Some Time in the Mountains

Fishing Fishing Reports
21

Well, I’m thinking I will adopt the Lochsa as my new home water when we complete the move to Missoula, whenever that might actually happen given the housing market in SE Idaho.

What can I say ? Without comparing it to any other river / stream I’ve fished, I will just say that it is flat out interesting, challenging, rewarding, and downright beautiful. Just sooooooo many different kinds of water to fish, and its hold is almost relentless. I realize that I just have a one day snapshot of this river, and only a few hundred yards of water actually explored, but it was just a perfect summer day with lots of trouts wanting to play with the dry flies I pitched their way.

Picked a spot that looked good from the road. Scrambled down the boulder field ( bank ) from the roadside pullout and ended up standing on a large rock at streamside. That scrambling is a part of it - one of my favorite 13,000 things to do outdoors is scrambling on boulder fields. Usually that takes place somewhere up in the mountains, but combining that with the opportunity to fish beautiful trout water is a tough combination to beat.

Most of the fishing took place from a rock at streamside. There really was no point to wading, except those few places where the river provided the most handy access to the next rock to cast from. I could cover half the river from the bank, and the river probably would have covered more than half of me with only one misstep on my part. We are talking some seriously deep holes on the stretch I fished today. And a lot of fast, hard riffles, lots of nice soft water behind instream structure, soft water on the edges, seams galore and tongues behind rocks breaking the surface, and more.

Didn’t hurt that a fishy hit Scott’s Convertible within just a few minutes of putting one on the water. Didn’t hurt that many, many more fishies hit dry flies over the next three plus hours, those dry flies being the three that I have gone with this entire trip - the Convertible, the Foam Back Royal Humpy and the FEB Hopper. Didn’t hurt that the most productive fly was the hopper, one of my own. Didn’t matter that most of the fishies were small, about two thirds cutts and the other third rainbows. Didn’t matter that a lot of them escaped the hook before being landed, in fact, I was throwing them a slack leader to help them escape a good part of the time. Didn’t matter that the few big fishies that I turned in some really fast water at mid river with a hopper either missed or refused the fly. Didn’t matter that there was no one else in sight all day.

Just didn’t matter 'cause it was flat out a fantastic day in a beautiful place. Something on the order of 35 trouts in hand with another 15 to 20 going with the long distance release after a solid hookup. At least that many fishies again ( 50 plus ) around the fly that I could see. Several times I took fish on two, three, four consecutive casts. In one good sized pocket behind a large rock, somewhere around a dozen smaller fishies showed themselves for the fly, several of them jumping completely out of the water for it, but only one actually got it one the way down.

Most days, a single fish seems to stand out. Today it was a large dark shadow that rose to the fly mid river in some very fast, broken water. It was one of those heartstopping moments when the question of a hookup flashes through your mind, and even though it doesn’t happen, it is such a special moment, the question how you would have landed that fish in those conditions lingers.

Yep, I can see this river being my home water, all right. All the way down to the corner, where you take a left to go upstream on the Selway, which ain’t a half bad piece of water, either, from the very little time I’ve spent on it.

Pics to be posted next week.

John

22

John,

Congrats on your new home. Knew you’d find a great one in Montana. You know everyone needs a second home though. Only the shadow knows. Have a great time.

Beaver

23

Glad to hear you’ve found a new home waters! And, that you have lots of alternatives, or “neighbor’s waters” to visit too. Look forward to seeing the photos of your adventures.

  • Jeff
24

Had a very modest goal this afternoon when I headed out to Rock Creek. The FEB Hopper had caught brook, rainbow, and cutthroat trouts, but had not yet met up with a brown. Rock Creek seemed the most likely place for that encounter.

Not the best of conditions - bright sunny day with temps into the low 90s, maybe a bit warmer. Good challenge for the hopper.

Tried one spot that had been pretty good for browns several times. Had one light hit and one refusal. Moved on to another spot which had been productive. First fish on the hopper - a 10" brown. Mission accomplished. Continued to fish that stretch, wet wading which was absolutely delightful, and caught a rainbow just out from where the brown had been holding, but in a fast shallow riffle. Hooked up with another fish which felt bigger than either the brown or bow, but lost it. Turned a couple more fish, light hits which didn’t hook up. All things considered, I was pretty pleased with the day to that point.

Moved on upstream several miles. Found a place that looked like it might yield some fishies. Caught a cutthroat on Scott’s Convertible quite quickly. Not so quickly for the next couple fish. Went back to the hopper and caught another couple browns and another cutt. Had a couple more hits, and that was it.

By this time it was getting rather late and it was a pretty long drive home - not so many miles but the first fifteen or so were dirt, gravel, and rock and pretty slow going.

