Wow that is a big wilderness! I have just finished reading a book about Lewis and Clarks expedition, fascinating and to only lose one man in all that traveling was a superb effort.
I am working in the very un-wilderness part of Sydney Australia at the moment but it is good to see Cockatoos and other birds I do not see back home.
Anyway thanks for sharing your little bit of wilderness John.
All the best.
Mike
John,
That is some of the clearest water I’ve seen!!!
It is almost always running crystal clear. Out of the 125 plus days I’ve spent on the Lochsa and its tributaries from late May '11 through last week, there have been a handful of days when it had any noticeable color, and only a couple days that I considered it unfishable. And both those days were right around the peak of the run off - one in '11 and one this year.
Typically, when fishing dry flies, which is just about all the time from mid-April through October, excepting situations where the light conditions obscure the view, you can see the fishies coming to the fly from a good number of feet away. It is not uncommon to see a fish come off the bottom in ten feet of water, or one come up and across to intercept the fly from a lie many feet off the drift of the fly.
It is also a great place to see what kind of refusals you are getting, if any. And to have a better sense of how you are presenting the fly and understanding if a presentation issue, and not the fly, is the cause of the refusal.
John
… but this time in Montana …
… The Scapegoat Wilderness as seen from the Helmville area this afternoon.
I’m sure you can’t find him in the picture, but there is a light gray wolf out in the meadow not far from the tree line. ( If I blow the original pixels up, I can make him out clearly, but it is not a reproducible image. )
That is the second time I have seen a wolf in this general area in the past year.
John
Wolfs are so cool!
I went for a walk last night and saw a big 20+ flock of Yellow Crested Parakeets on the ground feeding, they let me walk right up to them, within about 3 yards. One of them was not white, he was Pink with an Orange crest, I must do a search and find out if this is a colour change within the population or a different species. Not as cool as a Wolf though.
All the best.
Mike
… but the gray wolves in the Intermountain West and the Northern Rockies are truly beautiful animals. We don’t get to see them often, but it is always a treat.
The other side of the coin is that they truly are a problematic critter. And I find myself right in the middle of what is close to war over extermination vs co-existence with them in this neck of the woods. I come from a cattle ranching family, way back when, anyway. So I tend to have very strong empathy with the cattlemen and sheepmen who sustain losses to predators and want to cut their losses by exterminating the wolves, although some, in all fairness, do want to co-exist with them. On the other hand, I think it is important that some level of protection is afforded, and that what is the best way to manage wolves to ensure their continued existence while minimizing losses be decided on a local level.
Wolves are probably one of the most publicized critters in this part of the west, and perhaps one of the most divisive. But the gulf between all the locals and people from outside this region is much greater than the distance between the locals on opposite sides of the issue. A recent, not so tongue in cheek letter to the editor of the local paper, for example, suggested that wolves ( and cougars and bears ) be brought back to the streets of L.A., Chicago, and N.Y.C. Us folks in the West ought to have an much right to insist on that as the folks in those places have the right to tell us how to handle the wild critters we have out here.
So the dialogue, which is sometimes a lot more heat than light, will go on, and on, and on, and …
John
… a year makes. This time last year, there was about twice as much water as there is this year.
Last year, this stretch was a consistently reliable place to catch a good number of fishies, and a lot of larger ones, like 16-17".
Today, not a single refusal, let alone a hit or hook up. The last three times I have fished it, I’ve caught one trout.
Last year, this stretch was much deeper, and it held a fair number of fishies, and mostly larger ones.
Today, I hit it during a hatch and with the shallower water, the fishies were up for over two hours. FEB hoppers, Renegades, and Griffith Gnats all caught trouts - and most of them were much smaller than those from a year ago. Only a couple in the 13-14" range.
The good news is that there were a lot of fishies to entertain ( or be entertained by ). The smaller fish are a great barometer of the health of the system. The number of little guys seen today bodes well for the future.
Last year, this stretch was basically unfishable as the deeper water washed over the structure and obscured, if not obliterated, a lot of good lies.
