July 28, 2020
I always sleep under the stars but I took on a little rain at 3 AM. I was lucky it wasn’t much more than for five minutes but I retreated for Erik Moncada’s tent. When we woke up at 6 AM the skies were gray and ominous down here on the Lower Snake River.
We were doing a 5 mile float and Boots Allen launched his boat around 7 AM. Then I hung with the boat and gear while he and Erik did the shuttle. I had a Yeti Tumbler full of coffee and spent the 45 minutes cleaning the boat and checking my knots. I just knew there were big fish to catch. It was a beautiful scene both upstream and down.
When the guys returned Boots took the oars and he maneuvered us upstream to where we caught several nice rainbow trout last year. It’s a rapid that dumps in to the slow moving lower Snake. Getting up to it takes a pro oarsman and Boots made it look easy. Once there we went to work but unlike last year, it seemed the fish weren’t there.
I promise you, the rainbows of last year were exceptional so there was no giving up after ten minutes. Instead, Erik and I hammered away with numerous fly changes, adjustments in stripping and you name it. We picked up a couple small bass and each lost a trout. About 45 minutes in, our persistence paid off and I landed this chunky-silvery slab rainbow. This nice fish isn’t the story however. It was the brown trout that followed him in. The brown was at least 6” longer which is why we fished another 45 minutes! Unfortunately it was to no avail.
I took the oars after the trout spot and eased us through the slower parts of the river for smallies. Boots and I popped morning brews because that big rainbow needed a toast. We found ourselves in a spot where not only did the bank look like good bass water but there was a suspicious river seam that caught my attention. I pointed it out and held us there for a few more cast.
Erik pulled out this more than respectable Idaho smallmouth. For the next few hours the bass fishing was no less than exceptional. If there were any complaints it would only be that the fish weren’t on poppers at all. Instead we plugged away with Clouser Minnow concoctions and I stuck with Pat Delaney’s fly that did me right yesterday.
I picked up a couple more hawg smallies as well. These smallies are so fat that their bodies nearly go right from belly to tail. You don’t think of the Snake River as a world class smallmouth bass fishery but no doubt it is!
We had a several light rain storms greet us on our way downstream in the afternoon. We also had some of the obnoxious heavy wind we expected. In the high desert you never know what’s going to happen so the Simms rain gear and fleece is always at hand.
Meanwhile we kept on fishing and I found myself casting to a shear cliff that jetted deep into the Snake, a place we weren’t even sure a smallmouth bass would live. And I hooked a carp. This was a carp I hooked blind and it was on Pat’s big Clouser. A carp with fierce predation skills. And this fish was huge!
I was using my 6-weight Winston Air and it’s a good thing. This carp ripped me downstream like a snook in a Central American river. Things didn’t look good but Erik chased with the boat and Boots stretched out his net to make it as big as possible. Nearly 15 minutes later I was hoisting a common carp that every carp hunting fly fisher dreams about!
After the storms passed it was 6 PM. The wind blew away the cool weather we enjoyed and the temperature leaped to 93°. Even the carp took a nap in the thickest of weeds. We pulled into a weed filled bay and I grilled up a fishing favorite of mine for the guys, fresh spicy brats.
After the brats we walked a flat I fished after Boots left last year. We saw a few carp and Boots hooked up only to be buried in the weeds on the first run.
Over all the evening was slow. I found a school of smallies and busted up a few on the same black Wooly Bugger that I used on the first night for carp. It was tons of fun. We returned to our new camp at 10:45 PM ALMOST too exhausted for a beer.
July 29
It was a beautiful morning today. I slept in. I didn’t get up until about 6:45. Boots did the same. But Erik on the other hand got up earlier and snapped off some amazing photos. He caught me down for the count on a picknick table. Picknick tables are one of my favorite sleeping spots while camping because they are always rock free and level!
Boots had to be home by 2 PM so rather than a big fishing morning we took a boat ride to learn a new section of the Lower Snake River. We launched around 8 AM and enjoyed. We caught two more smallies then called it a trip. And what trip it was with great friends and plenty of nice fish.
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