Salmonflies on the South Fork of the Boise - 07/07/2011

The Canadian and I took flight on the old Black’s Creek road and decided to hit some Salmonflies on the South Fork of the Boise. Fortunately, we arrived around 2:00 in the afternoon and slid right into the bank we wanted to hit – we looked up and down river and were happy to see we had no competition from any other folks on foot. 

 

While gearing up we noticed some pretty promising signs – a good number of big bugs fluttering above the willows and crashing into the main current (and fish up on them). A few yards up the bank we picked out some prime protected water.

 

We had a good number of fish up in a shady slack water seam, eating bugs indiscriminately as they fell from the willows. That was all the convincing we needed. Joel and I both rigged a Fluttering Salmonfly and rock-paper-scissored to see who would get first crack on the lower end fish.

 

Joel came out ahead, stripped out some line, and painted a bug off the inside edge of the seam. About three seconds later, we saw the splash, the crash and the silver bolt steaming down river. As we landed the fish, it wasn’t terribly long, but freakishly round – appearing more like a ‘full bodied’ reservoir fish.

 

Round two. I stepped up and scouted the inside soft water for a few minutes. The surface was glass until the dead water was broken up by a motorboating flutter bug. Out of nowhere I saw a subtle nose suck down the stonefly about a dollar bill’s length off the bank. The dimple was like a midge rise – a good indicator of a big fish.

 

I made a cast into the trees, bounced the Fluttering Salmonfly off the willows and watched as the leader and fly slid over the branch. It dropped just like a natural and hit the sweet spot. Almost instantaneously the fish rolled on the bug and fin kicked it out of the way. 

 

I rested the fish for about five minutes and let him get comfortable. After a bit of rest and recovery, I noticed he was picking out the smaller Golden Stones. It only makes sense – The guy’s tucked into a shoe box sized lie, tired of the flotilla of orange foam chuckers, eating something a little safer and easier to manage. 

 

After a few more rises, I put a Carnage Golden Stone over him and he sipped it down like he'd been waiting for it all day. He busted down stream and stripped out the entire fly line. Fortunately, I was able to give chase and beach him in some slack water.

 

It was already a great day and we were only 30 minutes into it. We fished for about two more hours, hooked some great fish, and packed it up early to watch the Redsox game.

 

You just can’t beat an afternoon of summer stonefly fishing!