Today, it was just plain fun fishing the pockets. And productive, again for smaller fish, with only a couple over 12".
This is a bonus picture - I’d spend time here without a fly rod in hand, even with all the smoke from the fires in the area still around.
I did check out several creeks in Montana a couple days ago. What keeps coming back to me is how spoiled I am having that annual non-resident Idaho license, and a place to make it worth the bucks it costs to buy it.
John
I’d have no problem driving 200 miles to fish that water; then again, I’d do the same (actually, I have) to fish the stream flowing across the street from you.
Regards,
Scott
…
… really …
… really bad …
… until late in the afternoon and at a spot about half way between the major fires in the canyon …
The fishing started off pretty slow but warmed up with the day. By the end of the day, it too was smoking. This guy is a bit bigger and lighter colored than the typical fish in hand.
This guy, the biggest cutt in hand over the last four or five outings, was one of the fishies that prefered a Griffith Gnat to a Renegade …
… but the Renegade was the fly du jour accounting for about two thirds of the thirty or so fish in hand.
The first pic was taken about noon on an otherwise clear day. At times, driving through the most dense areas of smoke, 35-40 mph was a bit too fast. At the worst, visibility was down to a couple hundred yards. The forest service had rangers out driving at lower speeds with all the flashers flashing to ensure safe passage through the worst areas.
If you go back to the post that starts with the pic of “Saddle Camp” you’ll see a shot from the Lolo Trail looking south at a fire. That fire is much bigger now and is one of the major contributors to the smoke conditions. Another fire, nearer Lolo Pass, the Powell Complex, is another major contributor. Last time I looked, it was well over 30,000 acres.
John
Wolfs are so cool!
I went for a walk last night and saw a big 20+ flock of Yellow Crested Parakeets on the ground feeding, they let me walk right up to them, within about 3 yards. One of them was not white, he was Pink with an Orange crest, I must do a search and find out if this is a colour change within the population or a different species. Not as cool as a Wolf though.
All the best.
Mike
Just testing
… and I don’t mean the fires. Well, they still are burning and smoking, but the air was virtually clear all along the river yesterday. Quite a relief from the past few outings.
The Renegade was smoking. The Griffith Gnat was smoldering. But this post is more for this one fish …
… that came out of this pocket …
Hotshot, aka trout, charged a Renegade as hard as I can recall a cutthroat going to a fly. From the time I saw him move starting about five feet from the fly to the time he ate it could be measured in nano seconds, and not very many. Unreal.
But that was only the start of it. Hotshot easily wins the title of “Best Ounce for Ounce Fighter” in the river. It took him one run, again measured in nano seconds, to get himself on the reel. He pulled as hard as any fish I’ve hooked this year, and ripped line off the reel several times, making that old Abel TR1 click and pawl sing like never before.
Not to forget a tribute to the venerable and forever Griffith Gnat. Later in the day, fishing over a good number of rising fish and doing quite well with the Renegade, one fishy consistently ignored good drifts over his lie. Right down his feeding lane time and time again. Nothing. Okay - let’s see what you do with a Griffith Gnat ?? Ate it on the first good pass.
Other than Hotshot, yesterday was a pretty typical fall day on the Lochsa. Lots of fishies eating dry flies ( Renegades for the most part and several on the Gnat ) on all kinds of water - holes, slots, riffles, pools, shelves, pockets, whatever.
John
P.S. Saw two adult October Caddis yesterday. Time to tie some fresh FEB OC 2.0s.
… from high noon …
… through mid afternoon …
… on until after 5:00 p.m. …
… on an otherwise clear day, all along the twenty miles or so of river I “cherry picked” today.
The Powell Complex fire is up to almost 43,000 acres, and it extends from just above the highest point in the system that I fished down to just a few miles above the lowest point I fished. The air quality is in the uncomfortable range, for sure, and for some folks might be downright unhealthy.
Really interesting day today. Ran into a relative newcomer to the Lochsa who was fishing a big old fly and getting no response at all to it. Talked to him for quite a while and gave him some tips on fishing here, and gave him a couple Renegades and a Griffith Gnat to get him started with the smaller stuff that the fishies have been active on the past week or so.
