Hunting for Bulls

No, I haven't changed sports and decided to hunt instead of fish. This was a trip to a stream where it is legal to fish for bull trout (catch and release). They are federally protected in much of their range and off-limits to target even for catch and release, so this is a unique fishery. Backpacking into a remote wilderness stream where it is possible to catch trout in the mid 20-inch range on giant, articulated streamers is pretty exciting. The fact that the area is inhabited by bears (lots of poop seen, no animals), rattlesnakes (none thankfully, but we did see a rubber boa), and even a wolf pack (didn't hear any, a combination of disappointment and relief) makes it even more exciting. My friend Kirk Morris has hiked in to fish a couple times before and was looking for a companion. I jumped at the chance.

It's a smallish river, cold and clear, tumbling fast in a narrow canyon. I'd marked 14 larger holes in about 3 miles of stream on my satellite map. We made it to twelve of them in our three days of fishing. After the hike in and setting up camp, we headed for a few of the closest holes for the evening. Kirk graciously let me be first up, swinging a big, black streamer into the softer water at the edge of the main current in a nice sized run. The first swing drew a strike, the second swing was hammered, with the fish and the fast water putting a good bend in my 8-wt. A nice 20-inch bull soon made its way into Kirk's very undersized net. Kirk stepped up and quickly found another. None of the others we could see in the tail of the hole were interested, so we moved on to the next hole, where we found a couple more bulls, and so the evening went. By the time dusk was approaching, I had four to the net, the biggest 22-inches, Kirk had five, including a monster 26-inch brute. Only a couple were less than 20 inches. What a start to the trip!

22 inch bull trout

Kirk's monster 26-inch bull just behind our camp

26-inch bull

My only reel with a sink tip was an 8-wt, which may seem like overkill, but I was glad I had it to better toss the heavily weighted flies and to handle large fish in the swift current. Fishing barbless on both hooks made release a breeze with minimal hurt. Beautiful fish.

The next day, we hiked downstream a couple miles on the barely visible remnants of a trail to check out a number of the holes we'd marked. Tough hiking to to the river, bushwacking along the river between holes, and climbing back out, but well worth it. The fish were more close mouthed than the night before, but we still had quite a few strikes and brought a couple each to the net, including Rick's largest at 23.5 inches. Kirk found quite a few decent sized rainbows with smaller flies after we'd tried enticing the bulls. 

Rick's 23.5-inch bull trout

A nice rainbow on this stream is bait for bulls (literally)

By the morning of the third day, we'd hit most of the holes we'd planned on, and with thunderstorms dousing us the previous two nights, clouds threatening in the morning, and cooler temperatures, we decided to fish the morning and hike out in the afternoon before camp got wet again. We could again see the big bulls laying in the holes, but could only entice a couple more each to our flies. One I found was on my 3-wt with a size 16 psycho prince when looking for rainbows (luckily a small one at 17 inches). Kirk had a similar sized bull the previous day on a different size 16 fly. 

All in all a great trip, beautiful fish, and a unique fishery. Kirk had 9 bulls to the net, I had 8. Throw in some rainbows and the beautiful scenery and its hard to beat. Thanks to Kirk for the invite!