Wake and Take II

Tom and Rick met post-Thanksgiving at the Ford to try and repeat the previous weeks' success.  Dad and Eric "Here Bear" Burns came along (glad there weren't any Grizzlies at the Ford for Eric to attract by dangling splashing fish in front of them).  We started at the same running water at the second lot as last week, and although there were a few wakes, it was definitely slow compared to last week.  Eric was able to pick one up stripping in the soft water above, and Tom found several, including the large one artfully landed as shown in the photos below.

Eric and his first Rocky Ford fish

Tom and his relaxed fighting technique

Delicate handling of the fish and a view of Tom's better side

Big fish of the day - almost pulled Tom's hat off!

With the limited success here, we moved down to the third lot with intentions of checking out the skinny water down below.  The stretch above the bridge was empty, even though there were a half dozen cars in the lot, so of course Rick stopped and started stripping right at the corner above the bridge.  Three casts and three wakes and takes, and it was clear the skinny water would wait for another day.  While Rick was landing these fish, Tom caught the first of six while standing on the bridge, Dad started breaking off flies in fish and in addition to landing a few from the other side just above the bridge (we neglected to tell him that we had switched to 3x).  Eric got into the action somewhere there.  While Tom and Eric were playing at the bridge and below, Rick and Dad worked up the far side above the bridge, pretty much finding fish every cast stripping bugs for more than an hour.  Rick thought they were pretty small, until he measured a couple and found they were all about 15" and fat.  But that is little at the Ford.  After some really hot action, things finally slowed down enough that we were able to pull ourselves away from the stream and head home.  Another great day at the Ford.

Wake and Take

Tom and Rick paid a post-Phantom visit to the Ford.  No other fisherman were around when we arrived, and we stopped at the second parking lot and fished the little stretch of running water there.  Tom started with the scud and micromayfly that had been successful for him the previous week, while Rick began stripping bugs.  After Rick had six wakes, a couple flies broken off on fish, and one to hand, Tom was stripping and we had a lot of fish for the next while, black and olive bunny leaches in mid to large size (as were the wakes).  When that slowed down, Tom went back to his original setup and consistently nailed a bunch more.  Rick continued mostly stripping, and found more from time to time.  A very good day at the Ford.



Tom and a nice Rocky Ford rainbow

A nicer Ford rainbow

Steelhead success

Thursday, November 15 on the Wenatchee River with Don Shurtz.  We fished the stretch around Leavenworth putting in at the bridge on Icicle Road and taking out at the takeout on East Icicle Road.  As you can see the boat launch was somewhat steep.  We probably don't want to bring the Clakacraft to launch here.  River was running clear and 42 degrees.

We found a fish at the 4th hole.  It was only the third hole on the stretch, but is called the 4th hole because the  4th hole of the Leavenworth Golf Course is adjacent to the river there.

A hard day fishing, but finally found a nice wild hen.  Guide was Doug Pendleton with Red's Fly Shop and he worked hard for us.  Rain sprinkles a bit, but not as cold as Monday on the Methow.  The cloud shrouded mountains looked more like southeast Alaska or the Olympic peninsula.

Steelheading, or snow job?

That was the question Mark had after spending the day on the Methow with Uncle Rob.  Lots of snow--day started by passing an overturned car on the shoulder just as we approached Pateros.  Mark learned, and Rob remembered, that toe warmers work best if you let them warm up for a few minutes before putting them on your feet and into your boots.  Otherwise, they don't get enough oxygen to start the reaction and it doesn't happen until you take them out at the end of the day.

It was a nice day for a float--no wind, some sunshine, crystal clear water.  Flows were up a bit from normal and that made it hard to get the flies to tease through the holes.  Water temp was 36 degrees in the morning and warmed up to 38 degrees by the afternoon, but that is still bone-chilling and the fish may have been in a catatonic state.  In their thoughtless stupor they ignored our offerings.

Rob caught a bull trout.  That was pretty much it for the day.  With steelhead you have to put in your time.  I tried to reassure Mark that even Uncle Tom and Uncle Rick don't catch steelhead every time they go out (though admittedly they do far better than the average angler!)

I have to put my vote for steelheading, not snow job.