The fishing was really smoking again, too. Started with the Renegade and stayed with it for five hours. Fished five different stretches of the river and caught fish in all of them. Lots of fish up to fish to, and lots more willing to come up to a good presentation. I think the cooler weather and colder water has reinvigorated the fishies. Today was the best day for both quality of fish …
… and quantity of fish over the past month or so.
Noticed some unusual but kind of familiar stuff on some streamside rocks. Saw some of it last year but didn’t pay much attention. Took time today to confirm what I was thinking it was ( my best guess, anyway ) - October Caddis shucks, or skins might be a better word.
There were a fair number of adult October Caddis around today, but the fish were so eager for the Renegade that I just stayed with it. After months of fishing with big flies, it has been really fun to fish a small one for a change. Will be going back to a big OC soon enough.
But the real TREAT today was …
I happened to look downstream at one point late in the afternoon. Something swimming across the river about 150 yards away, from my side to the opposite bank. Hmmmmm. Then I noticed a smaller something swimming not far behind the bigger something. When moma bear got to the opposite bank, she had to wait for baby bear to catch up. Too far away to take a photo, but when I finished fishing that stretch I went down to where they crossed hoping to get some pix of their tracks. Unfortunately, they came out of the tall grass shown above onto a really rocky stretch of the bank. No paw prints. But their trail from the woods through the grass down to the rocky bank was very easy to pick up.
John
Thanks for all your time and effort. Nice segway into the Fish-in!
Dana
I’m assuming they were black bears?
Best I could tell from that distance, they were black bears. I know there are a lot of them in the area, and I don’t recall hearing about any grizzlies in that neck of the woods.
… Fire …
… Fowl …
… Flies and Fishies …
( FEB OC 2.0 )
( Renegade )
( Griffith Gnat )
( Humpy )
( Duck’s Green Drake )
( FEB Hopper )
… and Fall …
Started out with an FEB October Caddis 2.0, fishing it for the first time this year. Got a lot of hits but only a couple hook ups and one landed.
Went to a Renegade and had similar action but only two really solid hook ups. Landed one and the other one went bye-bye when he bent the hook nearly straight.
The Griffith Gnat was by far the most productive fly in the first place I fished. Landed eight or nine fishies with it, including several that only ate it after I trimmed the hackle on the underside so it would ride lower. ( For the most part, the fishies were taking emergers, of whatever was emerging. )
The Humpy was good for one fish, and that was quite a surprise. Never know.
The Duck’s Green Drake was good for one in hand out of several hits, and that was the biggest surprise of the day.
In the second place, the October Caddis really got them going. Had nine or ten fishies on it. Fished a Renegade there and got a couple more on it. Raised the fishy in the last fish pic with a Renegade, which I promptly lost on a back cast. Went back to the fishy with an FEB Hopper and he slammed it.
By mid afternoon, most of the smoke had blown out and it was a really nice day to fish. You can get an idea how bad the smoke has been from the FEB Hopper pic - even the fish’s eye is irritated by the smoke !!
John
Still a lot of smoke. Probably won’t last much longer - like maybe another month or two.
Started out with two fishies on an October Caddis. Ended up with two fishies on an FEB Hopper.
In between, and mostly here …
… I ran into a Renegade hatch.
I mean, fishies eating some other hatch than Renegades wouldn’t ALL eat Renegades, would they ?? or so it seemed. At that neat corner shown above, somewhere around twenty of these …
… in hand in not much more than three quarters of an hour. Plus another ten or so hits that didn’t hook up and / or long distance releases. Crazy.
The next place I fished, quite a way upstream, the fishies also had a real taste for Renegades. Had another five or six eat that fly before switching out to the FEB Hopper to finish up on some interesting pocket water.
John
This corner.
Fished in the smoke for about six hours yesterday. It looked worse than some of the really smokey days lately, but it didn’t bother me as much for whatever reason.
