Me, Meeks and Middle Nunya

September 20, 2010

I’m not so sure it was entirely exhaustion that caused Micah Kruger a.k.a. Meeks, Dougy and I to struggle to get to the back porch this morning, but we struggled. Luckily the coffee was good and the sun warmed us up fast. In no time our plan for the day began to form. Doug was quick to say he thought it was best he drive back to Livingston Montana. I thought about getting some work done but now that Meeks lives in Oregon we rarely get to fish together, we were fishing.

As Doug headed north Meeks and I broke for the Middle Nunya. The last time I floated on the Nunya was with Granny a good month ago and the fishing was excellent. After the challenging two days we experienced on the South Fork of the Snake River, a chance at some better fishing made total sense. Once again the weather was perfect. We have nice Septembers in the Yellowstone area but this one has been one to remember. As I pushed off from the boat ramp, rising fish dotted the river ahead.

Meeks had two hopper patterns rigged up about two feet apart. The Nunya is slow moving and the resident trout have plenty of opportunity to recognize a fake from the real thing. I wasn’t too confident in the big flies but I figured I’d watch Meeks try them. Fish after fish, Meeks drifted his hoppers without a take.

“Meeks we need to go small today”, I stated.

I had a small dry already rigged on my 4-weight Ross so Meeks grabbed the oars and told me to give it a whirl. The fly I had on was one of my CDC Vladi Trzebunia dry flies size 18. The pattern always works and sure enough the first riser I presented it too ate. It was a nice rainbow that began the fight down deep but jumped and broke me off.

We assumed we had it figured out after that rainbow nailed my small dry on the first cast, but it still wasn’t that easy. I couldn’t find another of my Vladi flies so I tied on a Mahogany Dun. The Lawson’s Thorax Mahogany almost never lets me down but the first few trout I cast too refused it. Meanwhile Meeks too was changing through various flies with poor results. These fish were tough. I dug deeper into my tackle bag and finally I stumbled into a well used CDC fly. Sure enough, the first fish I fed it too ate it and we were on the boards.

That first landed fish was like magic. I’d swear that for the next few hours every fish we showed that fly too ate it. Meeks and I took turns with my 4-weight and the productive European fly. We landed an array of rainbows, cutthroats and brook trout. One of our highlights today included a beautiful rainbow we found rising tight to the bank. He was rising like a porpoise with his back completely breaking the surface every time he rose. He was so cool looking we kicked back and watched him for about five minutes. He was in difficult spot to drift a fly too but I miraculously got it there to him thanks to a gust of wind. I wasn’t too surprised when he ate but was when I actually felt him fighting on the end of my line. I thought for sure I had too much slack.  Minutes later I was releasing a hefty Nunya rainbow. Meeks too landed a memorable fish today. He watched the white lips of a quality cutthroat move from about six feet down to rise to the small fly. If you haven’t ever experienced the leisurely take of a cutthroat it’s something you must do. They do it so slowly that even the most experienced anglers often pull the fly away before the cutty eats it. Somehow, Meeks kept his cool and watched those white lips close down on the fly before he struck. Then when he did strike, it was perfect, the fish was there and he too landed the gorgeously fall colored cutthroat trout.

The last three days have been spectacular. Fishing with old friends is something that can’t be beat. We covered a lot of water from the near forty miles of South Fork to the five miles of the Nunya. It will be awhile before we do it again together but we certainly will. Tonight begins Granny’s’ weekend and I have a funny felling I’ll be right back on the Nunya tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Slow Fishing Couldn't Be More Fun

September 18-19, 2010

Five days in a row without fishing breaks that four day record I set a few weeks ago. But I had work to get done because from here on out I need to be ready to enjoy the fall and some of the best fishing of the year. The last two days I fished with friends Ben Brennan, Doug McKnight and Micah Kruger (Meeks). All three guys worked for me in the Jack Dennis fly shop years ago and unlike most of my former employees they are still in the fly fishing business. Ben lives in Jackson, WY and is a fishing guide for Snake River Anglers. Doug lives in Livingston, Montana and just quit working at the Yellowstone Angler Fly Shop to pursue his art and fly tying. Doug is a contracted fly tyer for Umpqua Feather Merchants and is the man behind patterns such as the Home Invader, Sweetgrass Hopper and the Pigpen Leech. These are great flies and if you don’t have them in your box you need to get some. Meeks lives in Bend, Oregon and is a representative for fly fishing service products including Fishhound, a fly fishing information site and FLyBOOK, a fishing guide and outfitter reservation system. When you get a chance, definitely check out the Fishhound website.

We don’t see enough of each other these days so we wanted to make sure we did something exceptional. Our choice, an overnighter in the canyon of the South Fork of the Snake River. Even though I’ve been on the South Fork weekly all summer long, I loved the idea of doing it again. As you know by now from my previous reports the South Fork has fished its best in over ten years.