Tom not fishing...?

I think I figured out why Tom has no posts since moving to the new church building.  Dad said the new building was essentially right next to the Monitor bridge (and the nice steelhead hole there).  Has anyone asked why you have a pair of waders in the closet of the Bishop's office, or has Elizabeth wondered why you are starting your Bishopric meeting an hour earlier Sunday morning since the Wenatchee opened for steelhead?  You can't post fish caught on Sunday on this blog!

Closing Day at the Creek

Rick made a quick trip to Wenatchee, ostensibly to help Dad finish setting up his new computer and to pick up a bunch of apples for applesauce, but we all know the real reason men get together in the Merrill family - yup, Dad was longing for a visit to The Creek before it closed for the season.

The road may be impassible after another year unless someone gets in there and grades out a really rough spot at the start of the hill.  Which may not matter, because in another year The Creek may be renamed The Swamp.  Very few places were even fishable, the first hole above the crossing is 2/3 full of cattails, and the banks are mostly two feet or more of floating mats of grass.  We found some fish, only a few of normal size 7" to 9", most were very small.  Either the larger fish are hiding under the mats of grass, or people have been spending the year catching and taking, leaving only the little guys.

Although we caught a reasonable number of fish, it is getting harder and harder to return to the creek. This may be my last time until a big flood cleans it out. Little Nunya is open year round and is closer for me. And it isn't overgrown.

About the biggest of the trip, this guy was dark and malformed or torn jaw

Dad at one of the few open areas (the old beaver dam above the crossing)

 

Dad doesn't quite look as excited as he does with a 26" Naknek 'bow...

#98

On the way to Walla Walla and back for Melinda's cross country meet, I took advantage of a beautiful fall day to visit an old friend (Touchet near Dayton) and a new friend (Mill Creek near Walla Walla) and in the process picked up my 98th stream in Washington where I have caught trout.

Starting on the Touchet, I had a couple hours of bliss, catching fish pretty much continually through the first stretch of water, then finding it more spotty further up.  Probably 50 or 60 or so in the couple hours ranging from about 4" to 10", with quite a few in the 9" to 10" range.  Split between the stimulator (size 8 or 10?) and the rubber-legged prince (size 18).  They psycho prince also caught some, but the x-leg prince was chewed down to the hook.

Touchet River - caught a bunch in this stretch



Nice Touchet trout

After Mel ran at the cross country meet at Fort Walla Walla (and bettered her time by 2 min 30 sec from last week), I took off to investigate possible access to Mill Creek, a new stream to me while she watched the rest of the grades run and took the bus home.  Just outside town I found easy access to a pretty stretch of the creek and again found myself alone with a beautiful stream and willing trout.  Almost everything here was on the stimulator, with the fish consistently about 5" to 8".  Much smaller stream than the Touchet, but pretty water, lots of nice holes.  I'm glad I came looking.  A great way to end the day.

Stream #98 - Mill Creek, Walla Walla county

 

Tucannon/Touchet Trout

Posted pics on Facebook, but if it's not in the blog, it's not official.  And I can share more detail here.  September was free from work travel, so I took advantage of a Saturday to take the girls out fishing.  We headed to the Tucannon River for some fall fishing.  It's a pretty little river, generally with lots of fish.  Sometimes you find them mostly small (4" to 7"), sometimes decent sized (8" to 12").  Today we found a mix.  Pretty much all the action on psycho green under an indicator.  I tried the stimulator as there are October caddis around this time of year, but pretty much all the action was on the nymph. 

 

Once the girls were set up, I just pointed them to the water and they caught the fish.  In one wide stretch, we were all three fishing side by side and catching them.  We all caught plenty.

 

Jess fishing one channel where the river split

Melinda fishing the hole on the other half of the river

Melinda lands the big fish of the day.  I was just upstream when I heard an excited exclamation as she was surprised by this larger fish.  A good surprise.

