We repeated the trip the past two days, going to Bonneville Creek for about an hour and 45 mins. and then to the Greys.
OK, the trip in July was with our friend, Mike, from Boise, Idaho. We stopped at Bonneville Creek and I took the bottom mile of river and Mike and Dan took the upper. I forgot my camera (inconceivable!) so I have no pictures to document the most unbelievable 3 hours of fishing I have ever had in my life. The fish were taking every cast. I missed/lost a good 20 fish, but I landed, and I kid you not, somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 fish! The average size would be about 10″ and the largest was about 14″. It was to the point by the last half hour that I was just walking through the river heading back to the truck tossing my fly without really trying to catch fish, but I was catching them anyhow. Mike apparently hooked into a good number of them too (we have pictures of him and his fish).
From their we hit the Portneuf only to find it very muddy. So we left.
We got to the Greys about 8:00pm and it was a bit higher than we would like (about 1000 cfs), but it looked fishable, so we set up the trailer. While Dan was setting up the trailer, I sneaked to one of my favorite holes and quickly picked up two 16″ finespotted cutthroats. We spent all of the next catching some beauties. Nothing too big, with the biggest picked up by Dan at about 19″.
This past Wednesday, August 12, Dan and I repeated the trip.
The fishing at Bonneville was good (about 15 each in 1.5 hours). And then it was off to the Greys. We had some pretty good fishing nad picked up more larger fish, each of us bringing to hand a fair number of fish over 16″, but the biggest only 18″. I didn’t catch anything under 12″, with most of them in the 14″-16″ range.
Enjoy the pictures! (Dan has some more pictures of our most recent trip I will add when he gets them to me.)
Please do not post where you have been, it’ll just crowd up the spot. The “Provo” is always a good place to say where you have been.
Andy,
Thanks for your thoughts.
I notice many fishing forums have some concerns about the topic of naming rivers. I tend to avoid forums and don’t plan on posting or naming rivers on any forums. I have a fairly small readership to my blog, and I’m not too worried about those couple of people fishing the rivers I mention. Anyhow, the only way someone is going to find the names of rivers on my blog who doesn’t already read my blog is through a search. If they did a search for a river I have named, they already know the name of the river, so I’m not telling them anything they don’t know, other than a fishing report.
That said, I’m not sure which of the two waters mentioned in this post that we fished that you are referring to. The Greys River in Wyoming is a large, long river (about 50 miles) and receives relatively little pressure, but is capable of more. It is not some little creek which can’t handle a couple more fishermen or has a fragile ecosystem or threatened fish. Also, you’ll notice I’m not mentioning where on the Greys I fished. Those criteria are ones I might use to keep a place quiet.
However, the other creek, “Bonneville Creek,” is, a made up name. So was the former name we used for the creek, West Fork Bear River. I don’t believe you’ll find either of those rivers in Idaho. If you do, that’s not the creek I’m talking about. This is a creek that will never be named on my blog because it is extremely small (only about 3 fishable miles) and has the potential for a large influx of fishermen on a waterway that has a vulnerable species, the Bonneville cutthroat.
I also mentioned other rivers, but didn’t fish them. If the concern is mentioning any water with fish in them, then that’s of a different concern. Anyone familiar with any of the countless studies done on rivers and creeks can find a lot more information than I give on my blog. In fact, one of the ways I determine what new “secret” waters I’d like to try is to consult some of these fish studies that are easily found on the internet. They often have maps, fish counts per mile, fishing pressure, etc., etc. That’s how these other waters mentioned in the post were “found.” Anyone searching for these waters are as likely to find my posts as they are these other studies/papers during that search.
i agree with you scott. even though i sometimes don’t mention names on my blog, even with a small following, i don’t think that it is that big a deal. now posting it on a forum is another story. i love all 3 of those rivers/creeks. how are the cutts in labarge this year? last year the bigger ones were diseased pretty nastely.
Mike, we didn’t fish LaBarge, Hams, Smiths, etc. mentioned in the original post, just “Bonneville Creek” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and Greys. I’ve never fished any of those three, but will one of these days. We tried Preuss and Giraffe (also mentioned in the first post, but tried and not succeeded and explained in this post).
i have fished all 3 and really like them all. i wanted to get up to the smiths last sunday but nobody could go. i have access to private waters on the smiths so that is nice.
Nice pics Scott. Good to hear the fishing is still so good on the Grey. As you are well aware, the Grey is my absolute fav western river.
And thanks for not revealing where on the river you were. Some secrets were meant to be kept!
Harry,
This is my “homewater” #1. There is about a 5 mile stretch out of the 50+ miles of river that is my favorite section. Not to be revealed. But, my favorite section might not be yours. I’m trying to fish different sections each time and increase the number of fishing miles for me. I’ve found that if I spend the time, I can raise fish in more places than I originally thought. I even took three fishermen from our local TU Chapter for an outing there once. Showed them some of my favorite holes, and I think they only caught a couple of fish. It can be a finicky place to fish, so I’m not too worried.
However, I will say that this time was the most anglers I’ve ever seen (the trip in mid-July had the usual number). We’re still not talking a lot, with maybe 8 anglers in “my” 5 mile stretch, and four of them were in a group. The worst news was some bozo had a stringer of 4 or more 12″-14″ cutts that he was catching with live grasshoppers on a bait rig. Arrrrgggghhhh!