We launched our two boats at Husky (two miles below the Palisades Dam) Saturday morning and pulled out at Byington, some thirty-four miles downstream on Sunday night. When we pushed off, the boats were heavy and low in the water due to our camping supplies and an excessive amount of food and drink. One thing we all love to do is eat like kings on a camping and fishing trip. We had bratwurst, steak, chicken, a heap of veggies, cookies and chocolate bars along with a few tasty brews to wash the delicious food all down. Regardless of the weight, we started fishing immediately. I rowed Doug in my boat and Ben rowed Meeks. Doug busted out of the gates with a healthy brown on his Home Invader streamer pattern. Things were looking good but that brown actually turned out to be the only fish for the first few hours. At about 2 pm I took a small side channel and Doug twitched a big ant pattern on the  surface and caught a big cutthroat/rainbow hybrid. Shortly after we met up with Ben and Meeks for lunch and unfortunately they had not landed a fish yet.

It was obvious the South Fork was not fishing like it had all summer. It finally slowed down. I often wonder how a river can simply shut down like this. Perhaps it’s from the fishing pressure or simply a slow down in hatches. The South Fork typically shuts down in August then picks up again in September. But not this year. It’s been good since the season started. It was no wonder it finally got tough.

Tough fishing was not going to put a damper on this trip. The weather was a toasty 75º degrees. There was very little wind and the bratwursts made for a scrumptious lunch. We had a ways to go before night fall so we turned the next few hours in to a joy ride out of the civilization found on the Upper South Fork stretch and floated into the wilderness of the Canyon. Entering the canyon at sunset is a sight to behold. Making few casts at the same time and you may as well have died and gone to heaven. Doug racked up a couple nice cutthroats before we rowed into camp near the mouth of Pine Creek.

Preparing camp was simple. There was no need for tents. There wasn’t a cloud in sight. We just threw down our insulate pads and sleeping bags and set up our camp chairs. Then we watched Meeks make a kitchen and prepare about twenty shish kabobs. My mouth was watering at the shear sight of them. It was all I could do to hold back. Luckily the talk and drink kept us all in check. By the time our feast was over the sky was full of stars. We brewed up a nice fire for warmth and kicked back. Just as all was perfect,  Ben’s dog went crazy barking up a tree. I whipped my light into the tree expecting to see a raccoon and was surprised to see a baby pine marten. He was cute as can be gazing down at us from the cottonwood tree. I’ve seen quite a few over the years but it was a first for the boys. We watched him a few minutes then the dog lost interest and it was back to the fire.

It’s amazing how fast these weekends go by. We had a relaxing morning warming up in camp with coffee then fished hard all day. Today Meeks hopped in my boat and Ben and Doug fished together. The fishing was slow again. We caught a few nice fish but it was nothing like the fishing I’ve been spoiled with all summer. However there were no complaints. Today was an unusual 80º degrees and anytime you get a bonus day of summer in September you smile. We pulled the boats and empty coolers out at the Byington Boat Ramp at 7 pm and made a dash for burgers at the Knotty Pine in Victor Idaho. A great trip with friends came to an end.

Ben has to work tomorrow but Dougy, Meeks and I might wet a line somewhere special for a few hours tomorrow. We’re pretty beat from our two day adventure so we aren’t committing to anything. We’ll just wake up in the morning and decide on fishing over coffee on the back porch.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

The Grind

September 12, 2010

Day 2 in the Jackson Hole One Fly is where you need to make things happen. With our team in 2nd place we wanted to make the move forward and win the One Fly. Realistically, all each of us needed to do was have a slightly above average day. This sounds easy, but isn’t. Out of four anglers one could simply lose their fly, pick the wrong fly or just plain and simple, have an off day. I had pressure on me to perform. I drew the South Fork and it typically produces higher scores. While average on the Snake River is about 250 points, average on the South Fork is about 350 points. I really needed to make sure and break 400.

Deciding what fly to use was difficult again. Originally I planned to fish a streamer, but streamers are risky. Indeed the streamer paid off yesterday, but risk wasn’t such a factor as our team wasn’t in 2nd place yesterday. You can easily snag a streamer on unseen sunken tree branches or a rock and your fly is gone. The other thing about streamers is that when the fish aren’t on them, you could get skunked. Either way, if I didn’t come back today with a full card I’d hurt the team.

I arrived at the South Fork Lodge for breakfast at 6:15 am. This is where our guides and boat mates meet up for the South Fork. I had breakfast with good friend Mike Lawson. Mike too was in the One Fly and was also spinning about what fly to use. He also scored well on the Snake River yesterday and knew a good South Fork score would help his team and perhaps move him into high individual standings. Taking the pressure off us, we both decided we’d leave our fly choice up to our guide.