Jessica is not far behind in size.  She was fishing the seam along the far bank, and doing it well

After a little more than a couple hours, the girls said they were hungry (don't know what that has to do with anything - I can be hungry and still fish for 12 hours....), but since I do want them to go fishing with me again, we headed back to Dayton and Ray's Drive-in, the traditional stopping place since Jessica was 2 yrs old.  After burgers and fries and other good stuff, I suggested that we stop by the Touchet River just a few blocks away.  The girls were happy to stay in the car and knit or play games on my phone, while I fished a familiar stretch from the footbridge to below the dam.  The fish were very willing, about 40 or so in the hour I fished, ranging from a little larger than fry up to about 9".  Both the stimulator and the psycho prince were well received.

Touchet trout

A very nice day with the girls.



Schaefer Lake with scouts

Today was a 10-mile day hike with the scouts.  Went to Schaefer Leke.  I've tried twice before to go there but had to turn back.  This time we made it.  Brook trout liked #12 yellow humpy.  Lots of fish, lots of fun.

One of  my scouts tried to throw his boot across the river we had to ford near the end of the hike.  His boot went up.  His boot went down.  His boot went plop.  His boot did drown.

It was a brand new pair of boots, worn for the first time.  After nine and three-quarters miles of use, it went very quickly downstream in the current.  It was the first time in 20+ years if scoutmastering that I've had a boy finish a hike barefooted.  Both of his socks were in the boot that went in the river.

Scout-a-vista Rainbows

Trout Lodge donated rainbow trout for the small lake at Camp Scout-a-vista above Wenatchee a few weeks ago.  They will be part of a fishing derby station for the cub scouts in a couple of weeks.  Today I was there with the 11-year old scouts doing an orienteering course.

As luck would have it, the course that I laid out had its end point near the lake so after I got a group of boys started on the mile long course I wandered up to the lake to wait for them and determine how close they were to the actual end point.  While there I had determined to catch and release a representative sample the fish to be able to ascertain their health status and verify that they would be satisfactory for the cubs a few weeks hence.  I noticed that a blue heron also had the same idea, but I suspect that he is there more often than I am.

I had three groups of boys so I had to go up there to the course end three times today.  Oh well, somebody had to do it.  I have a couple photos of rainbows.  Caught 14 on a size 10 flashback pheasant tail behind a cast-a-bubble.  It was better early in the morning.  Had lots that got on (briefly) and then got off after a short fight.  A few were also very hearty jumpers.  A fun day at Camp Scout-a-vista!

Oh yeah, the group of boys that were closest finished within 7.5 feet of the actual end point.  I was pretty impressed and had Trails End carmel corn as a reward for the group that was closest.

On the way to BYU-I (or back from) - Part 3

 

Spent yesterday unloading Sarah's stuff, helping her move in, buying more stuff, attending the Parent's meeting, and then biding farewell.  Headed to Birch Creek BLM campground to sleep in the car.  I rolled the window down a bit so I could listen to the sound of the creek as I slept - nice!  Morning came with a beautiful sunrise, a brown sugar and cinnamon pop tart, and an hour of fishing with similar results as Wednesday - a good number of 7 to 9-inch rainbows.

Sunrise at Birch Creek

Birch Creek rainbow

After an hour of fishing, I left Birch Creek and headed for the Big Lost River to check out the tailwater fishery below Mackay Dam.  There are a few sportsman access points around Mackay.  The first one I went in to (Upper Access?) looked empty, but then some bait chuckers drove in and plopped in the river just upstream of me.  Looking to move I found cars upstream and down, perhaps fisherman, perhaps not, so I left to check out the access a little ways upstream at the base of the dam.  This one was empty - yes! 

The river is decent sized and very nice in this stretch.  I was nymphing and rotated through flies the first couple holes, had a few misses, spooked some fish in the tailout, and finally settled in on a size 18 micro golden stoneflow and a size 12 caddis green psycho prince for the most part.  A size 14 purple psycho prince also produced.  Hoppers were ignored.

