It started last Monday, when a fellow ski patroller came up to go fishing. He's a farmer from Fruitland, and finally slowed down enough to take a couple days off. After getting all his honey-do's finished and a nice lunch, we were able to get up to the creek.
We tried a couple places on Lake Fork Creek, but, like I said, fishing was great, but catching was bad. We had a great time, and fished until we had to get home.
A couple days later, my son Sean came by with the idea we go to Bruce Meadows. Now Bruce Meadows is a beautiful, high elevation in Bear Valley. It's half way between McCall and Stanley on back roads. I had been wanting to get up there to fish and shoot photos all summer.
We threw everything we would need in the back of his Subaru, left the dogs behind, and took off. He had never been on the roads up to Bruce Meadows and was impressed by the country we drove through. Idaho is a beautiful place.
After the late start, we got there about five o'clock, only to find out that it was going to have to be a cold camp. Fire danger was extreme, and fires were burning in three directions around us. Not so close that we could see them, but lots of fire fighters in the area. An no campfires allowed! There goes some of the photos I had in mind.
First thing we did was grab the rods and see if the fish were biting. Sean hooked a 10" brook trout, and I caught a 6" one. That was all the catching for that day. I grabbed the camera and had Sean "pose" for some photos. He fished and I shot.
The one thing that was really great was that the salmon had made it all the way up to this small stream to spawn. Seeing a 25" salmon swimming in a 10' stream is pretty cool.
It was getting late, so dinner was cooked on the Coleman stove, martinis were made, and it's off to bed. Thinking that summer evenings wouldn't be too bad, Sean brought a summer weight bag. Said he froze his ass off all night long. May get into the eighties during the day, but at 6500', evenings can get pretty chilly.
We woke early and tried fishing again. Again, the fishing was better than the catching, so I went back to shooting. I was really excited about what I was seeing, and tried some shots that I had been thinking about.
About 10:00, we decided to see if wee would have better luck up around Stanley. A friend had told me had been having great luck at his cabin there, so what the hell. Stanley here we come!
The first thing we saw when we got there was that all the roads off the highway were closed. BIG fire just outside the town. We drove down the Salmon River for a few miles, but all the roads and turn outs were blocked and manned. No fishing here. Let's go check out Redfish Lake. Sean had never been to this Idaho icon and wanted to check it out. I had only been there a couple times in the off season, so neither of us were prepared for what we saw. Coney Island in the Sawtooths. Lots of families hanging out on the beach. Way too many people. We live in a resort town in the mountains, and summer is full of tourists boating and playing, but we didn't expect this up here. Get out of here! Quick!
Back to Stanley. First to the fly shop to get a little info on the fishing. No help there! Let's get a burger and figure out what to do. Went to the three eateries in town, and nothing looked good, so back in the car and down the river again. In Lower Stanley we saw a small cafe that looked good so thought we'd give it a try. Great choice. Wonderful cheeseburger, great fries, and red beer. All while setting on the deck over the Salmon River. High point of the trip.
We decided to go back to Bruce Meadows. We drove along Elk Creek checking it out, but nothing looked very promising, so we decided to go try Deadwood Creek. Again, not the greatest. Sean caught one small fish, but nothing for me. Let's see what's down the road.
Drove to an area called Landmark and noticed a small stream so decided to try it. Being small, we both grabbed the 3 wt. rods and went at it. Most fun I'd had. Little fish, but caught several. We played for about an hour and decided to call it enough and headed home.
Great trip! Loved spending the time with my son.
That's enough this evening. I'll post again tomorrow on the rest of the two week fishing adventure.
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