When my fly fishing guide Mike Bean arrived at the breakfast table he didn’t exactly tell me what fly to use. He too was torn. He’s seen me hammer fish on streamers and would do anything to see it today, but today the weather was crisp and clear and temperatures were expected to reach 77º. Streamer fishing on the South Fork can be slow I such conditions. With a small Pale Morning Dun dry fly he was sure I could fill my measured fish card. That is if I could keep the fly all day without losing it and hope that it didn’t fall apart. Both are major concerns with a small fly. Then we met my boat mate Scott. Scott was set on fishing a small dry fly. That was it; I too would go with a size 18 Pale Moring Dun Parachute Cripple.

Mike Bean is one of the best South Fork River guides and he had a plan. He pushed us away from the Spring Creek Boat Ramp at 8:15 and rowed like a mad man so that we would be in a good dry fly spot at exactly 8:30. Like yesterday, it was cold as heck and thick frost blanketed everything. When we got to Mike’s spot it was too cold. Not a fish stirred and even blind casting to where we knew fish lived did not entice a rise.

Fortunately, as the sun rose so did the thermometers. Today was going to be another September day of dreams. Scott and I simply had to be patient with our small flies. If the trout weren’t awake yet there was no sense in casting them to the banks and risk loss and add unnecessary wear and tear. With the exception of a few riffles we relaxed, held our flies and waited for the first insects to hatch.

It took longer then we expected. At 10:30 neither of us had one point on our score cards. There were no bugs and no rising fish. It was plenty warm enough by now. I was in shorts and a t-shirt and I was hot. Where were the fish? Mike remained cool and rowed us to his next spot. Sure enough there was our first  rising fish of the day. Scott and I were rotating the front of the boat each hour and it happened to be my turn. I studied the fish’s rises for a minute then delicately landed my cast. My presentation was poor compared to a normal day. The reason being that I was attempting to fish my tiny dry fly on 2X Rio Powerflex Tippet. On any normal day of fishing I’d have a size 18 dry fly attached to 4X or perhaps even 5X. But this was the One Fly Contest; I wasn’t going to risk fishing with a light tippet this early in the day. I flipped a couple mends in my fly line to help my stiff looking fly along and to my delight up came a gorgeous Yellowstone Cutthroat to consume it. I set the hook and like a normal day in paradise the fish was on and I brought the 16” trout to the net. Yes, I had my first fish of the day.

I was set to measure the trout. He was easily 16 inches and would score me 60 points, but Mike had bigger fish in mind. Somehow he talked me out of measuring the fish and accepting him as a mere 2 pointer. Wow! I was hesitant, but I picked the fish from the net and released him without measuring him. Then I plucked my fly up from the net and was just about to drop it and roll cast it out again to start fishing when I saw my PMD was not attached to my leader. My tippet had broken in the net! My heart dropped and a feeling of near disaster overtook me. When I told Mike what happened he nearly went into shock too.

I had work to do. Somehow I damaged my tippet earlier in the morning and didn’t know it. I cut the entire piece off and carefully tied on another with a triple surgeons knot. It took much longer than normal as my hands were shaking. Then I leaned back in my chair with my fly tightly clenched in my left hand and took a breather while Scott made some casts to some more rising fish. That was a close call.

Ten minutes went by and Scott wasn’t getting it done. Several fish rose to his fly but he missed each one. Mike asked me if I was finally ready. I was still rattled, but I made my cast and quickly hooked up. I landed another gorgeous 16” cutty. And once again, Mike talked me into taking him as a mere 2 point fish. I was a little uneasy letting these 16 inchers go without measuring them for bonus points. I knew all I needed was 400 points to help my team. What if now after I let these guys go I didn’t fill my card, or worse, lost my fly?

I missed the next three quality fish that ate my fly. It seemed my luck was taking a turn for the worst. It was after 11 when finally I hooked up again. Although I was relieved, this wasn’t a gentle fighting cutthroat but rather a scrappy rainbow. The bow leaped twice and then took off for the middle of the river and dove for bottom. I had little control. I knew he was down deep looking for trees to snag me on and rocks to grind my tippet against. It was really gut wrenching. At last, the fish gave in and Mike netted the rainbow. Enough is enough I said to Mike, measure that fish. I was just too uncomfortable without a bonus point fish on the board. He measured the rainbow and sure enough he was 16 inches on the nose.

I continued to miss fish but managed to pick up two more bonus point trout so that by 1:00 I had two 16 inchers and a 17 incher on the measure card along with several two point fish. I had three more hours to reach 400 points. Unfortunately Scott still sported a zero. He just wasn’t connecting at all. When Scott returned to the front of the boat Mike worked hard by coaching him while he fished to a pod of risers. It went on for fifteen minutes or so while I patiently watched from the back of the boat. It just wasn’t happening for Scott. Then in one swift move Mike spun the boat and said Jeff take a shot. I whirled a false cast straight up in the air as not to hook anything in the boat and as I went forward I felt my fly burry into  something high above us. It was a cedar tree branch dangling a good 30-feet above the river. Disaster had struck.