Big Lost River

I found the fish that were actively feeding (at least on what I was tossing) tended to be in the riffles, not in the tailouts or deeper sections of the holes.  Once I was dialed in, I landed probably 30 fish or so, most in the 8" to 12" range, with a few a little bigger, up to about 15" or 16" for the biggest.  I saw bigger fish in the holes and occasionally rising.  This was a short section of maybe 5 or 6 holes like the one pictured between the starting point and the base of the dam, but I spent about 3 1/2 hours here, enjoying every minute.  If there were other fisherman, you'd be consigned to trying to coax fish out of one or two holes.  As I was fishing on the right hand side of the island just below the dam, a couple other fisherman appeared up the left hand side and plopped themselves in the hole at the base of the dam directly above me.  That's OK, it wasn't that good a hole anyway (a big pool, not a riffle) and I caught a couple in the water they had just fished through.  Met another fisherman on my way back down who was fishing small dries in the flat water (tricos?) which I think is more typical for the purists who fish these waters.  Any rate, this is a great place to stop if in the area, and I will try to pay a return visit.

Nice Big Lost River rainbow

Big fish of the trip - healthy fighing in the fast water

I briefly checked out the access point below Mackay and found one brook trout and nothing else.  By the time I got back to Arco, it was 4 pm and I was only 111 miles from Rexburg, so I packed things up and turned for home.  I drove off to check out a Silver Creek access point, but it looked too much like a big Rocky Ford for my tastes, then as I passed Anderson Dam and the South Fork of the Boise, I was tempted to briefly wet the fly, but I decided to leave that exploration for another day.  I have four years of back-and-forths to Rexburg to check that one out.  Arrived home just after 10:30 pm, not bad for as much time as I got to spend fishing on the way home.

On the way to BYU-I Part 2

There are no fish in Montana!  At least for me today.  South from Missoula, stopped at the E Fork Bitterroot off the highway.  Pretty water, about the size of the upper Logan river, we fished a couple nice runs, nary rise, I didn't see a fish.  Enough of that.  On to Trail Creek, a tributary of the Bighole.  Not too large a creek, cold, pretty flat and meandering, fished a few run, not a rise, didn't see anything in the water.  Stopped at the Bighole Battlefield, nice visitors center and movie, drove down to the N Fork Bighole, a flat, meandering stream, and tossed a fly in a couple holes, nothing.  With so much smoke from fires that you couldn't even see the mountains, that was enough, let's get out of Montana.

We drove south from Wisdom towards Dillon, but turned off and found our way by gravel roads across Bannock Pass, down into Idaho and the Lemhi Valley.  The gazetteer showed a dotted line down along the road that led down from the pass (intermittent stream), but I soon noticed a small amount of water.  After passing a large side canyon, I thought I saw a good bit of water through the willows.  I started driving down the left side of the road to get a better look and looked down into a tiny stream, but big enough.  I quickly stopped and walked down the bank to the hole beside the road.  Five fish later, I came up and got my waders on.  Sarah stayed and knitted, while I worked my way upstream and found lots of small rainbows that acted like they had never seen a fisherman before, rising slowing to the hopper and sucking it in.  Just about anyplace you could get a fly that should have fish, had at least one.  Did I mention the willows?  Yeah, it was tough fishing in places, but what a hoot and a pleasant, unplanned, surprise. 

Canyon Creek rainbow

Canyon Creek

On to Rexburg via Birch Creek and a several mile section of BLM land.  Driving south through the wide, dry valley, all of a sudden, there is the rather large stream flowing through the sagebrush.  The BLM has a campground and access spread along a couple miles of the stream.  This was my last planned stop.  The stream is fast flowing, clear, cold, and not a lot of deep holes.  In the first little run, I found about five little rainbows.  Sarah came out and we fished a couple sections for an hour or so, and found a good number of fish.  Sarah got the biggest one of the trip, about 12 or 13 inches, but no photo as it fell off before I could get the camera out.  If you are in the area, this merits a stop, just to fish such a pretty stream in such an unexpected location. 

Birch Creek rainbow

Sarah fishing Birch Creek

On to Rexburg and preparing to kiss Sarah goodbye.

