DATE: 26 Sep 2009, 1:12 pm / MOOD: Happy

It was 10:30 in the morning as I plunged down the bank to the river and as always I waded across to the other side. The river flow only 300 cfs so wading was not a problem. I get across the river to the bottom of a short run of flowing water against a brushy edge. The run was strewn with boulders, the current was slow and a foam line worked gently along the edges. Perfect fishing waters.

I no sooner arrive at the far bank and I see a big rainbow peak his head out right along the bank about 20 feet above me. Looking further up the river I see another fish feeding, then another and I realize I've waded right into the middle of a feeding frenzy of giant rainbows. Standing in one place looking up river for 50 yards I can see at least 30 fish positioned in the shallows leisurely sipping what looked to be emergers.

I unhook my "tie on" fly from my pole and it just so happened to be a #18 pink emerger. I focus on the feeding zone of the first fish I saw and he is rhythmically sipping the surface. I lay the first cast slightly ahead of his zone; it drifts slowly over his head and ever so subtly he sips the fly. A soft hook set, a monster boil and bolt and one the first cast of the day I'm into a large rainbow. He shared a lot of electricity with me, but there was power outage as I slipped into the net. Wow! A gorgeous 18 inch rainbow with brilliant colors and an overfed body was voicing his displeasure in the net. So we shared a few minutes together and exchanged pleasantries and he melted back into the river bottom like a ghost.

My attention turned back to the rivers edge ahead of me and in a matter of seconds I'm tunnel vision on another fig fish within 2 feet of the bank about 25 feet away. He's in real shallow water so I don't want to cast directly over him. I shade my cast to the left of the fish, doesn't take. What the hell… I put the next cast right on him. The fly moves in slow motion toward his lair and in equally slow motion the fish softly sucks in the fly. From slow motion to explosion in a heart beat and the battle was on. After a long rundown river, and few magnificent jumps, another giant fish nose dived into the net.

And so it went for the next hour and a half, spot a fish, hook a fish, fight a fish, and land a fish. I fished the entire run of water and there were only 2 fish I couldn't get to take, the rest of them ended up in the net or kicked me loose. Where the dust had cleared I'd landed 13 fish, and 35 years of fishing the South Fork I've never seen a run of bigger fish.

The hatch cooled in the heat of the day and it was back to the South Fork fishing. I was working the edges, searching the riffles and catching a few fish here and there. I continued working the pink emerger, but #18 CDC Caddis Green and Black brought most of the fish the net the rest of the day.

I finished the day below Cow Creek on a big riffle. The sun was down, the air was cooling and at the top of the riffle in shallow water there's 4 giant rainbows thrashing the surface. I'd seen a few green caddis a few minutes earlier so I tied on a CDC Green #18 and snuck up on the riffle. There was one enormous fish feeding tight to the edge so I laid a cast to him. He surfaced about 2 feet closer to the bank than my fly location, so recast to him. The fly no sooner began to drift and his big head appeared over my fly. I drive a hook in him and he boils out to deep water. It was a slow, powerful fight. The fish was heavy he relied on the current to quarter angle against me. I finally guide him to the net and we stared at each other in disbelief. He thought I was ugly and I thought he was abnormally large so we got along quite well. I admired him for a long time, revived him well and watched as he disappeared through the cobble stone.

Another day on the South Fork, 24 rainbows and one white fish later I'm in the car reminiscing the day. What a river!!!! What spectacular fish!!!! Is there anything on earth like dry fly fishing? I think not.

We'll be offering the pink emerger in the fly catalog very soon because it has tested exceptionally well.





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DATE: 26 Sep 2009, 1:09 pm / MOOD: Happy

They were throwing enormous #6 & 4 golden stones, hoppers, and Chernobyl ants out of every boat that went by, and believe me there were a lot of boats. It was the 17th day of September and the same guides on the same river had been doing the same thing since the 4th of July.

We had floated the South Fork of the Snake River for over a mile and there were 2 fish that cautiously rose to the hook and refused to take. I was convinced at that point these fish had a bad case of "Big Fly Fatigue". As so often happens on big renowned rivers, every fisherman's first pit stop of the morning is the local fly shop, where they load up with same flys the customer ahead of them just purchased. So you have a string of boats head down river casting the same darn thing. How stupid do we think a fish really is?