As the three of us tracked my fly line and leader up to the cedar branch there was dead silence. It was worse than initially thought. The branch was a snarled mess of twigs and needles high above the boat. You could follow my leader with your eyes but the fly was buried out of sight. By now Mike had the anchor dropped and was heading up the bank as if to just climb the tree and undo the mess. But it wasn’t so easy. This was a big tree extending off a cliff like bank and the first branch to grab for climbing was 10-feet up.

I handed my rod to Scott and headed up to the base of the tree where a bewildered Mike Bean stood with a very sad look on his face. I simply asked him for ten fingers and up I went to where I could grab that first branch. Using complete adrenaline, I swung my legs up and started to wiggle my way through closely knit branches high into the tree. Once I thought I was at the branch my fly was on, I asked Scott to pull tight to my fly. Soon I was scaling my way out over the river on this branch. But there was no way. I was out as far as I dared. The branch dipped down and swayed side to side as if it were about to snap. If the branch broke from under me I’d fall 30-feet onto jagged river rock. All I could see was my 2X Rio Tippet tightly wound and snagged deep in a cluster of branches about 8-feet from my reach. I was absolutely screwed.

Our first move was to try to reach it with the net. Mike threw it up to me and even it got tangled in the branches. This was not the tree to mess with. At last I got it and pushed it towards the end of the branch where my fly was. It was a useless operation. As I sat there uncomfortably and discouraged as you could be, I gazed at the anchor rope in the boat below me. That was it. If it was long enough I could tie it to this branch and from the ground we could pull on it until it snapped. It was a long shot, but the only shot.

Mike and Scott had to be shaking their heads by now, but Mike went through the trouble to disconnect his anchor. I hung like a monkey from my knees and Mike threw me the rope. I wrapped it around the branch so we had two ends of the rope to pull on and our last hope was underway. I climbed down and stood in the boat with my rod while Mike, a good sized man, pulled the rope. At first the branch was like a rubber band, it just wouldn’t break. Mike was actually getting tired of bouncing on that rope. Then without any hint at all the entire 300lb branch came crashing down on Mike and I. Once we realized no one was hurt we cheered and laughed. We had made a historic fly rescue.

My fly still wasn’t easy to find. It was tangled in there so bad that we never could have retrieved it by pulling my tippet. I was drained. I was scratched up, stressed out and plopped in the back of the boat and drank a beer. Now I had less than two hours to catch at least three more measurable fish. And poor Scott still hadn’t caught a single fish. Worst of all the trickle of a hatch we had earlier was all but gone. Things were ugly.

I felt terrible that I put my boat mates through such drama. I drank another beer and just sat and watched as Scott drifted his PMD along the bank while Mike back rowed. I wanted to fish but Scott needed to catch one first. There were absolutely no randomly rising trout. About then Scott buried his fly in the back of my neck. I let out a yelp. I don’t care what you say; even a small fly in the neck hurts. The One Fly is a barbless tournament so I reached up and carefully grabbed it and attempted to jerk it out. Unfortunately the flattened barb wasn’t flattened all the way and the skin on my neck stretched out an inch and snapped back putting the fly deeper into my neck. It was in there good. Scott felt terrible. I told him no big deal and Mike pulled over and with his forceps made a nice clean rip and the fly was out. Mike said it was time to check on his pets so while I soaked up a little blood with my t-shirt off we went to the cliffs of the South Fork Canyon.

There’s always a few cooperative fish at the cliffs. Scott tucked a cast into the first cave and wham, he had his first fish of the day and it was 15”. I was glad to see Scott on the board. As they measured I snuck my own cast back in the cave and I landed a 17” cutthroat. Things were looking up again. I only needed two more fish of 16 inches to rally for 400 points.

Let’s just say the last hour was a grind. Scott all but gave up on the day. It was hot. There was no hatch. Most of Mike’s pets were hiding. Things were bleak. I felt I didn’t deserve it, but Scott gave me the front of the boat again. For the last 45 minutes or so I made risky cast after risky cast. Sometimes I tossed my tiny PMD against the willows in fast water while other times I side armed so far back under trees that if I got hung we’d never find the fly. And it paid off. I went on to fill my card and my measurables included three 16” and three 17” trout. I also had sixteen two pointers and by miracle, kept my fly for another 25 point bonus. It was one of the toughest competition days I can remember but I grinded out 460 crucial points.

