Late winter/Spring Steelhead

Steelhead fishing should start picking up here in the next couple weeks. ill be heading out next weekend to find out if its still to early. ill be fishing the shelf ice wich can be very scary at times. if any body has fished the shelf ice on the salmon river before you know exactly what im talking about. i will post detailed reports with pictures after my trip.

Fish On !!!!!!1
Buddy

East Idaho Fishing Report

So the stone flies are busting from ashton up to warm river on the North Fork (Henry's Fork) and fish have been reported eating dry fly patterns all the way up to bear gulch and they will soon be moving further up the river into riverside campground area and up the fish have also been eating some olive caddis fly patterns.

On the South Fork the fishing is little slower the water was dropped last week and dropped again sometime monday or tuesday morning. when the water is fluctuating it slows the fishing down but there are still fish being caught. Try nymphing with bennetts rubber legs with san jaun worm or egg patterns as your dropper also stripping streamers through the deeper holes has been productive.

We have also seen the season opener of the general fishing season here in Idaho. Henrys lake on opening morning was quite the fiasco from most of the reports heard. shoulder to shoulder combat fishing and a lot of bad ethics but the fishing that weekend was reported to be amazing the fish were stacked on the banks making them easy targets fly fisherman reported catching fish on wooly bugger and egg patterns but rescent reports have suggested the fishing has slown down this week with a few fish being caught here and there .

For the person that is looking for a whole lot of excitment with a fly rod try heading to the blackfoot reservior with some woolybugger and big prince nymph patterns. wear your waders and cut off carp as they swim through the shallows. i rescently went up and fly fished for carp for the first time and i hooked into 5 different fish 3 of wich were easily over 30 lbs. there are some things that i should tale you that most people dont tale you before you go carp fishing and i must say that these are just my observations. 1. any carp 20 lbs or over "will take your fly line into its backing" if he has the room to do it so dont panic when your line is being peeled off your reel at an unbelievable rate. 2.be prepared for a long fight a carp will run and then let you bring him in a ways than run again and will repeat the processe over again i once fought a 40 lb carp for 45 minutes on an ultralight spinning setup. 3. you damn near have to hit the fish in the head with your fly it took me a few passing fish to relize this. i find it ideal to cast about a foot infront of a passing fish so that the fly has sunk about eye level with the fishonce it has reached that point i give the fly a short little strip just to get it to twitch and the fish would normally suck up the fly. i posted a picture of my first carp on a fly rod above the article i used a 6 wt fly rod and a olive wooly bugger. The fish weighed in at 26 lbs and i fought it for 20 minutes.

Bass fishing has picked up every where in east Idaho. Ririe and the Snake River in Idaho Falls and further south towards preston places like Condie, Glendale, and lamont have been producing bass.

fishing season has started so get out and enjoy your self This is Idaho and you never Know when its going to snow again.

FISH ON!!!!!

Fly of the Week

Low Ball Stonefly

This pattern is one of my favorites out there it rides low in the film of the water. Often when the stones have been on for a couple days and flyfisherman have pounded a lot of high riding patterns in the river. i will throw on one of these or another pattern that rides low in the surface film of the water. I almost can say i prefer to fish these over say your sofa pillows and other high ride flys because they normally always float how they are suppose to bottom down. give it a shot and see what you think. FISH ON!!!!!!

---

HOOK: Dai Riki 270, size 2-8 THREAD: Hot orange 6/0 Uni-Thread EGG SAC: 3-4 wraps of black Haretron BODY: Orange sparkle dubbing OVERBODY: Gray foam RIBBING: Hot orange thread overlaid with orange KrystalFlash UNDERWING: Gray synthetic fly wing OVERWING: 6-8 feathers of natural CDC HEAD: Blended gray squirrel and orange sparkle dubbing LEGS: Black Super Floss

Uses

Imitates the adult form of the salmonfly (Pteronarcys californica), also known as the giant stonefly.

The Low Ball Stonefly floats very low in the surface film, like a trapped natural, but the thick CDC wing and foam back ensures that it doesn't sink. With the exception of the CDC wing, it is a flat bug. If you look at it from underneath you'll see why it is so deadly: the silhouette is a near-perfect match of the natural.

Variations

A golden stonefly adult can be imitated with a slightly smaller hook and yellow dubbing for the body.

How to Fish

Stoneflies emerge on land, so adults are not available to trout when the hatch. But they spend several weeks crawling aroun in bankside vegetation looking for a mate. As the day warms up, the adults become active, and in their search for love they are often blown or fall out of overhanging vegetation. Once on the water, they either drown or are eaten by trout (let this be a lesson to you). So the best places to cast a salmonfly imitation are near the bank just downstream or downwind from overhanging vegetation. The river should be 2-4 feet deep, and if it has a rocky, bouldery bottom, so much the better. Use standard dry fly presentations

Near dusk, females salmonflies often gather in hoards, then drop to the river to lay their eggs. This is another fishing opportunity that should not be missed.

Because the salmonfly hatch is so popular with anglers, trout get pounded and soon become wary. A downstream presentation often works best in these circumstances.

Tying Instructions

1. Tie in thread and bring it to the rear of the fly.

2. Tie in gray foam, POINTED FORWARD. You don't want to tie it for the body and pull it back over because that will make the body too thick and expose too much of the orange body. Trim the excess at the rear of the fly. You can leave a small stump because the egg sac will cover it.

3. Add a tiny drop of Elmer's superglue at the tie-in point of the foam. This prevents the foam from spinning around the hook shank. Let dry (Elmer's dries the fastest).

4. Dub a small black egg sac with black sparkle dubbing.

5. Tie in KrystalFlash ribbing. Advance fly towards the head.

6. Make a thin body of orange dubbing from the FRONT to the BACK of the body. It should be thin, as you want the gray foam to go around the sides of the body.

7. Pull foam down, ribbing first with the thread and tying off. Then wrap the KrystalFlash over the thread wraps. The reason for two ribbings is that the KrystalFlash is not strong enough to hold the foam down when a trout is chewing on the fly. If the KrystalFlash breaks, you lose the ribbing and the fly looks weird to you and the fish.

8. Tie in synthetic wing material. Trim to shape.

9. Tie in 6-8 CDC feathers. It is not necessary to have them as long as the wing. I kind of like them dense and about the same length as the body.

10. Dub a small head.

11. Tie in short pieces of black Super Floss for legs.

12. Whipfinish and you're done. Once you get the steps down, pre-cut the wing material and legs, and sort the CDC feathers, this fly actually ties quite faster than the traditional Stimulator.

East Idaho Fishing Blog 1st post

A Blog about fishing in Idaho is something i have wanted to do for a long time so I am finally setting it up and seeing how thing will work out. Steelhead fishing is coming to a close. As many of you know warm weather is coming and may is just around the corner and this can only mean one thing. STONEFLY'S on the Henry's Fork! for the first month or so my Blog will primarily focus on the Stonefly hatches of East Idaho but i will keep up to date on the fishing reports for other bodys of water that do not have these monsterous aquatic insects hatching. With the warm weather just around the corner fishing on many bodies of water should start to pick up. Bass in the east idaho area should start setting up in prespawn stages in the next coming weeks if the weather will cooperate. The kings have started to run over the Bonneville damn and the fishing in Riggins Idaho should start to get good at the end of May. As of Today the Bonneville Damn has reported that 11457 chinook have crossed the damn this month. so the king fishing looks pretty promising. in the next day or two East Idaho Fishing Blog should start to feel up with more posts including fly of the week and product of the week as well as up to date fishing reports for as many bodies of water that i can get my hands on. so FISH ON!!!!!!!!