Back Country Trout Fishing

[thrashers.wheat]

Drove over 2 hours from the closest gas station - camped at a very primitive spot within a few miles of a ridge that separates two of the finest freshwater fishing states in our nation. The road leading to the trailhead was spectacular. I had never seen so many huckleberries than I have in this area. I did spot two moose, a cow and it's calf...The cow took off, man, when it saw my truck. Such a powerful animal...The calf trotted up the road and more cooperative for a photo. Photo is very blurry for some reason...


Just past the moose was the primitive trailhead...A nice wooden sign indicating the trail branches I viewed on the topo while scouting this primitive area. The trail started on the ***** ridge trail...Being on the ridge, I could look down to the left & right of myself to what appeared to be near vertical ledges, it was sweet. About a mile in, I got to a trail marker indicating the river was still 5 miles away. So, a 6 mile hike featuring over 2200' feet in elevation. Hiking out was flat out tough...


what the river looked like when I got to it. The trout were not nearly as plentiful as I've found them further downstream, but were still very active and scrappy fighters in this creekish section of this national wild, and scenic river.



Each spot seemed to have a fish or two, I think my biggest cutty was about 12".



Two rods...One with a dry dropper, the other rigged with a tandem nymph rig. Nymphing, was by far, the best bet, although I did get some nice fish on dries. This usually seems to be the case in this region during August.


Clear water...The plunge pool here was about 8' deep. There was some sort of duck? on top of the rock. The bird was all by itself. I thought merganser, but did look differently than the merganser's I've seen in the past.



Fish on down river.

It was slow on this stream this year. It was hot, late in the season and crowded. We did figure that the fires throughout the region caused people to visit this area, which was not affected by smoke. Also, there was dust abatement work being conducted on the roads around the river with workers camped at various spots along the river. My Aunt & Uncle stayed an extra week and did see some clouds & rain, and said the fishing came alive once the front hit the area.

 

[tompg]

Nice report and pics. Did you really drive two hours form civilization, hike six miles into the woods, and still find a crowded river?

 

[thrashers.wheat]

Nice report and pics. Did you really drive two hours form civilization, hike six miles into the woods, and still find a crowded river?

My apologies, the majority of the river has decent road access with numerous campsites, some primitive sites, some National Forest Service sites. This section was very crowded. The wild section I hiked in to did not have anybody there. I did, however, see two Forest Service employees on foot; also, I saw two Fish & Game employees on horseback. Did spend time at a site with others much further downstream from the wild section, this was where the river was crowded - where the access was much better.

On a side note, a few summers back I was on a sweet river system that was in the middle of nowhere while at the Braun Brothers Reunion concert in Challis. The popular tailwater section of this river had nobody fishing, and the fishing was great. It is my buddies favorite tailwater in the west, that few are familiar with. This is a disappearing river, where it goes underground for a long while further downstream of where we were fishing. The section above the reservoir is made up of spring creeks feeding in to the reservoir. The remote tributaries of this river are very high in elevation and what was most appealing to me - to get away from everything. We drove HOURS to get to Wildhorse Creek, all the way to the end of the road at about 8000' feet and were surprised by finding dozens of people camped there. So, from this instance, I stopped thinking that driving so far was what you needed to do to get away from things, that perhaps others have this mindset also.

 

[skipper3245]

Good stuff man.

 

[thrashers.wheat]

Good stuff man.

Thanks, Mark. I've been all over this specific Nat'l. Forest and it's been really cool to get to know the back way routes. I've been on this specific river over a dozen times now, I'm sure you're familiar with it, and had been scouring the topo to scout the wild section. I found a back road that branched off a road that goes to the river's origin, a lake. The road I turned on to was sweet...The erosion on the road my rental truck bottom out every 20 yards or so, and the scenery was spectacular. The topo indicated a trail from this road...I had no idea what to expect once there. According to the topo, it looked like I needed to make the first 2 left turns once on the trail to make the river...It all panned out. It was a really sweet feeling to have found my own route deep in to the river's wild section. I cut off 10 miles of hiking by driving up this ridge. There is a relatively famous lodge, I believe it used to be an Orvis endorsed lodge, that I bypassed by taking this route. I don't think too many folks venture up past the lodge, which is 5 miles from the end of the road that follows the river. So right on, tight lines. Let's get up for steel...I'm coaching again this winter so I'm trying to get as much in before the season starts.

 

[skipper3245]

Yeah man Im done guiding in 2.5 weeks out here then ill be back on the east coast. I have an idea where you were at but I wont say it. Where abouts are you coaching at?

Thanks, Mark. I've been all over this specific Nat'l. Forest and it's been really cool to get to know the back way routes. I've been on this specific river over a dozen times now, I'm sure you're familiar with it, and had been scouring the topo to scout the wild section. I found a back road that branched off a road that goes to the river's origin, a lake. The road I turned on to was sweet...The erosion on the road my rental truck bottom out every 20 yards or so, and the scenery was spectacular. The topo indicated a trail from this road...I had no idea what to expect once there. According to the topo, it looked like I needed to make the first 2 left turns once on the trail to make the river...It all panned out. It was a really sweet feeling to have found my own route deep in to the river's wild section. I cut off 10 miles of hiking by driving up this ridge. There is a relatively famous lodge, I believe it used to be an Orvis endorsed lodge, that I bypassed by taking this route. I don't think too many folks venture up past the lodge, which is 5 miles from the end of the road that follows the river. So right on, tight lines. Let's get up for steel...I'm coaching again this winter so I'm trying to get as much in before the season starts.