I tied on a #20 pink emerger, barely even visible in the turbulent current of the river. We paddled up into a calm chute beside a major rapid and I served it along a gentle edge. I strained to see the small silhouette as it moved through the chop, but the side of a large rainbow wasn't so tough to see as he sucked in the hook. A gentle set, an energetic jump and line screaming off the real introduced me to the first big South Fork rainbow. He had his way and I had mine, but his way was down river so we kicked the boat loose and the chase was on. He plunged into fast deep water. I struggled for his head and after we did the dozy doe for few minutes he landed indignantly into the net. So there dude some small safe emergers do have a hook in them.

We oared back up to the quaint little hole I hooked the fish in and immediately we were into another big fish and land him. I miss one and then we hook and land two more. We move down river and begin to hook more fish until I see a large boulder with a soft current in front of it. It looked like the perfect space to move a big fish. I casted in front of the boulder and the fly passed in the soft spot. I saw the flash but not the fish. I set the hook and he immediately dove deep into the heavy current and effortlessly began to mover up river as we were floating down. I applied all the pressure I could but he continued up river deeper and more powerful; I couldn't turn the fish. He was almost into my backing when I turned him and his path turned down river directly at another boat below us. We had to move toward the center of the river to clear the other boat, but the fish stayed deep and continued running down river. It was "do or die". I either turn him toward us or he'd be in the lines of the fisherman across from us. I lifted and felt a powerful head shake and he was gone. We never saw him, he never surfaced and there was never a time I ever controlled that fish. I got my butt thoroughly kicked by a South Fork monster. You win some you lose some, but one thing is certain Dry Fly fishing is a really cool thing.

We continued down the canyon casting a combination of small and large flies, but by the end of the day there were two flies that really put the fish in the boat. A #20 pink emerger and a #18 olive brown biot CDC caddis. Go figure. A giant river, turbulent current and big fish along the edges waiting to eat a micro bug rather than a mega bug. Take note of this scenario because I've seen it happen many times before.

I'd like to thank Joe Bare owner of JB Creations in Idaho Falls for a really fun two days on the South Fork. Joe ties our upright wing mayflies and guides the Henry's Fork and the South Fork of the Snake River. You'd be hard pressed to find a guide that knows those two rivers better than Joe Bare.

Keep an eye out later in this year, we filmed our trip and there will be a video available so we can share our South Fork experience.


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DATE: 11 Sep 2009, 2:12 pm / MOOD: Happy

There they were, 5 giant rainbows sipping pinks out ahead of a large boulder in smooth water. There were 2 particularly large fish just ahead of the boulder that had our complete attention. Scott Barbee a long time fishing partner took the first cast at them with a #20 pink emerger. A good drift over them failed to get a take and another cast gently floated over their lair. Bang!! The big guy on the right sipped the hook. Scottie set the hook and the fish exploded down stream.

When Scott's fish cleared down stream, I delivered an adult #18 pink mayfly over the second monster still feeding above the boulder. First cast floated perfectly to his feeding trough and he slowly and deliberately rose and took the fly. A gentle hook set, a massive explosion, a vicious run to mid current and a jump opened our relationship.

So here we were, two great fish running wild in hard current and two fisherman wondering what in the hell do we do now. After five minutes the fish had crossed each other twice, they jumped 4 times and miraculously we were both still connected and Scottie's fish was beginning to succumb to the net. After a couple of short bolts we planted Scott's fish in my net, and because Scott had forgotten his net it was the only net we had.

Scott took the net, and removed his fly from the fish while I continued to battle the bruiser at the end of my line. A couple of minutes later we slid another giant into the net on top of Scott's fish.

We both looked in awe at the net totally occupied with 2 massive fish one about 19 inches and the other pushing 22. Wow!! We admired there gorgeous colors, and there massive girth and gently slipped them back into the gin clear water. Another image imprinted in my gray matter for life. Spectacular!

