Idaho Weed Fest

[cpierce]

Field burning encouraged me to get out of the path of the closest smoke makers. So I went fishing and camping for a few days. What a bummer.......not! Well, it was really cold in the mountains at night, but the days were great. It seemed like the fish didn't really wake up until noon anyway. Even at noon there was ice in the shade to crunch through.. brrrrr Not too many crazy people fishing, but lots of crazy hunters still around.

One thing about getting out of the smoke, I get to spend time and explore lots of different areas. The first time I saw this stream with all its dying weeds I almost didn’t try it. It looked like a fishless mess. Who forgot to mow the weeds for me this year?! I hate picking gunk off of my line and flies.

Luckily I tried it long enough for the fish to reeducate me about productive waters. I hope that we get a good winter water/snow year that preserves these fish with a little more flow.




It was almost all native cutthroats, and they were extremely fat and healthy. I got broken off and had hooks straightened several times. There are some amazing, beautiful, fish hiding in the weeds and rocks. No more fine wire hooks for me, on this water anyway.

Before noonish the fish mostly hit scuds. It was really hard to fish anything besides a dry fly with the weeds. I resorted to using a two fly rig early in the day and hanging the scud only about 8 to 10 inches below the dry.

By about 11 or 12 though most would hit either a parachute adams (in patriot colors- blue uv body with pink thread butt and head) or a C Creek Special. They seemed to really like a Woodchuck October Caddis also.

So we finally get to some fish porn! Most of the fish I caught were from 10 to 12 inches, but over a few days I did pick up some better ones, and of course those are the ones I take pictures of!


This big boy was the best one that I got a picture of. He went for a C Creek Special. I do apologize for water spots on most of my pictures. It's hard to snap a bunch of pictures of very uncooperative fish and release them quickly without them showering both the camera and me!

What a beauty!


Another better look at him. I promise that is not the ground he is on. It is the top of a floating weed bed.




I caught him in a channel on the other side of an island of weeds. It was an amazing fight to keep it out in the open water away from the weeds. Just as I got it into my net, the hook straightened and came right out. Big fish are rough on flies!


A few more fish in all their many colors. Just because I enjoy looking at all their different patterns!







This little guy had the coolest bright pink parr marks. I wish the camera would have recorded them better.




I even ran into a couple of rainbows.




But most were cutthroats.










There sure were a lot of weeds,






But all those bugs in the weeds sure produced some FAT fish!







Really FAT!


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[flygoddess]

I wanna go there[]
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[Fishbouy]

Great looking cutts, Hope you iced those rainbows or gave'em a hard release.
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[Dryrod]

[center][#008000]Thanks for your story & pictures,[/#008000][/center]
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[macfly55]

If and when I go fishing I try to avoid those weed beds like crazy.. maybe I should take a different look at it.. :-)...

Great post and those are some hogs you caught.. :-)
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[flygoddess]

And he's back! Missed you bro.
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[Dryrod]

[#008000][fishin]If you mean me - thanks. Don't contribute much any more but I can always be found lurking in the bushes. Sort of a stealth poster these days.lol[/#008000]
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[flygoddess]

I miss my amigos, what can I say.
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[cpierce]

Great to see some posts on this part of the forum again.

Thanks for the kind words guys. I have been in Colorado for two months, but haven't had time for fishing and have had limited Internet access. I have missed both!

Yes, I did eat one of the rainbows. Occasionally I like a nice fresh fish. When I do, I prefer to munch on the brookies and bows rather than the native cutts. The rainbows are probably sterile planter fish and not much of a threat to the cutts other than the food chain competition.
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