After fishing the first place, I had the opportunity to talk to a fellow from D.C. who has fished Rock Creek annually for many, many years. I gave him some ideas for the Lochsa and he reciprocated by giving me some ideas on where the better fishing on Rock Creek is. Good exchange, for sure.

Kind of slow, but the brown on the hopper and a triple made it interesting. Maybe I should expect more action when I go out there on a day like this - maybe I would get it ??

John

25

Nice John, see you next week!:wink:

Steve

26

Kind of like chocolate. Once you’ve had a taste, hard not to go back for more.

Fished for several hours this afternoon about a mile downstream of where I fished the other day. More interesting water. Everything from almost slack water to almost rapids. Actually, there are a couple short pieces of serious whitewater in the stretch I fished today. And from very shallow, easy wading, to very deep, like in very deep.

Started with the Convertible and caught a couple smaller fish in the softer water near the edge. But after a while, it felt like that fly was not getting much attention from the fishies. Changed out to the hopper. Big difference. Started getting pretty steady action in lots of different water with it. Mostly smaller fish, like the other day, with an occasional 10 incher. The mix was similar to the other day, also, with something over half being cutts and the rest bows.

Got to a very interesting pocket that just looked fishy. It was. Hooked about a dozen trouts in that one spot and landed most of them. Also had a number of fish hit the fly and, again, some jump right over it. That is so cool, to see those little guys pull that stunt.

Fished some pretty deep water. Too deep for fish to come to the surface for the fly. I just know they are down there, and suspect that some serious nymphing would catch some beauties, but I’m too much enjoying the dry fly fishing and would rather have the little guys holding near the surface hit a dry in that kind of water than get out the artillery.

By the time I had worked my way up to the head of the deep pool, I had accounted for 25 plus fish in hand. Thought about heading for home, but then thought I should at least take a look at what was just downstream. Found a place to drop down to the river level from the road at a place where there was some pretty soft and medium depth water. Got a couple little guys along that stretch.

Not far upstream, there was a medium shade of green that just shouted trout water. Not so dark to be so deep, and not so light as to be almost tan and easily wadable. Only took about a 30’ cast to reach the far edge of the medium green. Worked it pretty steadily, picking up a couple smaller trouts and watching a couple larger ones pass on the offering, which was still the hopper.

Got one drift just along a seam over what appeared to be a short rock ledge. When he came up, there was no doubt that he was going to take the fly. Well, almost no doubt. But he never waivered- straight to the fly and gulp. 14 inches of absolutely gorgeous cutthroat trout. And he did gulp the fly. Had to cut the tippet rather than try to get the fly out. Hopefully he hiccupped shortly after swimming off and got rid of it.

Put on a fresh hopper. Next fish up was a 12" cutt, and a few minutes later, a 12" bow. Then a couple misses and then another hookup, not 12" but getting close. That was the kind of fishies I was thinking must be in this river, but just wasn’t finding. Remember to look for the medium green !!

Just up from the green, there was a great looking corner. Classic place for trouts to hold. Well, there were several there - got two of them and watched another one check the fly out and pass on it. Tried the Convertible for a while, and it didn’t even get a look. Put the hopper back on and quickly proceeded to ruin it while releasing the last fish of the day.

Not so many fish seen today as a couple days ago and not so many on the hook, but pretty close to the same number in hand, around 30 to 35. Overall, the fish today were a bit bigger than a couple days ago, and the biggest on the day were much larger than anything in hand Tuesday.

Not sure if the fishies are taking the FEB Hopper as a hopper, or something else. I did see one large stonefly on the water. Overall color looked more like a salmonfly, but size wise and the look of the wings said golden stone. Saw one in the air that was definitely a golden stone. And there were a LOT of golden stone shucks on the rocks at rivers edge in several places.

Also had the chance to catch a local hopper. He would fill out a size 8 hook nicely. The more interesting thing was the color on his underside - the fish’s point of view - very light from a creamy gray to a bit darker shade of gray. From the fisherman’s point of view, he was uniformly medium gray.

Need to tie up some more hoppers. Now I’m wondering if I should go a bit bigger, and a bit lighter, or maybe throw some yellow in for the golden stone ?? On the other hand, I may not get to fish the Lochsa again before I go back to Idaho early next week, so maybe I should stay with the tried and true sizes and colors.

Did I mention I was adopting the Lochsa as my homewater ?? I think the truth may be that it has adopted me. Ain’t complaining, for sure.

John

27

Reading the water … at 55 mph.

Heading west out of Lolo, US 12 runs along Lolo Creek almost all the way to Lolo Pass on the Idaho border. The first fifteen miles or so are mostly through private property areas and there is only occasional and limited access to the creek. Beyond that section, the creek runs mostly through public lands with frequent and easy access.