So the day went on and the fishing was tough and technical. The hatches changed from pinks to PMD's. The fish were stubborn at times and conducive at others. The one thing that stayed consistent was the giant size and thickness of the fish we caught. The South Fork fish have pigged out this summer in a big time way.

We landed 5 fish in the first run, 7 in the next and 5 on the final stretch of the river for a total of 17. The fly's of choice for the day was #18 pink mayfly and a #20 pink emerger. Later in the day we changed to a #20 adult PMD that had some success.

The South Fork is a really fun place to fish right now. The fish are enormous, smart, and particular. Bring you're A game and a handful of Dry Fly Innovations pink's and PMD's for a special day on the river.


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DATE: 08 Sep 2009, 10:25 am / MOOD: Other

The South Fork of the Boise River has been on a steady decline with water levels and it is right now at the optimum level to catch fish. All summer long the water was hovering at 1800cfs, which makes wade fishing almost non existent. Dry Fly Innovations took a personal day on Friday the 4th to see if the rumors were correct about the water levels dropping. It was true, the water was flowing at 600cfs and it looked gorgeous. We decided to head to the bottom of the South Fork where it flows into the bottom end of Arrow Rock Reservoir.

In typical Nate Brumley fashion we decided to walk down River from the truck about a mile maybe more to fish virgin waters. After we walked the mile plus we found a beautiful stretch of water that should have held fish, but the kicker is you can never fish the easy side with dad. So we started to cross the river and let me tell you it is not easy even when it is flowing at 600cfs, and it is bone chilling cold. When Dry Fly Innovations fishes the bottom end we never wear waders because it is too far to walk in waders, so lucky us we were wading in shorts all day. Cold!!!

When we reached our destination I started with a cricket (#12) and dad had a Bullet Head Hopper (#12). We started throwing these flies and wading up in the river, but the vegetation has not started that far down on the river so there were no hoppers or any bugs. It did not take long to see that we were to far down river to do any good so we started fishing up river quickly in pursuit of a new stretch of water that had vegetation and some sort of bug hatch. By this time it was around 1 pm and the big bugs just were not getting enough attention so we decided to change up flies.

I had put on an Elk Hair Caddis (#16) and dad put on a Black gold (#16) and on about the second or third cast wham a rainbow smacked my caddis and the fight was on. It was a nice little rainbow about 14 or 15" and heavy. These fish that are coming out of Arrow Rock are fat and healthy. After I released the fish we started fishing again and it was about 20 minutes later I had another fish on my line. At this point dad realized that black gold was not cutting the mustard and he tied on a brown olive CDC Caddis and started throwing that at the fish. We fished down on the lower waters until about 3pm and caught 2 fish.

After lunch we drove up river to another hole and of course we needed cross the water and we began fishing upriver. Dad snuck in down river to see if there were any fish at where the creek comes in and he tossed his black CDC Caddis and in seconds he had a nice rainbow on the line. He landed that fish and threw his line back and in matter of minutes he picked up another nice rainbow. At about 4:30 or 5 pm there was a nice hatch of PMD Mayflies and the surface of the water was alive with fish. We immediately saw what the fish were feeding on so we switched up flies to our PMD up right wing Mayfly and started picking off feeding rainbows systematically one at a time. It was a great run of fishing with our mayfly, but the hatch was short lived it only lasted about an hour and then the fish were down. At this point we ended our day with a CDC Caddis Green and Black Biot (#18). We caught four more fish before dark with the caddis flies and then it was time to wade the river and head to the truck.

We ended up the day catching 15 nice beautiful trout and 3 squaw fish. The bottom end of the South Fork is fishing funny in terms of hatches and bugs. There is not a whole lot of vegetation so the fishing has not started yet. The fish have no reason to come up river because there is no food. We are still about a week or little more from awesome fishing; as soon as the vegetation gets on the lower end of the river the big patterns and the fishing will be dynamite. (hoppers, crickets, and humpy's) All I can say is that a slow day of fly fishing is better than sitting in the office talking about fly fishing, and that is a fact!



