Lochsa

Articles Trip Reports & Travel
161

… and fire. The Lochsa - not.

Took a trip to the Rocky Mountain Front for some fresh air, fishing, and hiking.

We managed to get beyond fences at both places we ended up. Nothing between us and the Bob Marshall Wilderness west of the Front.

Old fire, and no smoke.

The crick is really low compared to this time last year, and the fishing very slow. This little hole had twice as much water last October.

But one medium sized Yellowstone cutt was willing to pose for a pic with an FEB Hopper.

Nothing but air between the hill we hiked and the Front at Sawtooth Mountain - blue skies and clean air …

… moved along briskly by a bit of a breeze - with gusts to 30-35 miles per hour …

The cold front coming through the area ( the last three pix and the one below are at the Sun River Game Range west of Augusta MT ) will bring snow to the high country tonight - forecast to 6" above 6000’.

This old guy could look like a Christmas Tree tomorrow morning …

… and no doubt will handle it quite nicely.

John

162

You’re right on the snow - woke up to a couple of inches here in town this morning. We do need it, not complaining.

163

We didn’t have any down on the valley floor over here, but the hills in the Missoula area had a pretty good dusting. That’s probably it for another week or more.

John

164

… brought the temps down a lot, and also brought wind that dissipated most of the smoke. There was still heavy smoke in the immediate area of the fires, but otherwise it was a pretty fall day. For the first time since the fires started, I actually saw a tree burning, right at water’s edge on the far side of the river as I drove by.

The lower temps really slowed down the hatches and the fishing. Very few fish up in one of the two places I fished …

… and fewer still in the other place.

Fished the MDE and got some fish with it.

Fished a small BWO emerger and got some fish with it. The fly is just some CDL fibers for the tail and abdomen and some hackle.

But things were so slow in both places, that I resorted to cheating - as in the Pine Squirrel Cheater.

In something like four hours, I landed about twelve fish, about half split between the MDE and the BWO and half on the PSC. The difference was that it took me about thirty minutes, if that long, to catch the six that ate the PSC.

That is the first time I’ve fished a streamer on the Lochsa since before runoff. And the first time I’ve had to resort to one in the three falls that I’ve fished there.

The flip side of the coin is that there have been some, but very few, October Caddis around - and the fish haven’t been showing hardly any interest in them. I did watch a natural land on the river a few days ago and float for about thirty feet before disappearing in a small patch of bubbles. But other than that …

John

P.S. Waders today, after six months of fishing from the bank and / or wet wading.

165

I like that last picture a lot! :smiley:

166

… fewer words.

Really cold in the morning. Warmed up decently and fishing picked up in the mid afternoon. Caught fishies on Duck’s Green Drake ( 7-8 ), the MDE ( 6-7 ), a tiny parachute BWO ( 1 ), and an October Caddis ( 1 ).

John

167

… as monitored downstream at Lowell, have ranged from about 2,000 CFS when the river became accessable in late March, to 22,000 CFS at peak runoff in late May to just under 300 CFS yesterday.

Last year the flows were consistently above the long term median through the fall, and this year, at least in recent weeks, they have been running about 60% of the long term median.

The river structure hasn’t changed much, but the depth of the water really dictates where the fish are holding. One place that was always my last stop this time last year and always gave up a good number of larger fish is not even worth stopping at this year. One place that has become my most dependable stop this year both for quantity and quality of fish was hardly fishable last year and gave up nothing of note the few times I did fish it. Just two examples of the many changes encountered year to year.

The hatches have been rather different, also. Not so much during spring and summer in terms of what flies worked, but in terms of what naturals there were to observe. Much more diverse and noticeable hatches last year, many more insects. This year, not so much. Last year, the fishies had been on October Caddis big time by late September, and this year, while there are a fair number of OCs to be seen, the fishies are paying very little attention to them.

It will be interesting to see how much longer the system is fishable ( the upper part of the system, and the major tributaries, have not really been fishable for weeks now due to the low water ), in terms of weather and access. The long term forecast suggests fishing through Thanksgiving, maybe a bit longer, is a possibility. But the dry fly season will end some time before that.