The creek is running low right now, whether that is normal or not, I do not know since I never fished it before today, although I have driven along the creek coming and going to the Lochsa River. On my previous trips on this road, I just make mental notes about places to fish when I got around to it. That was today.

The approach is one that I use on several other rivers / streams that run along roads - drive at a reasonable speed and try to spot good trout water. Usually a “reasonable speed” is not 55 mph but something less, much less. The higher speed means more time to pull over and find a safe place to park, and a longer walk back to the water you read as a good place to try. More exercise.

First place I fished on Lolo Creek. First five minutes of fishing. First fish I caught. 14" brown trout !! I was watching the FEB Hopper drift down the far side of the riffle, near some submerged rocks, when it simply disappeared. Immediately, there was the yellowish brown flash that says brown trout, and it was a big flash. Hot damn - what an introduction to Lolo Creek. Of course this fiesty fishy didn’t have the courtesy to hold still for a pic and had the gall to slip the hook while he was twisting around.

Next little bit of excitement, a couple minutes later, was another yellowish brown flash as a smaller brown, looked to be more like 10" to 12" took a shot at the hopper but missed.

Over the next several hours, I was in the creek and out, in the truck and out. Read water at five more places at 55 mph. Turned out to be a simple pattern, really. The creek wanders away from the highway for long stretches as it meanders down its canyon. When it comes back to the road, it invariably takes a bend to the right ( facing downstream ). That produces something of a hole or deeper riffle for some distance below the bend. Holding water.

In all the places I fished, I hooked at least one trout and had at least a couple hits. When all was said and done, it added up to seven or eight in hand, to include a Lolo Creek triple - the brown, a cutt, and the rest bows, and another five or six on and off fairly quickly. None of the other fishies in hand came close to the first one. But it was a lot of fun reading the water at speed, and having it pay off with consistent, if not spectacular, action.

From what I have heard, there is a greater likelihood of getting into bigger fish lower down, near the mouth where the creek empties in to the Bitterroot. May try that one of these days.

John

28

Well done John.

Regards,
Scott

29

Now you know John…man, first drive down from Lolo sold me…din’t fish that
trip in the early '90’s but vowed i’d get back up there…and did…a few times.

Have you turned up the Selway road yet? 20 miles or so and you have to get out and walk. Kinda out there…and a great hike too. Lots of places to hike
down to pristine looking water.

One of my favorite tricks up there was casting ‘drifting stones’ to that green
edge you’re talking about I think. Unweighted, natural drift, stripped back slow and just barely visible to me along the dark edge. Deadly on bigger cutts.

Good read John, thanks !

MontanaMoose

30

John, just wait until the October caddis come off on the Lochsa. Those cutties WILL come up to the surface from the deeps. Ten, twenty, thirty feet. I get gray hairs in the seconds it takes them to rise to the dries.

See ya up there.

Cookie

31

Edited all the fishing reports done during my stay in Missoula the past ten days, to include slideshows for each day / stream fished. Hope you’ll don’t get tired of seeing the Sunnto watch, but it is about the only way I can keep the pics organized on a trip like this.

A couple of the slideshows are pretty short ( Fish Creek, one Rock Creek report, and Lolo Creek ) and several are pretty long ( all the Lochsa River reports and The Big Hole - Skinner Meadows ).

Hope you enjoy them.

John

P.S. When I was doing the slideshows, I noticed that Photobucket.com has added almost a BILLION photos since I first started using that service. Just wanted to point out that they are not all mine !!

32

Thanks John, looked at all the slideshows…sure like the looks of those creeks…felt better after seeing the pics, not having gone ff’ing today…100 degrees…i know, not an excuse…fished 6 in a row so i’ll make it till tomorrow…think i’ll hit the smallies…

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

33

Great shows and reports John! You’re finding some superb new waters to play on, and glad that the other team is showing up too. Looks like that new hopper pattern of yours is a real winner.

  • Jeff
34

John, thanks for the reports. As much as I’m able to get out it seems you’re out even more, and I’m grateful to be able to go to some of these places through your posts. Keep it up.

Kelly.

35

That would be the Lemhi Mountains. If you look closely just left of center in the pic, behind the large dark hill, you will see the light colored ridge in the distance. That was the ridge I was ridge walking in the pic on the report including my hike to the Lemhi Divide above Meadow Lake a few weeks ago.

Steve asked about it yesterday.

That would be BB member Steve Molcsan of Sunnyvale CA. Steve is shown fishing a nice little run in the Alpine section ( 7700’ elevation ) of the the Little Lost River. That spot is my usual starting point on my trips to this river. Usually holds a fair number of bulls and bows.