Scott,
Nice report! I was in that area in 2007, but never made it to the Grey. Fished the Smith and if it is indicative of that WY/ID region, fishing pressure is the least of the Bonneville’s worries. It appeared land use was a larger concern than fishing pressure.
BTW, I find my streams by calling the state fisheries biologists.
Chris
Chris,
You got it! Land use is the number two concern (hybridization is #1). Private ownership and cattle allotments on public lands are the real killer. The Greys has public grazing, but with it being such a big river, it really hasn’t had much of an impact. Those smaller ones (Smiths, Hams, La Barge, etc.) are much more impacted from land use. Most of these places have relatively small amounts of fishing pressure.
Calling the state fisheries biologists is a good idea too. We often have them come to our TU meetings and give a report. You can find many of these reports from fisheries biologists and university research projects online. The information is free and readily available.
And you didn’t jump all over that guy? You have more self-control that I have. It would be nice to see cuts as catch and release only. I admit to keeping a nice rainbow out of a put & take fishery once in a while for eating, but keeping a native cut?
We were talking about vacation plans for next yearthe other night-I just may make it out there.
My fishing buddy, Dan, is the one who saw him. Dan said as soon as this guy noticed Dan, he turned around and quickly moved out of there. I need to check the proclamation, but at some point it is artificial flies/lures only and I think he was in that zone–I usually don’t worry too much about those kinds of regs because I always use artificial and I always release. Guess I need to start paying attention to help patrol the areas I fish. If I knew the regs for sure, I certainly would have found his vehicle and reported him (license plate #).
Sounds like a great time Scott!
Yep, it was!
What an awesome trip Scott. Glad you put up this report. I am salivating at the thought of a shot at it this fall. Your pictures from this one are outstanding. “Greys River Road” and that tail shot really stand out to me.
Glad you liked it. Let me know if you end up going up, and if you need/want/could live with some company, I’ll see if I could make it.
Excellent photo’s as usual. I love the boot rod case, never seen anything like that before. Beautiful fish, I’d like to get out and see a few different specie of trout in different areas, makes me want to target our native brookies more often.
I’m glad you enjoyed the photos.
The “boot case” was just a spur of the moment thing. I took my regular tube that I keep my rod in, but it doesn’t have a spot for my reel to stay attached. So I took my case that has a spot for the reel because I knew we’d be getting in and out of the truck and I wanted the rod to be protected, but not put all the way away in the tube. But, silly me, the rod I made the case for is shorter than the rod I took with me, so the bottom three inches of reel was sticking out the case. So I just shoved it in my boot to protect it. Dan wanted the picture.
The trade-off for the brookies, I’d imagine, would be a steep drop in size. Bu, for me, fishing for the native, no matter the size, is a pretty cool feeling–just knowing that you’re fishing for fish that should be there. We have some planted brookies here, and I think they are about the most beautiful–I’d personally be fishing for them every chance I got if they were native here.
I was totally burned out on the trip and the bike race Saturday morning and all the modeling in front of the camera…but after reading your post (great one) and seeing all the incredible pictures…I got the bug to go again, and again, and again. Nice job Scott…pictures coming your way soon!
I love that you’re posting yourself as “taking” bull–that gives me free reign to give you bull since you’re taking it instead of talking it. Let’s get those pictures!
Wow, looks like I’m late to get on the comment train… Those are some absolutely beautiful fish and beautiful photos of them! I’m too used to fishing downtown reno in between discarded flip flops and beer cans– I gotta get outta town and find some awesome water like this!!
That’s a funny looking beetle pattern too haha– there was a great article in northwest fly fishing magazine on beetle patterns recently… don’t know if it’s online or not though, anyways–
great stuff!
cheers
Brian,
Finespotted cutts are about my favorite cutthroat–really pretty! Not too much in the way of flip flops or garbage that you have to dodge on the Greys. But hey, if that’s the easiest place for you to fish, you do what you can do.
That beetle pattern had some rubber legs before the fish chewed on it so much (at least 10 fish took it without the legs). When the former student gave me five of these things (2-3 years ago), I just stared at them for a second and finally was able to mutter a “Thanks.” I figured they would never see action. I put them in a fly box and mostly just let them take up space. I finally pulled one out. As ugly as it is, it did a heck of a job. I figure it must take about 2 minutes to tie each one.
Wonderful pics. While I have mixed feelings about bringing more people to places I write about–mostly my homewater, the Big Hole River–I deeply believe that more people need to make a deeper connection with nature. Flyfishing is a great way to do that. And the more people that love & value nature, them more they’ll want to protect it.
Yes, the Big Hole does have many populations of “east slope” Westslope Cutthroat Trout. A few recruit from these headwater streams to the mainstem, see: http://ecorover.blogspot.com/2008/08/big-hole-river-red-hot-trout-fishing.html .
We also have a great WCT stream in Butte’s backyard, German Gulch Creek (a trib of Silver Bow Creek/Clark Fork River): http://ecorover.blogspot.com/2008/07/silver-bow-creek-float-ii-in-hot-zone.html .
ER,
Your comment, “the more people that love & value nature, them more they’ll want to protect it,” fits with my belief that those who are willing to take the time and effort to get to the more hidden places I might mention, are more likely the ones who are also interested in preserving those places. The ones who want to trash them or haul out a bunch of fish are more likely going to be the ones following behind the stocking truck with their bucket, not bushwhacking in the boonies.