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DATE: 28 Aug 2009, 2:18 pm / MOOD: Happy

Trilby Blog

August 24th

In our never ending quest for breath taking fish footage, we decided to head for the Trilby lakes. Near the border of Montana and deep in the Frank Church Wilderness, Trilby is a seven hour drive north and west from Boise. We gathered our gear and made for the trail head on Sunday the 23rd, camped the night there, and set off during the black day light of the 24th.

The walk was practically cake! The trail starts way up on a major divide and it follows it for 8 miles. That means that was practically zero up in the walk until you brake down for the lake. The scenery was breath taking, on wither side was a different drainage and you could see for miles. Idaho is on one side and Montana on the other.

Lake Creek Lake was our destination and we pulled into camp around 11am. We immediately started fishing, waiting for a go with a few of the giant cutthroats rumored to live there. But we never got arise. It was dead we had to bail on that lake and hit lower Lake Creek Lake to catch dinner. That lake was jumping with fish and we quickly caught dinner and started fishing for fun.

Finally our feet had had enough and we called it a day. I immediately peeled my boots off to check my feet and found a bit of a blister. No problem, life was still good. We fed up and called her a night.

Day 2 August 25th

It was apparent that our targeted lake was not going to fish. The lunkers were there, in the deep middle, feeding on monster flies that were hatching out there. Way out of range. So plan B: head 3 miles out to a more remote lake by the name of Rattlesnake. We took off early and expected a gnarly walk, but to our surprise, found a nice gentle walk to the lake, and the fish were there!!

We wasted no time in catching them. We caught so many I couldn't even guess a number. We were using our CDC Caddis Black and they were taking! We worked our way around the lake and continued to catch them. Finally the sun was its way down and it was time to get back to camp. An easy walk to greedy fish; Rattlesnake was good to us.

But it held one more surprise for us. On the way back we stumbled into a monster huckleberry patch with blueberry sized berries! We picked a bag full and then ate our fill. The pancakes in the morning were now going from good to awesome. Rattlesnake was a good choice. We get back to camp with smiles on our faces and memories of giants on our mind.

Back at camp we waited for a chance at the big guys in the middle; hoping one would venture into casting range. While I was waiting, I stumbled onto a breeding bundle of Garter snakes which were everywhere around me. I was extremely fun to film those snakes.

Day 3 August 26th

After some high mountain huckleberry pancakes, we decided to take a chance and walk back up the trail to a lake called Spread Point Lake. It was supposedly a big lake on the chain but had no marked trail on the map. We thought that a lake that size should hold a fish and since there was no marked trail, there would have been fewer people fishing it.

Five miles later, we found ourselves looking down on it and started our climb down. The map was right and the trail was non existent. It was extremely bluffy, with blow down after another, and the entire hill side was one big bog. It took us a good half an hour to walk a quarter mile. Once we were there though, we found a dandy camp site, and what was better, fish were everywhere.

We had already gotten plenty of footage so I got the pole and caught a few for dinner. We fished around and discovered that the lake was full of fish and they were all smaller, 8-10 inches. Classic signs of an over populated Lake. Even so, we had a great time catching and releasing fish out of Spread Point Lake.

The following day we navigated our way up that crazy hillside and hiked to the car. It was an awesome trip with excellent scenery, perfect weather, and plenty of superior fishing.






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DATE: 24 Aug 2009, 11:25 am / MOOD: Happy

I got to the river about 4:00 pm in the afternoon, it was 100 degrees and there no fish at the surface anywhere. I drove the river looking for an isolated group of feeders but they were not there.

I finally settled in on a stretch of river below the Rock Garden and began working a few flys. It was about 6:00 and I began seeing a few small black caddis brewing on the water and right in unison a few small fish began to surface. I changed flies to our #20 CDC Black Biot Caddis and began to work the feeders. Bingo, I catch a small brownie and then another small brownie.

I looked to the inside bank about 40 feet ahead and a giant is sipping bugs almost on the bank just outside a moss patch. I zing a cast to him, but miss his feeding zone by a few inches, so I serve it again. He gently sips my fly, I set the hook and he exploded across the river, then turns and bolts straight down river on a big run. I am left in his wake while my mouth opens wondering when this fish will calm. He doesn't, I stop his run down water ahead of my fishing, but he darts back across the river into a line of downed willows and moss beds. I quickly wade to the middle of the river to get an angle to pull the fish out of the brush. It works and I begin bringing him up river. After a few more violent runs he's in the net. Wow!! He's a giant. I admire his beauty, compliment his fight and he disappears in the milk.