I fished this run just before Steve, wanting to add a bull trout to the list of trout species taken with the FEB Hopper. Saw a fish rise just after I started working the run, and got him on the next cast with the hopper. He took his release long distance, but he was a 10-11" bull trout. Kind of like this one, which I caught a while later a little way downstream.

The Alpine section gave up seven or eight trouts yesterday to the hopper, to include mostly rainbows. The Meadow section, several miles downstream, was pretty slow, yielding only five bows, and the Desert section, further downstream was also pretty slow, adding another five bows to the day’s tally.

The first fish and the last fish were both special. The first one, mentioned above, because it was a bull trout on the hopper. The last one because it was a “deja vu all over again moment,” almost, anyway. Three years ago this August, I fished the Little Lost four times over a three week period. In the Desert section, there is a little hole below an island formed by a very hard current coming in from the left meeting the very soft water coming in from the right. All this in very close quarters, where you can not cast, just flip the fly out over the water trying to avoid all the foliage and trees.

Three times that summer, when I drifted a large dry fly down the soft water side of the “Y”, it got sucked down where the currents meet, and after sinking a foot or so, a big old 17" rainbow came up to intercept it. Yesterday, as I was headed back to the truck, I stopped at that spot and drifted the FEB Hopper off the soft water, watched it hit the hard current and sink. BINGO !! Not 17", but the largest trout of the day at about 14" rose up and nailed it.

For more pics of our day on the Little Lost, click on the pic for a slideshow.

Yesterday was very slow fishing on the Little Lost - and cause for some concern. Three years ago, I spent an afternoon and evening and the next morning fishing this little river. The first day, in about six hours of fishing, I landed something over fifty fish. The next morning, in about five hours of fishing, I landed another fifty fish. Those were big days for this river, but not totally unexpected given my other experiences here.

Two years ago we had a terribly long and hot, dry summer. To the point that I gave up fishing from early July through mid September because all of the streams and small rivers in SE Idaho were running so low, and warm. I thought it would be unethical to fish in those conditions, where the chances of a landed fish surviving were much reduced by the stresses it was already experiencing 24 / 7 in its environment.

I noticed on the Idaho Fish and Game website a couple weeks ago that they stocked the Little Lost last year for the first time in a long time ( about 500 rainbow trout ). So I’m wondering if there was a very high mortality of trout on this stream two years ago during that long hot summer. Two other facts from yesterday also suggest problems from two summers ago - fewer bull trout caught with the ones caught bigger than three years ago, and fewer rainbows, most of which were smaller than most of the bows caught there three years ago.

John

P.S. Thanks again, Steve, for joining me for some time in the mountains.

36

John, great pictures and slideshow. I didn’t know Idaho stocked their streams, but the rainbow in the slideshow didn’t look like it was stocked.
Love viewing your posts, keep em coming!
Glenn

37

Glenn -

Idaho Fish and Game does stock a good number of streams and rivers. But there are many places that have never been stocked, or so rarely stocked, like the Little Lost, that the trouts are wild. And in a lot of places, the trouts are native ( cutthroat and bull trout ) as well as wild.

Thanks for the compliment. I’ll keep posting, but it will be kind of herky - jerky as far as including pics goes since I can only do that from our Idaho computer. The computer I have access to up in Missoula isn’t suitable for loading and storing the pics and moving them to photobucket.

How are your trip plans shaping up ?? Let me know when you are going to be where, and if your itinerary matches up to my crazy coming and going for the next few months, maybe we can get together for a day.

John

38

Fished this little creek for several hours this afternoon using the FEB Hopper the entire time. The creek is in great shape - water is about normal level for this time of year, very clear and very cold.

Things started off rather slow. A couple spots that usually give up a fish or two didn’t produce. But after a while, the fishies woke up and started hitting the hopper, not fast and furious, but steady. And a good number of them ate it while they were at it.

This stretch is pretty typical of Rainey Creek.

But there are some nice pools and medium depth runs, and in some places the creek splits around small islands, or forms side channels, or necks down to really narrow. In some places, the continuing growth of the streamside foliage is creating tunnels where a few years ago there was a clear sky overhead.

This little run gave up three or four cutts today. Less than usual, but one of the better spots I hit today.

This fellow was one of the larger cutts on the day.

By the time I wet waded approximately a mile, maybe a little more, I had landed about seventeen or eighteen fishies, all cutts. I headed back to my starting point via a trail that roughly follows the creek for quite a way up into the hills. When I got back to my starting point, I decided to give it a few more minutes. I was rewarded with the largest fish of the day, and an absolutely gorgeous specimen.

For a few more pics from today in the mountains, click on the pic.

John

39

Just perfect John, my kind of creek !

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

40

John, Awesome report, nice creek and pretty fishes. Thanks for taking us along. Jim