Over the Labor Day Weekend, I had a couple days to burn by myself, so I decided to take a road trip -- the idea being that I'd hit a river that might not be so crowded with people over the holiday. My only constraint was that I had to be in Spokane on Monday, so I decided to head east towards Idaho. I wanted it to be a new area and river, so I did some reading and I picked the Lochsa. I figured it would be a fun scouting trip, as I had to cruise up the Clearwater River on my way to the Lochsa.
It was a long drive through south eastern Washington on Saturday, but the drive through the Polouse as I neared Lewiston, ID was beautiful. I left pretty early, but didn't get up to the Lochsa until about 2pm or so. Heading up towards Lolo Pass on Hwy 12 was the usual beautiful Idaho scenery, and the Lochsa River itself was classic Idaho cutthroat water. There were a few campers at most of the campgrounds, but I didn't really see a whole lot of flyfishers out on the water. I basically pulled over in a few turnouts that had some readable water. I was pretty sure that most of the water had probably already been probed that day, so I didn't have many expectations. The first hole that I hit, I landed a few small westslopes on a P-Adams (6"-10"), and one chunky 13" on a BH Hare's Ear nymph. The second hole I hit a nice Pale Dun hatch and slayed about a dozen trout in about a half hour. Nothing huge (8"-12"), but non-stop action. The final stop at dusk wasn't as productive, but landed a decent sized whitefish and another couple cutties to round out the evening. By this time I was about a 100 miles from Missoula, so I decided to head over Lolo Pass and crash in Missoula for the night.
The next day, I got up bright and early and headed back towards Spokane, but was going to fish my way down the St. Joe first. I took the pass from St. Regis and ended up high on the 'Joe above Avery. It was pretty chilly when I got there, so the action was a bit slow -- the fish weren't quite moving yet. I ended up hitting some of my favorite runs throughout the day and ended up landing well over a dozen fish on dries and nymphs. Most were in the 8"-12" range, the largest being 13". Nothing too big this time, but great action. For late Auguest/early September, the water levels were great and should bode well for our the trip a few of us are taking this upcoming weekend.
Skip forward a bit, I hit the Yakima today for the first time after the flows were down -- and it did not disappoint. I fished the early part of the morning in one of my favorite sections and landed over a dozen fish, with the largest three being 15" westslope, 16.5" and 18" rainbows. Man, I love the Yakima in September and October
'Till next time,
-Josh
The next day, I got up bright and early and headed back towards Spokane, but was going to fish my way down the St. Joe first. I took the pass from St. Regis and ended up high on the 'Joe above Avery. It was pretty chilly when I got there, so the action was a bit slow -- the fish weren't quite moving yet. I ended up hitting some of my favorite runs throughout the day and ended up landing well over a dozen fish on dries and nymphs. Most were in the 8"-12" range, the largest being 13". Nothing too big this time, but great action. For late Auguest/early September, the water levels were great and should bode well for our the trip a few of us are taking this upcoming weekend.
Skip forward a bit, I hit the Yakima today for the first time after the flows were down -- and it did not disappoint. I fished the early part of the morning in one of my favorite sections and landed over a dozen fish, with the largest three being 15" westslope, 16.5" and 18" rainbows. Man, I love the Yakima in September and October
'Till next time,
-Josh
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