I turn and face the river again and it had come alive. I see fish feeding at the far bank, in hard current and close in against my side of the river. They begin to thrash and viciously attack the surface.

I turn to target mode; only focusing on the big boys and positioning myself to serve them. I see a lunker thrashing in hard current and put a cast over him. Nothing, I cast again and the fly lands incorrectly ahead of his feeding trough and quickly moves to his position. An enormous swirl erupts the surface, I set the hook and the war begins. He puts in me for couple of minutes, swims across the river and wraps me around a boulder. Snap the line breaks. He's free and I'm left with shredded tippet and a lost fly. I re-gear while the fish continue a smorgasbord all around me.

And so it went from 8:00 to black dark. I'd select a large brownie and serve him a fly. More times than not he was a taker and we'd enter into another classic tangle between a 5wt rod and an oversized fish. He won some and I won some, but by the time it was over both the fish and I know we had an experience. That last giant, golden fish in the last sliver of daylight will stay in my memory bank for a long time. As I stumbled up the steep bank to the car I could still hear fish ripping at the surface.

We have now added the Black CDC Biot Caddis to our fly store. We have fished this fly at all elevations for all species of fish will amazing results. It's a "Super Fly" our #1 producer of big fish this year. You should own this fly, and get ready for a fishing day like no other!!!


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DATE: 27 Jul 2009, 3:50 pm / MOOD: Happy

Weekend of Fishing and Huckleberry Picking

We at Dry Fly Innovations have built our business on fishing public waters and being shoulder to shoulder with our fellow fishing enthusiasts. This past weekend I had to break tradition and fish a private section of the Little Weiser River. I showed up in Indian Valley on Friday evening around 6:00 pm and met up with a family friend named Wendy and we headed to a section of river that my in laws own. They do not own the water of course, but they do own the land on both sides of the river, which gave us a huge advantage because no one fishes it except for Wendy and my father-in-law. The water was beautiful and was flowing nicely; I thought it would be pretty easy to land a few fish in a short amount of time.

Was I wrong! There was nothing hatching on the surface and the Little Weiser looked like a ghost town. There was nothing feeding on the surface and the only bug in the air was mosquitoes and let me tell you there were a bunch of them. I first tied on a little Bare Belly Caddis (Gray) just to see if that might be the ticket. I fished this fly for about 30 minutes and had no rises or refusals so I knew right away that this was not the fly for this particular evening. I immediately switched to a Blue Dunn stimulator and walked up the river a little ways around a bend and found a gorgeous little run of water and I casted into it and nothing happened. I made another cast and bam out of nowhere a fish came right up and took the stimi. The fight was on and after about 30 seconds I landed a little rainbow (8 inches). Naturally I casted right back to that hole and nothing came to it. Nothing came back to my fly the rest of that night. The fishing conditions were tough because there were no hatches and stimulators were not attracting any fish. Nonetheless, it was a fun night on the river; the Little Weiser won that round.

On Saturday my wife Jessica and I headed to New Meadows for a family function and after that we headed to Burghdorf hot springs about 30 miles from McCall. We got there around 7:00 pm and we found a nice little camp spot that was conveniently placed about 30 yards from the Payette River. I immediately rigged up my pole and went to fishing. There was a monster caddis hatch going on and it looked to me like about a size 18-20. So I figured the Bare Belly Caddis (Gray) needed another shot on the weekend so I put that fly on and started fishing. First cast hit the water and it was not on the river 10 seconds and wham a rainbow came up and took my caddis. I got the fish to me and it was about 8 inches so I took the hook out and let him go. Casted back out on the next cast another fish takes my caddis. Fought that fish around and landed it. I fished the same hole for about an hour may be a little longer and in that time I landed roughly 25 fish all small rainbows ranging from about 6-9 inches. The Bare Belly Caddis (Gray) came through with flying colors.