On the way to BYU-I Part 1

 

The RAV4 was full to the brim with boxes of Sarah's stuff, with just enough room in the back corner for waders and rods.  Our plan was to drive up over Lolo Pass to Missoula on Tuesday, then down to Rexburg on Wednesday.  With a little bit of a late start and long driving time, we made it to the Lochsa River very late in the day with just a little bit of time to sample the fishing.  I couldn't stand driving by the river for long without stopping, so I stopped and tossed an orange stimulator for a few minutes in the lower section where it isn't catch and release.  I caught one dink in pocket water near shore, then had three rises of good, chunky fish to long casts across a current, but missed all three.  Continued on to the C&R section, late evening, fished a nice run with rises at times to almost every cast, some hookups, no size to them.  Beautiful stream, wish I had more time to work it a little harder.  Based on my results, I'd fish more in the lower sections.  It would be a long drive to come over here just to fish this (almost 5 hours).  On across Lolo pass in the dark, so no admiring the scenery.

Lochsa Cutt

Diamond Fork with Ethan

So today is my off Friday, making this a 4-day weekend for me. I thought I would kick it off with a trip to the river with my favorite fishing buddy Ethan. We headed up to Diamond Fork around 9am. The time is important because as we were driving up Diamond Fork road, we passed at least 5 vehicles. This was making me a little nervous. All of my spots had cars in them. I kept driving to one of the spots Rob and I fished last month, just above the first campground. In fact it was the same spot Rob hooked into a couple of nice browns, so I knew fish were there. I tied on a brown stone fly with a psycho prince nymph. 2 casts in and landed this beauty.

It was Ethan's first fly fishing excursion and he loved it.  He asked when he gets his own fly rod.  It gave me goose bumps.

The Trip Home...

My route home from Metaline Falls was planned to maximize the number of streams we could visit, turning a 4-hour drive into a 12-hour adventure.  Mel was a trooper, indulging her dad's mania while serving as official photographer.  After all was said and done, I put eight new streams under my belt, bringing my uncertified total to 97 streams.  Here is the rundown for the day:

Silver Creek was a quick stop to pick up a geocache and a brookie.

Silver Creek brook trout

Fished Deep Creek at the highway crossing, but with the long cast laying across water and a small grassy mudflat, missed the only strike I had.  Beautiful meandering meadow stream, but private land.  So we moved on to Meadow Creek, which was a mismash of fallen timber.  In the first hole a cutt was found, but fell off on the way to hand, so we continued up a few holes until we found this nice brookie.

Meadow Creek brook trout

On to Mill Creek tributaries, first pulling a small rainbow out of the hole below the culvert at the road crossing on the Middle Fork Mill Creek.

Middle Fork Mill Creek

Next on to the South Fork Mill Creek, small and brushy in the publicly accessible areas, missed a small one in the first hole so we continued until I was able to entice this nice brookie to the fly.

South Fork Mill Creek

After recharging at McD's in Colville, it was on to the North Fork Chewelah Creek where I was surprised by a nice little brown.  This was a pretty little stream, but full of timber toothpicks and difficult to fish.

North Fork Chewelah Creek - brown trout

Crossing over the ridge to the nearby South Fork Chewelah Creek found a very small stream by the time we got to National Forest Land, but we were able to find a fish at the bridge crossings of the South Fork Chewelah and two tributaries, Wilson Cr and Six Mile Cr.  Good thing there were fish at the crossing, because these streams were so small they were virtually inaccessible once they entered the forest and brush.

South Fork Chewelah Creek

Wilson Creek

Six Mile Creek

It was time to turn for home, but since there were still a few hours of daylight left and we were north of Spokane, there was really only one possible route home - by way of Little Nunya!  Approaching from the north, I was again amazed by the sudden appearance of a trout stream in the midst of rolling expanses of wheat fields stretching from horizon to horizon.  We arrived shortly before sunset, and quickly made our way to the bridge hole.  This was psycho prince country now!  Melinda quickly was catching fish and learned and practiced the downstream mend.  After we had both brought a few from the bridge hole to hand (eight inch fish seemed like monsters after the fish I'd been catching earlier in the day), I told Melinda we had to move up to the little run above before leaving.  Only one strike in the lower section, but we could see fish actively feeding on the surface in the upper section.  Carefully moving up, she and I stood side by side taking turns, catching probably 15 or 18 fish between the two of us, all 9 to 12 inches.  Then as it got dark, the fish went to sleep and we turned for home.  No pictures here but those etched in my mind, fishing side by side with my daughter in one of my favorite places to visit.