Ran into a bunch of rising fish in the first place I fished. Only caught half a dozen or so on a variety of flies - FEB Skwala, FEB Hopper, Renegade, Griffith Gnat, and a parachute BWO. Which highlighted one of the problems associated with “starting over” on the fly tying - sometimes you get caught without the one thing you really need, as in emerger patterns. The fish were active as all get out, but not coming to the surface except rarely. Not much more than half a dozen times.
The corner above provided a lot more action and catching with the Renegade and Griffith Gnat, with the Renegade being more productive.
By the time I got to my last stop, things had slowed down a lot. Didn’t catch anything until the last cast of the day, into a neat pocket with a Renegade.
Guess I’ll be tying some smaller subsurface stuff for the next trip over.
John
… but had some good company with Denny and Ken who came up from the Idaho Fish-In to fish the Lochsa for the afternoon.
Before meeting Denny and Ken, I fished for a while at a place that has been fishing pretty well. Today, not so much. Had a couple fish look at the October Caddis, and one actually eat it.
After meeting up, we fished two places that have had lots of actively feeding fishies recently, but do tend to be kind of tough fishing. We all caught some fish, but I think we all saw a lot more rising right next to what we were offering than we saw in hand. Quite a variety of flies caught fishies, from an October Caddis down to Ken’s size 20 BWO. For me, the Renegade proved to be the most productive fly, even if the majority of the trouts passed on it.
I did have the opportunity to fish a new fly, one that I tied yesterday. Basically a pheasant tail mahogany dun emerger parachute with a 90 degree hackle. Haven’t actually seen mahogany duns but had information from a reliable source that they would be around. Since I haven’t been able to get out where the fishies have been feeding, on mostly subsurface stuff, to sample the insects in the drift, I figured I might as well have some emergers handy.
Turned out to be a pretty decent fly. Fished it on some fast water just below a small drop and was surprised at the number of fish hanging there today. The several times I’ve fished this little stretch the past few weeks it has been more casting practice than anything else. Caught the fattest fish of my day there with the new fly and hooked several more.
After parting company, I stopped at one more spot on the way home.
Had another fish on an October Caddis, and several on the mahogany dun emerger. Kind of like this view of the new fly.
John
Yesterday was that kind of day. Fished only the new PT MDE 9DH. Whether taken as a mahogany dun emerger or an attractor, the fly fished very well on a variety of water.
Off the vice and ready to go.
A typical taker and takee.
The variety of water where fishies decided the fly was food, not fake.
All told, had about two dozen fishies in hand. About half of those hit the fly while the parachute was clearly visible, and half when the fly was riding so low, if not fully submerged, that none of it was visible. But all the fishies were visible when they ate it.
About half of the fish were targeted based on rises to naturals, whatever it was they were taking. The other half ate the fly when it was being fished over likely holding water.
In addition to the 24 or so in hand, the fly took a lot of abuse by fishies hitting it and not hooking up, or toying with it for a while before releasing so another fishy could play with it. Probably the best part of another two dozen fish in these combined categories.
About half of the fish that hit it but didn’t hook up were in one shallow riffle below a drop. There was some pretty soft water and a bunch of fish rose to the fly, seemed to touch it, but didn’t hook up - it struck me that they might be pushing the fly out of the way in the soft water. That raises a design question about the amount of hackling, but not one that I am going to dwell on.
All in all, the places expected to give up fish, did. The number of fish taken over the course of the day is about typical for the number of hours fished. The size range of the fish were typical of the catch over the past month or so.
John
P.S. To top it off, I ran into Denny and Ken late in the day. They assured me that the fishies in the place they were fishing were only taking little, as in size 20 or so, flies and definitely would not touch a size 16 parachute style fly. One tried, but I pulled the trigger too quickly and missed it. Another one did, and was big enough to break off the 5X tippet.
A third one looked at it, refused, but got bit in the tail by the fly, which held on long enough to land the fish, even though the hook was bent almost straight !!! Got to love a fly that will eat the fish when the fish won’t eat the fly.