My poor boat mate landed only one fish. He wasn’t alone. Although there were a few fantastic scores on some fancy ant, many on the stretch did not fill their cards. This included Mike Lawson who hooked and lost a nice fish in the last minutes of the contest. When I arrived in Jackson after my near two hour drive from the South Fork Canyon, the scores were in. The Good Times Team had dropped to fourth place. Gary lost his fly before catching a fish today and our other anglers had a tough day. There was some good news though. Gary’s big 23 ½” brown from Day 1 earned him the big fish trophy and my grind of both days earned me third place individual. All our practice earned us something. It was a great One Fly and next year perhaps we can take the next step and the Good Times Team can win it all.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Repeat Today!

September 9, 2010

The 2010 Jackson Hole One Fly Contest is underway! The actual competition fishing part didn’t start yet (the fishing is Saturday and Sunday), but the stream of events started tonight. We had the kick off cocktail party and all contestants learned where they will be fishing, who their guide is and who they will be competing against in the boat. On Saturday I will be fishing on the Snake River from the Wilson Bridge to South Park Bridge. My guide is Charles Kempe and my boat partner is Joe Debryan. Although I’m not too excited about that stretch of river, both the guide and boat mate are friends so it should be lots of fun. On Sunday I’m fishing the Lower South Fork Canyon. I lucked out on my guide draw getting Mike Bean whom ironically Gary and I fished with today. My boat mates first name is Scott but I don’t know him and couldn’t not find him tonight. I’m sure he will be fun and we will have a great time.

Before the party, Gary Eckman and I fished together to get in one final practice day and to celebrate Gary’s birthday. You would never know it but Gary turned 70. Just like last week, Gary booked Mike Bean to guide us on the South Fork and I had the good fortune to go along. Since about the beginning of August Gary Eckman and I have fished at least one day a week on either the Snake or the South Fork rivers to sharpen our skills and get tuned in to what flies and tactics are working best this season. Some days we floated and fished on our own but the last three times Gary hired us a guide which I can tell you is quite a treat for me.

Today’s weather signals that fall is right around the corner. We awoke to a cold drizzle. Gary picked me up at my house at 7 and when we went over Pine Creek Pass it was actually spitting snow on top. All I could  think about was the fact that I didn’t bring my waders! Mike met us in Swan Valley Idaho and we were floating and fishing before 9. This was kind of a reconnaissance mission for him too. Guides also want to do well in the One Fly because they are awarded for having top scores from their boats.

I am torn on what fly to use in this contest. Remember, you are only allowed one fly each day. If you choose a lousy one you’re stuck with it. On that note, today I switched each hour to test a variety of bugs. I have come to the conclusion that as far as the South Fork goes I can fish a streamer, a size 18 PMD or even some type of Chernobyl ant and do well. The way the contest works is you really need to just catch six fish that you measure and get good points for. If they average over 15”s then you will get enough bonus points to  do well. I felt that today I could do that with any of these flies. Gary and I absolutely destroyed the fish. Honestly, I’ll bet we caught twenty fish over 16”s EACH! And several were over 18”s. Our scores would have been through the roof!

Today’s weather had a lot to do with it. It stayed nasty, cold and rainy all day. Really it was the kind of day most guide trips get cancelled. That’s a big mistake around here. Rainy weather always means good fishing in the Yellowstone area. The hatches today were the best I can recall and the fish were border line suicidal to eat any fly. The weather for the contest is predicted to be warm and sunny. Fishing conditions will be much different. However, I think that the Good Times Team is ready to rock and perhaps we can repeat today when it counts this weekend!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Sad Day on the South Fork

The minute I got in the truck with Gary Eckman today on the way to the South Fork he gave me the somber news that a fishing guide drown on the river last night. He told me the few details he heard, one of which was that the guide was from Driggs, Idaho.

It was too early for such information. The whole thing hit me so fast that it took me a few minutes to process. Then like and siren sounding off in my head I realized what the likelihood was that this was a friend. The fishing community in Teton Valley is small and close. Everyone knows everyone and I am friends with most the fishing guides from Driggs, Idaho to Pinedale, Wyoming. Many are fellow employees whom I saw nearly every day for years. They’re like family. I urgently flipped open my phone and made some calls.

I didn’t find out much. I was just glad to hear some voices. I thought perhaps I’d be lucky not to know this person. But when Gary and I got to the South Fork I wasn’t so fortunate. The guide was indeed a friend, not from Driggs but rather Victor.

The friend was Rob Merrill. Rob was a fellow employee at the Jack Dennis Fly Shop and we carpooled from Victor to Jackson Hole Wyoming for several years. The last few years he has managed Three Rivers Ranch Orvis Fly Shop in Driggs. He made a great name for himself with his knowledge of the surrounding waters. Rob was as passionate about fly fishing and teaching others about the sport as anyone I’ve known.

