The one good thing about dropping of your kid at Rexburg is the trip back. After getting Sarah unloaded and a little bit groceried-up, I headed west to Birch Creek, where the Milky Way filled the overhead sky as I put together my bed in the back of the RAV, and the sound of the creek lulled me to sleep through the slightly open window. I awoke as it was getting light and got things ready for a little fishing before I moved on. Birch Creek was the same as always - clear, fast, not much holding water, but willing fish to be found. I fished long enough to catch these nice little rainbows and a few others, typical of the fish here - 7" to 10" - on a double nymph. It is such a pretty little spot
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| Nice litte rainbow before the sun was up |
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| A little nicer rainbow shortly thereafter |
Enough of the little guys, on to the South Fork of the Boise, my first time to visit there. The first pullout I stopped at, I saw red salmon paired up in the run below (kokanee). So I put on the heavy stonefly and a sockeye bead, and promptly caught a 21" ---- whitefish. Shortly thereafter, a 19" ----- sucker. A couple more very feisty whitefish, then finally a decent sized rainbow, about 12". I kept the bead on and worked my way down the wide run, kind of like fishing the Kulik, except not so many fish and mostly whitefish and you aren't surrounded by grizzly bears. Heck, it was fun. The whitefish were aggressive and fought hard. As I cast into the shore behind a pair of red kokanee, there was an quick hit and a large silver flash, not yellow, that broke the 5x tippet on the strike. Dang! That was likely a rainbow. A short time later, I finally found a thick rainbow, 19" long, and got it into the net.
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| 19" South Fork Boise rainbow |
I found a couple more whitefish before moving down to another section, where the water ran fast and heavy. Fishing pocket water and a couple slots along the edge away from the main current, I found a number of other rainbows, up to 14", but that guy leaped from my hand right before I pushed the shutter button. Some on Turk's Tarantula, Size 10 or 12, some on a size 16 irresistible, some on a size 12 golden stone, even one on the psycho prince size 16. This place is a cool canyon, pretty stream, and definitely some nice fish. With a little more exploring, and bringing someone like Tom along who knows what they are doing, and I'm sure we could find more. Come in mid-September when the kokanee are in, and enjoy the poor man's Alaska, beading behind salmon.
