trout I’ve had on on the Lochsa - maybe even one of those big bull trouts. Not to be - a foul hooked 15-16" mountain whitefish. It is amazing how hard those guys can pull.

John

P.S. I should mention the wildlife. On the way over, a small herd of about fifteen elk just a mile or so up the road from the house. A while later, a large flock of wild turkeys. Just after that, the first of several small herds of mule deer. Then a couple more turkeys, and then a single. A few more miles up the road, sitting in a field, a momma bald eagle with her last year’s young, mostly grown but just starting to show some white feathering around the head.

On the way home, another small herd of elk, bunches of deer, and several more bald eagles, all on the wing.

Good way to celebrate the seven-zero. :shock:

9

Thanks John, I know most of those spots, interesting to see them with snow on the banks!

Z

10

Z -

The Lochsa, as you well know, is an extraordinarily beautiful river. Watching the changes through the seasons is fascinating.

During the winter, when almost completely iced over and covered in deep snow, and early spring with the remnants of ice and snow on the banks and mid-river rocks, it is enchanting.

John

11

Those are some very pretty pictures John:cool:

Steve

12

… Atlas 1130 Mountain Snowshoes.

That was actually the second place I fished. More about that below.

At my first stop, just to take a break and survey a particular section of the river, I picked up a passenger.

\

Let the little neumora ride along for a few miles, then I stopped and let him out a few miles upstream of my next stop, which just kind of springs into view.

The water had dropped some more, and is still in great shape.

Picked up a fiesty West Slope cutthroat on a rubber legs stonefly nymph.

Had another, bigger and stronger one on, but he came unbuttoned before I could get him in hand. The rubber legs stonefly nymph did account for five or six fishies in hand today, out of seven or eight hooked with it. Much better hooking to landing ratio than a couple days ago.

My next stop involved the transport system shown in the opening pic. Much easier getting through the woods with the snowshoes than tromping through like I did a couple days ago.

After the rubber legs did it’s thing for a while, I put on a beadhead flex-floss midge larva. Not a bad idea, according to this little guy.

Only one other fish ate the midge larva, so I decided to try a streamer. Changed out to a Class II full sinking line and tied on a PSC. First time I’ve fished a streamer on the Lochsa.

In about ten minutes, I had three nice cutts on the PSC.

The first one was a bit smaller than this one, and the third one was a bit bigger at 17", but this one was the prettiest of the three so he gets the nod. Most of the cutts today were in the 12-14" bracket, but three in hand were in the 16-17" range and one that I lost might have been bigger than that.

Won’t be the last time I use the PSC on the Lochsa. :shock:

John

13

John Scott

The Lochsa, is she in Montana, and how far from the AB boarder??

14

Ray -

The Lochsa is in Idaho.

From Lethbridge to the upper reaches, it is about 450 miles, plus or minus 25, via Shelby, Great Falls, and Missoula.

John

15

… may signal the beginning of some real runoff, although the weather forecast for the next few days is for cooler. The first place I fished the water was up noticeably and the currents through the run were different, again, than a few days ago. Got shut out.

Walking down the highway to the access to the second place, a moose made a brief appearance. Heard some splashing and crashing and a couple cracks and thuds before I spotted her. Looked like a smaller, younger cow. She did settle down quickly and calmly watched as I walked on by.

Fished for well over an hour at the second place after snowshoeing through the woods again, and probably for the last time this year. Still a fair amount of snow, but it would be pretty easy to pick a snow free path down to the river at this point.

Picked up one fishy on the rubber legs stonefly nymph. And that was it.

At least I got him in a tough place to cast to and in some water that I thought was pretty iffy when I went to it. After tiring out the stonefly, decided to give the PSC a shot. Nada. And I covered a lot of water with it.

Headed on downstream a way to one of the more productive places from last fall. It had not given up a fish yet this year. With the increased flows, it was running really fast and heavy in the main run. But there was a small pocket of soft water quite close to the bank.

Took a while, but I finally dredged up fishy #2, again with the stonefly.