Rob had more than enough experience wading and boating our fantastic fly fishing waters. Unfortunately Wednesday night his boat hit a tree and overturned. While his clients were lucky enough to swim to shore, Rob Merrill was wearing waders and could not. This type of accident can happen to the most qualified boaters but remarkably the possibility rarely crosses our mind.

Gary and I met up with fishing guide Mike Bean of Idaho Falls. Mike is highly regarded as one of the finer guides of the South Fork River. I’d never met Mike before, but I knew that even though I know the South Fork well, there was opportunity to learn a lot more from Mike. But although I should have been excited about this I couldn’t get my mind of Rob.

As we pushed off the Conant Boat Ramp to float the Upper Canyon section, police in jet boats, sheriffs on jet-skis and even a lone helicopter searched the river for Rob. Naturally on every cast I too was looking. Usually I found myself staring aimlessly in the water while other times I prayed to see him on the bank freezing cold just waiting to be rescued. As far as our fishing went, it was decent. I banged up a few nice trout on streamers and once the sun warmed Gary picked off some huge cutthroats with one of Mikes special ant flies. The fishing progressively slowed down and by 2 pm we had trouble catching any fish at all. We noticed that the water level was dropping. It was obvious that the Bureau of Reclamation reduced the flows at the Palisades Dam in order make the search for Rob easier.

Throughout the day Rob’s accident began to sink in. It was a challenging afternoon in many ways. Our fishing was tough while my mind raced with ideas on how Rob could be OK. We did have some high fishing moments. One thing about fish is, when the water drops they panic. But while it seems that most retreat to the deep, some quickly return to the shallows and feast like it’s their last meal. We managed to catch a dozen or so nice cuttys from the riffles on tiny size 20 Pale Morning Duns (PMD’s).

By the time we finished our float, Search and Rescue had retrieved Rob’s drift boat 1 ½ miles downstream of the accident, but there was still no sign of Rob. Deep inside I knew if Rob was alive on the bank he’d of been found by now. I was losing hope. The South Fork is a huge river and there are many pools that are far too deep to see bottom from standing in a boat with polarized glasses. As we left, divers were beginning to help with the search but as of nightfall they had no success. Tomorrow the search will continue.

As for me I’m going to take a fishing break for a few days. This will be a good time to stay around the house and catch up on many things. One of these things will be thinking about Rob Merrill and about life in general. What’s really important and what’s not? This is an accident that could happen to me or anyone reading this. What if? We all walk a fragile line and it’s unfortunate that it takes tragedies such as this for us to realize that.

Go fishing, spend time with family and friends and enjoy as much as you can.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Cooper Chuckin Streamers

Today was Friday on the South Fork of the Snake River with Gary and Cooper Eckman. Cooper is the 14 year old fly fisherman and son of Gary that I introduced last Friday. He loves to fish and I enjoy watching him in action. This week Cooper showed up with a plan – he was going to throw streamers in search of a “River Monster”.

Prior to today, Cooper only dabbled in streamer fishing. He’s already a very competent dry fly angler. He can feed a big bushy dry fly down a grassy bank and he can present a tiny Pale Morning Dun pattern to a selective cutthroat on a riffle with the best of them. But he knows that fishing a streamer is its own art. He also knows that larger trout are often times more likely to prey upon small fish rather than tiny insects. That’s how they get big. So in turn, if he’s going to get that River Monster, he needs to learn how to fish streamers effectively.

A good place to catch trout on streamers is the canyon of the South Fork. This is a 26 mile stretch of water that can be broken down into two stretches, the Upper Canyon and the Lower Canyon. No matter what section you do, it’s an awful car and trailer abusing shuttle because part of it is a fifteen mile washboard dirt road to a place called Cottonwood. If you do the whole canyon you avoid the washboard dirt road altogether and shuttle drivers simply move your car down the highway and there’s little fear of your car and trailer being tortured. In order to do the entire canyon you must do a two day overnight trip, bring a motor or row your butt off a portion of the day. We opted to do the whole canyon and row our butts off a portion of the day.

That meant an early start to the day. Fridays are a tough one for me because Thursday nights are “Music on Main” in Victor Idaho. It’s a heck of an outdoor concert at the park only a rocks throw from our house. We do “Music on Main” whether we like it or not, fortunately we love it.

The boys picked me up at 7:20 am and we were launching at 8 sharp. I grabbed the oars and while Gary and Cooper got rigged up I pushed us downstream. I rowed for about 90 minutes or to a landmark known as “Hole in the Wall”. “Hole in the Wall” is just that, a huge hole or cave high up on a rocky cliff. It’s about a third of the way down through the entire canyon. It’s an absolutely gorgeous place and one of the most beautiful floats. Like fishing in Grand Teton National Park the other day, it’s hard to watch your fly and not just stare at the scenery.

