Trout Can’t Hide at 33% – Island Park Reservoir

by | Aug 26, 2015 | Uncategorized | 1 comment

blog-Aug-26-2015-1-island-park-reservoirSay the word reservoir to a trout fly fishermen and they run for cover like cutthroat in the radar of an osprey.  Mention furthermore that the reservoir is only 33% full and they envision a dried up cracked earth desert.  Personally, I love fly fishing the reservoirs simply because I know I’ll have a body of water to myself.  That’s not easy to experience these days.  And if the body of water is at 33% full, which is about where Island Park Reservoir water levels are right now, it means the fish will be easy to find.

 

blog-Aug-26-2015-2-grub-stake-island-park-idahoEasy to find they were at Island Park Reservoir (IPR).  We awoke on the banks of the Henry’s Fork this morning to warm temps and overcast skies.   We could have ventured back down in the Ranch with such perfect Trico conditions but these conditions make lake fishing equally as excellent.  After coffee and breakfast sandwiches took the edge off, Tim Brune, Ben Smith and his friend Joe and I set off of for IPR with two boats.

 

blog-Aug-26-2015-3-island-park-reservoirThe houses along IPR seem strange.  They’re so far up from the water’s edge it isn’t pretty.  The Henry’s Fork has been sending lots of water to central Idaho for farming irrigation which is why IPR is so low.  We can only hope for big snows this winter to help bring water levels to where they need to be.

 

blog-Aug-26-2015-4-flyfishing-island-park-idahoWe motored up the lake for about twenty minutes and slid into a bay that was productive for Phil Rowley and me last month.  I was fishing my new 6-weight Winston Boron III Plus and three small leech patterns.  A dark color with a bead head on the point then five feet up, a tan bugger dropper and up top the same small burgundy colored leech that worked when with Phil.  Half way into the first drift I landed the first scrappy lake rainbow.

 

blog-Aug-26-2015-5-tim-brune-flyfishingThe fishing stayed consistent all day long.  Brune and I went back and forth netting fish for each other.  I saw Ben land a few.  Fishing was so good that I changed from leeches to nymphs solely to change things up to keep the day interesting.  On my third cast pulling nymphs I hooked a crazy fighting rainbow.  He ran and did these funny half jumps.  He changed direction during the fight like I had never seen.  It turns out I had two fish on and naturally they were fighting each other.  Thanks to strengthy 0X SA Flouro I landed both fish – one about 15” and the other an easy 17”.  Not bad.

 

I’m Cubs crazy more than normal this summer so we left for home so I’d be on my couch with a Sierra Nevada in hand for first pitch.  That meant we hoisted the boat on the trailer about 5 PM.  It was a great two days.  Next on the agenda is Blackfoot Reservoir to introduce Gary Eckman to his first mirror carp.

 

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

1 Comment

  1. Janet Holmes a Court

    Must have wrong email address for you. Love to see you both
    My cell phone 9176551807
    Janet Holmes a Court

Welcome to the Blog of Jeff Currier!

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I started fly fishing at age 7 in the lakes and ponds of New England cutting my teeth on various sunfish, bass, crappie and stocked trout. I went to Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, where I graduated with a Naturalist Degree while I discovered new fishing opportunities for pike, muskellunge, walleyes and various salmonids found in Lake Superior and its tributaries.

From there I headed west to work a few years in the Yellowstone region to simply work as much as most people fish and fish as much as most people work. I did just that, only it lasted over 20 years working at the Jack Dennis Fly Shop in Jackson, WY where I departed in 2009. Now it’s time to work for "The Man", working for myself that is.

I pursue my love to paint fish, lecture on every aspect of fly fishing you can imagine and host a few trips to some of the most exotic places you can think of. My ultimate goal is to catch as many species of fish on fly possible from freshwater to saltwater, throughout the world. I presently have taken over 440 species from over 60 countries!

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