The next day (Sunday) we went to the hot springs and swam for a few hours and then we headed down towards McCall. On our way back the upper end of the Payette Lake looked real fishy, but when I headed down to the river on both sides of the trail all I could see was huckleberries everywhere. I went back to my truck and grabbed a couple gallon size bags and put my fly pole away and started picking huckleberries. My wife Jessica is not big on fly fishing unfortunately, but she enjoyed her afternoon picking and eating huckleberries. Though it was not fishing, it sure was enjoyable being waist high in huckleberry bushes. If you want to plan a fun weekend of fishing and picking huckleberries I strongly advise you to head to McCall and go to the upper end of the Payette Lake. There are millions of berries to pick and plenty of good fishing holes that you can hit in the same area. Go enjoy the vast beauty and joy of the state of Idaho!




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DATE: 14 Jul 2009, 12:46 pm / MOOD: Happy

July 10th-12th, 2009

This summer has been quite hectic with various trips for weddings, bachelor parties, and back packing trips for Dry Fly Innovations. Needless, to say my wife has been stuck at home because I have been gone for the last four weeks and she could not take the time off to go on any of my trips. We finally had a chance to go hang out and have fun in the mountains just the two of us. Our destination was to head towards Lowman Idaho and hit up the hot springs at Pine Flats.
Fortunately for me, my wife Jessica feels the same way I do when it comes to camping right next to someone and having to pay for it. So we took off on Forest Service Road 582 heading towards Red Mountain and we found a beautiful spot right next to Clear Creek to camp. The first thing I did is walk onto a log that was sticking out into the water and I could see that there was a massive caddis hatch going on and the little stream was alive with fish. I told Jess I have to go fishing or at least try while that caddis hatch was going strong. I quickly put my pole together, tied a new tapered leader with about 4-5 feet of tippet, and picked a nice juicy Adams Caddis (Green) and headed straight for the log.
The very first cast I made drifted for about a second and out of nowhere a fish came up and took it. I set the hook and landed that fish and I realized it was a Bull Trout (4-5"). I carefully took the fly out of the fish's mouth and put it back into the water. I made another cast in the same hole and wham another fish came out of nowhere and took my caddis. I landed that fish and it was another Bull Trout (4-5") and at this point I start to wonder if there is anything else in this little stream besides Bull Trout. I fished for two hours that night and caught several fish and every single fish was a Bull Trout ranging from (2-6"). We had to quit a little early because Jessica lost my last Adams Caddis fly and they were not to excited to go after Black Gold so we decided to call it an evening.
We took off the next morning and headed up towards Bear Valley throughout the flatlands and I was looking for a place to fish but the mosquitoes were just too thick and ferocious. So we headed back down and I found a beautiful little stretch of water that I just had to fish and I tied on a little CDC Caddis (Gray) and made my first cast and like clock work a fish came up and took that fly. It was another Bull Trout (4-5"). At this point I just could not fish that stream any longer because all there was in there was Bull Trout and they are an endangered fish in all Idaho waters. It was unfortunate, but it had to be done.
It was a great trip and we had a blast but the most important thing that we witnessed on this trip was how healthy and vibrant the Bull Trout are doing. There was a lot of small Bull Trout in Clear Creek, which leads me to believe that this species is doing well at least on that little stretch of river that flows from Bear Valley all the way to highway 21. It was great to see the fish are doing well, but it cut our fishing a little short because there was no sense of fishing anymore if all there was in the stream was Bull Trout. So Jessica and I focused our attention on something else just as enjoyable and that was going to the Pine Flats hot spring for a good swim. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun in Lowman Idaho.


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DATE: 07 Jul 2009, 11:27 am / MOOD: Happy

It was Thursday July, 2 on the South Fork of the Boise. It was a busy day with lots of boats and high water, with limited access to fishing holes for waders.

Dr. Jack Matunas and I began fishing a stretch of water a couple of miles above Cow Creek on a big riffle with a side channel. I had done pretty well a few days' earlier on small caddis patterns and sure enough the willows lining the banks were still full of them. We tied on two varieties of caddis to start, a Curley caddis in gray and an Adams caddis in green.