It’s tough to row past good looking water. I know Cooper and Gary were ready to fish five minutes into our long row. But everyone just kicked back and enjoyed the scenery and wildlife. Cooper made a cast on occasion just to check if we were there yet. When we started, we were all ready for it. I watch with anticipation as Cooper made his first few casts. To start, Cooper was casting his two streamers like a dry fly. However after a little coaching he put a little more authority into his cast and put the flies where they needed to be; now we just needed a fish.

We easily went a mile without seeing a single fish. Cooper started second guessing the streamer like any 14 year old kid would. I kept saying fish it through this bank. Then the next bank would look good and I’d suggest he do it again. Finally Cooper was ready for a break. But there was one bush he just had to throw his flies too. I promised him this would be the last one he had to cast too. And sure enough, he hooked up to his biggest fish of the day.

Cooper landed a fat cuttbow. It was his River Monster and boy was he satisfied. We took a few photos and then as you can imagine, the streamers were back in the water most of the remainder of the day. Sure Cooper threw dry flies on occasion, but for the most part he stuck to the streamer. Cooper can fish a streamer superbly after one day in the South Fork Canyon. He ended up with several cutthroats and even a nice brown. We finished up our long float at about 7 pm. As always we had a great time.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Fishin’ with Cooper

Today was fishing with Cooper day. I don’t’ get to fish with Cooper too often because he’s 14. It seems half the summer is over before we get our first day out together and then before you know it school starts again. Cooper is the son of my friend Gary Eckman whom I wrote about on August 6th. Cooper would have joined Gary and me last Friday but he got into a dirt bike accident that required a heap of stitches in his knee and was not allowed off the couch until things started to heal.

Cooper is in charge of where we fish when he goes. He recently returned from an exciting trip to Alaska in which he caught a lot of BIG fish such as halibut, lingcod and golden eye. With that in mind, today he was in search of more big fish. He’s had most of his good luck over the years on the South Fork of the Snake so we did a repeat of what Gary and I did last week – the Upper South Fork from the Irwin Slide to Conant.

The boys picked me up at 9 am. I was glad for the late start as I’ve been fishing so much that I’m behind in everything from art to paying bills. Mornings are productive times for me. Once we got going Cooper was quick to flash his injured stitched up knee to me. It must have been an ugly mess when the accident happened because even though the wreck was two weeks ago his knee still looks kind of gross.

Once at the river we launched and Gary rowed us directly to the riffle where we spanked fish last week. We were early. We pulled into our hot spot and beached the  boat on a gravel bar. We sat and watched over cokes hoping to see some big cutthroats begin to rise. I was starting to think they moved out to the main river when the first fish barely broke the surface. This big cutty took a PMD by making less than a two inch ring on the surface. It was the true definition of the word sip. I told Cooper to be ready and he excitedly grabbed his rod and made an approach.

The fish may not have been quite ready to eat yet. Cooper made some casts with one of my Vladi CDC PMD’s but to no avail. I knew it was the right fly but Cooper was having trouble keeping it afloat. With CDC flies you really need to aggressively false cast between drifts to keep them floating and looking good. Gary switched him to a beetle but even the beetle didn’t work. Eventually Cooper took a break and Gary went in there and quickly nailed one on a tiny light Cahill. Cuttys on the South Fork are not known for putting up dazzling fights but this one had us fooled into thinking he was a rainbow or a brown trout. He pealed off line and tried to wrap Gary in the log piles before Cooper finally got him netted. It was a nice fish, in fact, one of the bigger cutthroats I’ve seen on the South Fork.

Cooper took another crack at the riffle where several fish started rising more frequently, but again they would not cooperate. Just downstream of us in some slower water another trout began to feed. This trout became very consistent and even though Cooper had fish in front of him, the cutty downstream was too much for him to tolerate so he went after him. I considered talking him out of his move because often times these trout in the slower water are near impossible to catch. In such slow water they can scrutinize your fly and your light tippet can look like a rope. They also cruise around all over and you don’t know if you really got your fly in front of them or not. I didn’t want Cooper to go down stream, not get the fish and get discouraged. But then I thought better of saying anything. Cooper is a good angler and if anything, it would be a learning experience. Five minutes later Cooper called for the net.

Cooper was hooked up to the sneaky cutthroat trying feed without us knowing. Like Gary’s cutthroat, this scrapper also put on a surprisingly good fight. Cooper and his 5-weight handled the battle like a pro and then he gave me a few pointers on when to net his fish. I listened and I scooped up the heavily spotted cutthroat on the first try.

We didn’t exactly spank the fish today like Gary and I did last week, but it was pretty darn good. Between the three of us we probably landed a dozen nice cutthroats, a brown, a rainbow and a quality whitefish. My highlight of the day wasn’t Cooper catching his cutthroat from the slow water at our first stop, but rather when Cooper perfectly executed a difficult cast to a rising fish far back in a cave at the base of a rock cliff. He had to do a side arm flip cast to get his fly to the trout. That’s not to mention all the willows he had to avoid with his back cast. Once he made the cast it was all you could do to see the tiny light Cahill he was using because of the darkness in the cave. But Cooper patiently worked to this fish for at least ten minutes until he hooked another dandy of a cutthroat.