Tried two more places, briefly, on the way home. Briefly because the river conditions seemed to be “deteriorating” and the weather definitely was. Just before I got out of Idaho, the temps were in the mid 40s. By the time I got over Lolo Pass and back down the hill into Montana, it was in the mid 70s.

Got a feeling that runoff will get started a lot earlier than it did last year, that it will peak much lower and somewhat earlier, and that there is going to be a long, warm summer of fishing big dry stoneflies and hoppers, and then October Caddis.

John

16

Beautiful thread John! The colours on that first fish are great. And some challenging conditions to deal with just to get to cast the fly makes for a very rewarding day on the water. With the changes in the water level occuring right now you have to be on your toes and each trip find the fish anew. Well done.

  • Jeff
17

They are some very healthy looking fish as well…

18

… with a big surge several days ago topping out yesterday morning, and falling steadily since. The weather and streamflow reports said “Go.” So I did.

Checked one place and it simply wasn’t fishable with the higher flows.

Checked another place, and fished there with little expectation of catching anything. Got exactly what I expected.

The third place is one that has been pretty decent. No snowshoes needed today.

It was surprising how much snow has melted in the past few days. It was not surprising that the water was noticeably higher than the last outing. Decided to start with a rubber legs stonefly nymph.

Hooked and landed five fishies on that fly, to include -

When the nymphing slowed down, I changed out to a full sinking line to fish the PSC. I hooked one fish with that fly pretty quickly, but he didn’t hang on for very long. After he went bye-bye, I covered quite a bit of water but didn’t get any more action on the streamer.

While I was nymphing, and also when stripping the streamer, there were sporadic, splashy rises upstream a little way. No obvious hatch, just an occasional midge, or BWO, and one larger mayfly, big enough to be a drake.

Changed out to a floating line and tied on my new, untested FEB Skwala. Don’t know that there is a skwala hatch on the Lochsa, but the fish were rising and active so it was worth a shot.

The rises were on some soft water that was also fairly deep. While I was just observing, saw a fish show itself down deep. What the heck. Pass one - a look and a refusal. Pass two - another look. Pass three - nada. Pass four - bingo.

On that same patch of water, another cutt took a couple looks at the skwala but didn’t try to eat it. A third one rose to the fly on the first pass and hit it pretty hard, but I just felt the hook nick him and then he was gone. Fished it for a while longer and then decided it was time to head for home.

John

19

Good looking fish John, nice report…

20

… for about three hours. The streamflow has dropped just a bit the last few days and the water continues to be in great shape. Weather forecast looked good for late morning through mid afternoon. They got it right.

Spent some time this morning tying three fresh FEB Skwalas, with the commitment that they were the only flies I was going to fish today on the Lochsa.

Back to some consistently good water.

On two out of the first six casts, a fish, or fishes, started to rise to the fly but stayed away.

After that, it was lights out. Starting with this guy.

The water was in great shape.

And the fishies were mostly a bit on the skinny side and apparently hungry.

By the time I left this spot, I had counted a dozen or more in hand and pulled the trigger a bit quick on several other fishies. A few more had hit the fly without hooking up, and several took a good look before refusing it.

Next spot is still pretty tough water with the high flows.

Had the fly just kind of waffling on the soft water out about ten feet in front of me when this guy came up and took hold. Saw him coming from four or five feet down. Lucky I didn’t snatch the fly from him.

The third spot …

…has been on and off, but with the water a bit lower than my last outing, I was hoping for something good to happen. It did.

Landed a fish right off. Then a couple splashy misses. Then a couple more fish in hand.

Mostly on the soft water, with the fishies coming up from way down.

By the time I finished up here, I counted eight or nine in hand, had a couple more misses and / or missed hook ups, and a couple more refusals.

All in all, an outstanding day for the FEB Skwala. And I got to see all but a few of the fishies before they took the fly, missed it, or refused it. Several did just kind of sip it down, barely detectable takes, and one took it submerged. Did I mention that the water is in great shape ??

John

P.S. Drove along approximately twenty miles of river and did not see another angler.