John

168

… by the time we got to the river. Whereas we started out in Western Montana with clear blue, smokefree skies, we ran into somewhat different conditions by the time we got to where I planned to fish.

Passed up fishing the stretch that has been the most reliable lately because of the smoke conditions and the need to “wader up”. Fished at the stretch shown above because it is a quick walk in and can be fished easily from the bank.

Only fished long enough to try out a new fly - a loop wing tiny BWO, about a size 22.

Didn’t take long to get fishy #1.

Or #2.

Took a bit longer to land #3 …

… but in the interim there were two hits that didn’t hook up and one little guy followed the fly about three feet before he decided not to eat it.

Quite a bit of action in about twenty minutes of fishing. Will leave my wife, who is particularly sensitive to the smoke conditions, at home tomorrow and spend a bit longer playing with the fishies.

John

169

John, I always enjoy the walk into that hole.

Z

170

Z -

I do believe I have fished at that spot more times over the past year than anywhere else on the Lochsa system, or not on the Lochsa, for that matter. It will be a regular stop until the weather closes down the fishing. All of a sudden, that is just a matter of weeks away.

John

171

… today.

Tried one spot that I really enjoy but only hooked one fish on an October Caddis. Headed over to another place that I really like, but two fellows were just about ready to leave the access for the water. So … I ended up fishing at that regular stop.

First up, and the only fish that ate an October Caddis.

Changed out to the size 22 loop wing BWO and began presenting to actively feeding fishies. Not many rises to the surface for naturals, but that hardly stopped the gang from coming on to the loop wing.

After a while, I decided to try the MDE. Didn’t get any response to it, so I trailed a t.c.t.k. about 18" behind it.

Went with a size 20 parachute BWO and got some fishies, but no pix.

Then back to the MDE with the trailing t.c.t.k., and had a nice fishy on the MDE …

… and several more on the t.c.t.k.

Then back to the little loop wing to finish up with several more fishies.

On the day, the October Caddis accounted for two on and one in hand. The MDE accounted for a couple splashes and one fish in hand. The parachute BWO hooked up three and landed two. The t.c.t.k. accounted for six or seven in hand.

The little loop wing hooked about twenty fishies, almost all of which were landed.

All that in just under three hours at this regular stop. That I didn’t even plan to fish today. Just kind of had to. Oh well, maybe tomorrow I can get on the water I wanted to fish today.

John

172

… it’s hard to pass it up if there is no one there.

So I allowed myself an hour there, and actually moved on after an hour and a quarter or so of some more field testing of the new loop wing BWO.

The field testing went quite well. Had about ten fish in hand. Including this guy. More about him later.

No one at my primary objective for the day - same place I called Renegade Corner a while back, and one of the places I tested the PT MDE 9DH a couple weeks ago.

There were a few rising fish. Most of the rises did not break the surface. First test of the BWO here was a fish that rose twice for naturals about fifteen feet out in front of me. He took the BWO on the first pass.

Generally, it was more a matter of fishing the water than presenting to risers. And the results were gratifying, to say the least. In about an hour, I had a dozen in hand and had seen a good number more around the fly.

Before moving on, I decided to try a Duck’s Green Drake that I tied a couple days ago using a grizzly died yellow hackle. Only got one fish on it, but the take was really neat, and the fishy was a real fighter.

Whereas there had been quite a bit of smoke when I started at the first place, the air pretty much cleared up by the time I finished at the second. Some really neat foliage in the area, to include …

Went back to my starting point to see if there was anything still going on.

The big change was the clean air - the other change was the relative lack of actively feeding fish. So I left the Duck’s Green Drake on and fished the water. Good idea. In about half an hour, I had five fish in hand with that fly.

Also saw three fishies nose right up to it before turning away. But one that didn’t was the same fish shown in the first fish pic above. Yep - just about three hours after he took the loop wing BWO he was back for a serving of Duck.

All in all, another really enjoyable outing. Good results field testing the BWO. Fun fishing the Green Drake again.

