Floating The River On High Water

Adam and his lovely wife Christine invited me to float the river on the dropping flows after the record flooding. We had a great time watching the wildlife and scenery roll by as we swiftly headed down river. Flows at the gauge in Saratoga were around 4900 cfs which kept us moving along. We did 19 river miles and managed some decent brown trout on buggers and streamers throughout the day. It wasn't red hot fishing but it certainly felt good after all the high water had closed down floating due to low bridges and dangerous water. Brown was my best color of the day for actual fish takes. I managed to leave a few in the bushes and roots along the banks of the river as well. A beautiful day on the water and I even spotted a few elk on the way home in the approaching evening.

Adam with a river brown

Christine with a nice brown trout

Christine working a back eddy - she deemed this "good" water

A bald eagle that we drifted under before he took flight

I even managed to find a few browns

Looking down river in the afternoon

Nothing On The Drifts

I hit one of the close lakes to town this evening hoping to find a few willing rainbow trout to fight and couldn't buy any action. I tried the typical nymph combos for the lake as well as various buggers and had a single hard strike on the bugger to go home with tonight. A quick stop to cast for browns on the moving water was fruitless too. At least the wind was semi-tolerable.

Midge Hatch In The Tube

The float tube seemed like the perfect way to spend the day on a Sunday that was warm enough to require sunscreen with nothing but a light jacket backup in case of rain. I hit the water around 9:00am and was rewarded with a terrific midge bite that continued into the early afternoon. I managed a few rainbows in the 22 inch range and one fish that hit the 23 inch mark. That is the best trout I have seen from this particular lake this year and bodes well for the fall. All the fish were fat, gluttonous feeders and tremendous fighters. I only had two fish under 18 inches all day. Also, I found my first decent sized cutthroat from the stocked fish a couple of seasons back. That was nice to see here as well. Eric met up with me on the lake for the action and stayed until the big storm blew through causing us to retreat to the cars. I went back out after the storm but the fish had turned off. Satisfied with my day, I headed home and found piles of hail in town and at the house. We were lucky to just be on the edge of the storm at the lake.

A few of the better rainbows



Release video of rainbow


Bear River Cutthroat Trout

The incoming storm that dropped lightning and hail across the valley