After working the Curley in the side channel a short time I changed flies to a #20 CDC Caddis in green. All of a sudden Jack hooks a nice rainbow on the riffled edge of the main current and I hook a fish behind a brush pile on the side channel. We land both our fish and admire them together in the nets, two gorgeous fish one about 16 inches and the other about 18. We started the day with a double.

We continued to fish up through the hole casting to large rainbows sipping pinks and small caddis. We landed several large rainbows together, and then split. Jack fished the rest of the riffle and I fished the same side channel serving the fly down to feeding fish. The side channel was slow moving, deep and strewn with brush piles and overhanging brush. It would remind of fishing Silver Creek.

I started hooking some really nice rainbows and without the hard current they were fairly easy to bring to the net. I was about half way through the run where I spot a monster rainbow feeding against the other bank. He was directly in front of a brush pile with a canopy of over hanging brush above him; it was nearly an impossible place to cast. Even if you hit his feeding slot perfectly the current would drag the fly and it didn't look natural so the fish wouldn't take. I continued to cast to the fish from above without success, so I moved down straight across from the fish only about 15 feet from his lair. After about 15 short casts I finally settle the fly against the far bank, it drifted naturally over the fish and he subtly raised his head and sipped the fly. I set the hook and he explodes out of the water in a dazzling jump. He runs at me and jumps again within 8 feet of where I'm standing; then runs up river and jumps again. We did battle up and down the channel for a long time, but I finally got him in the fly fishing net, a spectacular 20+ inch fish with brilliant dark colors.

Jack and I continued to work small caddis patterns for the balance of the day with slow steady success. In between wind storms and light rain we managed to land about 25 rainbows, a beautiful collection of large, healthy, over fed fish.


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DATE: 30 Jun 2009, 12:26 pm / MOOD: Happy

6-28-09 South Fork (Boise) Fishing Report

The river flows were about 1800 cfs and boats were everywhere in a constant stream of fisherman throwing big flies to the edges. I started fishing about 1:00 and immediately small caddis, were all around me. I picked one and checked his under belly, a beautiful green abdomen and black thorax.

I started throwing a small green Adams Caddis #20 2XL. Bang, a large male rainbow smacked it and after a small chase I netted a beautiful 19" fish. I worked the Adams for about an hour and caught 2 more fish, but it wasn't the right recipe I could tell. So I dove back into the fly box for a different fly, and settled on a CDC green Caddis on a #20 hook.

As I continued to fish the Caddis hatch became so insane that they began to cluster in groups of 6 to 8 in a tangled ball. Fish started slashing into the hatch and I served the CDC caddis to selected feeding fish. Almost every active fish either took the offering or swiped at it on a false take. After working the fish I was able to coax most of the feeders into a solid take, and the net started to get a heavy duty workout.

I ended the day under the trees on a riffle just below Cow Creek in a very intense Caddis hatch. There were 2 giant rainbows feeding behind the brush pile about 6 feet off the bank. I carefully snuck up to casting range and served the rainbows in the rear. On about the 4th cast he sipped my fly. I planted the steel and he bolted to deep water and began to wallow. The thankfully, he wasn't the hardest fighter of the day, because if he'd have run farther downstream I would have never landed him. He succumbed to the fly fishing net and I admired him for a long time as I revived him. He was a gorgeous 20 inch male with spectacular dark colors. He slipped away leaving only a sweet memory.

Now, for that other bruiser feeding up ahead in the same hole. I waded back into position and he was still porpousing, about 3 feet behind the brush pile. It was a small target to put a fly but after about a half dozen casts I put it on him. Subtly he sipped the fly and the battle was on. After some wild moments and a small chase I ended my day with another 20 inch fish. It's a beautiful life!!!

I ended up landing 21 fish, 3 on a #20 Adams Caddis Green and 18 on a #20 CDC Caddis Green. I figured that wasn't bad given the fact I had to wait for a boat to leave every hole before I could fish.

One last thought. I know its very enticing to tie on a giant Salmon fly pattern and dredge the edges, but a multitude of other fisherman just did the same thing ahead of you. These fish are not stupid. Let the hatch be your guide and right now you should own a #20 CDC Caddis in green to fool a lot of great fly fishing on the South Fork of the Boise River.


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