One interesting note comparing the two flies. The fish take the BWO with very quick, aggressive moves to the fly. They take the Green Drake quite differently - a rather casual rise and soft take, just inhaling it with no fuss and bother, until they feel the hook, that is.

John

173

… I decided to take advantage of a couple days of nice weather ( today and tomorrow ).

It was pretty much deja vu all over again - a repeat of time, place, flies, and fishies of the last two days, just a bit slower. With a notable exception. The loop wing BWO again lead the way in catching with about a dozen in hand. The Duck’s Green Drake came next with about half a dozen. The MDE accounted for a couple.

The exception was …

… a nice place for the …

… October Caddis to hang around …

… until it got eaten. I was pretty sure there would be at least one good size cutt in that pocket since I had raised three large ones yesterday with a Duck’s Green Drake, which they all looked at closely but refused.

That fat, healthy, strong 17" cutt was the biggest fish I’ve landed in a couple months. I quit for the day after taking the pic and releasing him.

John

174

… fishing places I usually like to fish.

But I left home with the intent of fishing some different water, so that was fine with me. Fished one stretch that I have enjoyed several times this year.

Since the October Caddis was still tied on from yesterday, I started with it. Nothing in the stretch below the big midstream boulder. But in the pocket above it …

… a good sized ( 17" ) cutt charged the fly from several feet away just as it approached the far side of the boulder …

… and stuck the fly in the corner of his mouth …

Somehow, I got a smudge on the camera lens after that last pic. Which was okay, because it was a pretty slow day, for numbers and variety of scenery, but not so great, because it was a really good day for larger fish.

Covered a lot of water downstream of that boulder, some with a decent current but also a lot of fairly deep and soft, and very clear water. Caught eight or nine fishies, all but two of which I could see coming to the fly long before it ate it. Neat stuff. But I also pulled the trigger too soon and missed hooking several fish, which I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t seen them coming to the fly.

Fished one other stretch, one that I haven’t fished before, and picked up two really nice fish there.

The OC got the one fish. The productive fly was the loop wing BWO. Only got about a dozen fishies on the day, about half fishing the water and half fishing to rises, but most of them were in the 15-16" range, and another one was a full 17".

John

P.S. Good chance for rain the next several days. Maybe enough to put out the fires. Sure would be nice to be through with the smoke for the rest of the fall.

175

Tied these yesterday morning for yesterday’s outing. This time last year, about the only fly needed was an October Caddis. From late September through early November. With an occasional smaller fly for certain situations. This year the October Caddis simply is not getting attention from the trouts. Small and smaller flies are definitely at the top of the menu.

Stopped along the way to chat with the young woman who was monitoring the fish trap on the Crooked Fork. Holy mackeral …

… and that was only one bucket. This one was mostly juvenile steelhead “outgoing” with a few chinook salmon. The other bucket was mostly chinook, with a couple bull trout. Kelly estimated that there were over 300 fish between the two buckets. Talk about a party !!!

I didn’t notice while looking at the fishies and taking some pix, but …

… there was one very unusual fish in with the steelhead. Need to do some checking to find out what it is.

My first stop…

… was more about fly testing …

… to get the party started. And it did …

At that stop, all five of the flies above caught at least one fish.

The next stop was more about fishing …

… which was a good thing, because the fishing was pretty darned good. The fly shown above, which is basically a scaled down Duck’s Green Drake / BWO, was a big hit. All the other flies also caught at least a fish or two each, but the Duck’s BWO caught something like fifteen over about an hour and a half. At one point, it took four fish on four consecutive casts, and they were the larger fish taken at that place.

And, finally, with some rain on Saturday and then again early yesterday, a lot of the smoke was dissipated. Still some around here and there, but for the most part the air was clear and the views were back to normal with sky and clouds and …

At the last stop …

… there was a bit of smoke. Note the tree down in the river a little way upstream on the right. Knocked down by the fire. It’s not clear, but to the far right of the above pic, the fire came down the slope almost to the water.

To top a day of good fishing off, I saw a golden eagle on a deer carcass just before Lolo Pass on the way home.

And, when I got just below the turn off from U.S. 12 for the road to Elk Meadows, there was a herd of 40-50 elk. One old bull, a couple young bulls, and a bunch of cows and calves. The best part was the ratio of cows and calves - close to 1:1. Speaks well for the future of the herd.

John

176

[i]

The mystery fish is a Rhinichthys cataractae - aka longnose dace. According to the fisheries people at the Powell facility, it is one of the bigger ones they have seen.

[/i]

177

… in the making.

The rain last Saturday and on Sunday morning kicked the streamflow up quite a bit. More rain yesterday and overnight have given it another pretty good boost. The continuing rain for a good part of today will start to saturate the ground and form the base for next spring’s run off.

The more immediate benefit is ending the fire season. The Powell Complex fire, which reached about 45,000 acres and created the smokey conditions on the upper Lochsa for weeks, was on the wane a few days ago, and may well be completely extinguished with this latest round of rain.

It will be interesting to see what the water conditions are tomorrow - water clarity and how much “stuff” is washed into the system by the rainfall. I do have a feeling that the increased flows will cause the fishies to pay some serious attention to October Caddis dries.

John

178

… kicked the flows up to almost 1600 CFS yesterday and then they dropped to about 1200 by noon today and are now down to about 1000 CFS.

As expected, the water was up quite a bit …

… and it was clear but much more off color than I thought it would be …

… and that is not even the darkest stretch on the river.

Fished five different stretches …

… and caught fishies on Duck’s BWO …

… and on the FEB OC 2.0 …

Started with the OC and got some fishies with it in the first three places fished, but they were pretty small and far between. I also turned a number of fish with it, more refusals than hook ups.

When I went to the BWO I picked up fish almost immediately in a stretch of slow, deep, and very dark water. Needless to say, that was quite the surprise.

Next stretch, I left the BWO on. Hit it just right. Fish started hitting the fly immediately, and kept after it for a good while. Then I changed out to the OC and things got really interesting, with more hook ups than on the BWO, and generally larger fish.

Wasn’t too optimistic when I saw the streamflow chart this morning, and even less so after seeing the color of the water. When all was said and done, had something around thirty fish in hand, with a slight majority, and the larger fish, coming on the OC.

And … only one small wisp of smoke from one smoldering tree all along the way.

John

P.S. The Powell Complex fire got much larger since the last time I had seen the numbers a week or two ago - as of this morning it had grown to 67,000 acres. But it looks like it is history.

179

John, with all the success you have had with your renegades this fall, you might want to try a “fore and aft” this winter - it has been very productive over here on the San Juan with the midge eaters and might get you some dry fly fishing when it gets too cold for your OC - although the BWO would probably still interest them,would it not? I tied my F&A with size 18 black hackle on a size 18 hook. Sure am going to miss your Lochsa pics when the snow flies, although I guess that’s where this thread started. Have enjoyed them and envied you all year. Was the Powell fire in a wilderness?

180

Karen -

Appreciate the suggestion, but around here, when it cools down the water tends to get mostly solid. For the most part, the upper Lochsa is covered over completely with ice and a deep snow cover by December and isn’t accessible for several months.

The water I most enjoy fishing over the winter is the East Fork of the Bitterroot, when there is open water to fish. I did manage to fish it on and off this past winter, which was somewhat warmer than my first two full winters here, finishing 2011 with trouts on December 30 and starting 2012 with trouts on January 1. But that water is so cold, with lots of anchor ice, shelf ice, slush ice, ice in the guides, etc that I don’t even think in terms of dry flies - big heavily weighted stone fly nymphs only.

This thread is getting near its end. Might get in another month of fishing on the Lochsa but that would be a stretch. Last year there was lots of ice by the middle of November. BUT there is a chance I will meet my informal goal of fishing it 100 days this year. Right now I am getting close to 90 days so if the weather holds …

John

P.S. The Powell Complex is mostly on the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. A small part of it is on the fringes in wild but roaded areas.