The three of us enjoyed a great day on the water and we’re all lined up for another visit to the South Fork next Friday. I really get a kick out of watching kids get into the fishing and Cooper is over the top like I was at the same age. For me I believe this was my seventh day of fishing in eight days. I don’t mean to brag but I haven’t fished through a summer like this since I was Cooper’s age - before I got my first summer job over thirty years ago!

Cooper took another crack at the riffle where several fish started rising more frequently, but again they would not cooperate. Just downstream of us in some slower water another trout began to feed. This trout became very consistent and even though Cooper had fish in front of him, the cutty downstream was too much for him to tolerate so he went after him. I considered talking him out of his move because often times these trout in the slower water are near impossible to catch. In such slow water they can scrutinize your fly and your light tippet can look like a rope. They also cruise around all over and you don’t know if you really got your fly in front of them or not. I didn’t want Cooper to go down stream, not get the fish and get discouraged. But then I thought better of saying anything. Cooper is a good angler and if anything, it would be a learning experience. Five minutes later Cooper called for the net.

Cooper was hooked up to the sneaky cutthroat trying feed without us knowing. Like Gary’s cutthroat, this scrapper also put on a surprisingly good fight. Cooper and his 5-weight handled the battle like a pro and then he gave me a few pointers on when to net his fish. I listened and I scooped up the heavily spotted cutthroat on the first try.

We didn’t exactly spank the fish today like Gary and I did last week, but it was pretty darn good. Between the three of us we probably landed a dozen nice cutthroats, a brown, a rainbow and a quality whitefish. My highlight of the day wasn’t Cooper catching his cutthroat from the slow water at our first stop, but rather when Cooper perfectly executed a difficult cast to a rising fish far back in a cave at the base of a rock cliff. He had to do a side arm flip cast to get his fly to the trout. That’s not to mention all the willows he had to avoid with his back cast. Once he made the cast it was all you could do to see the tiny light Cahill he was using because of the darkness in the cave. But Cooper patiently worked to this fish for at least ten minutes until he hooked another dandy of a cutthroat.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

One Fly Contest Coming Quick

The famous Jackson Hole Wyoming One Fly Contest takes place this year on September 9 – 12. The One Fly is a friendly competition originally designed to extend the fishing business season of Jackson Hole for fishing guides and fly shops. Since the fly fishing boom of the 90’s that’s no longer the purpose of this fun event because anglers hire guides and buy flies year round anyway. What the One Fly does best now is raise money to improve fisheries nationwide.

In any event, it costs a lot of money to enter a four angler team and for that reason few fishing bums like me get to participate as an angler. However last year, Gary Eckman, the Captain of “Good Times” Team and a customer of mine when I worked at the Jack Dennis Sports fly shop, generously invited me on his team at not cost to me. To prepare, we fished together nearly every Friday and became great friends. Luckily, our team did well and I’m glad to say Gary is having me back this year.

Today was our first Friday fishing day of the season. We planned to start back in early July. That was before Gary nearly died of a blood clot after a surgery. He was very fortunate to survive and after six days in intensive care and two weeks in the hospital, today was one of his first days out. It was a special day to say the least.

We went to the South Fork of the Snake River here in Idaho. I’m not a big fan of the South Fork during summer months because of the enormous amount of boat traffic. You will undoubtedly see at least twenty other boats no matter what stretch you fish. But, like all crowded rivers, the South Fork is crowded for a reason – the fishing is spectacular and today was no exception.

Gary picked me up at my house at 8:30 am and we were on our way. It’s a short twenty-five mile drive from my house to the Irwin Slide boat launch. We were drifting down the South Fork before 9:30. Today was warm but by no means sunny. We’ve had thunderstorms nearly every day this week and this morning the sky threatened to deliver the first storm early.

Normally I streamer fish on the South Fork. That’s because it’s usually October or November. In the summertime the best fishing results come by staking out one of the huge riffles the South Fork is famous for and waiting for the Pale Morning Dun hatch to start. Once the hatch starts you can spend hours fishing dry flies to rising cutthroats, rainbows and browns. Today we got in the boat and rowed directly to one of Gary’s favorite riffles. Lucky for us, the only one there was a moose so we shared the place and kicked back and waited for the hatch.

Even when there’s not at hatch, if you watch the shallows closely on the South Fork you’ll see fish. As I gazed into the riffle I quickly spotted two nice cutthroats swerving side to side, obviously feeding on nymphs. After watching them for about ten minutes I tied on an ant pattern to a 12’ 4X Rio leader and made some casts. The two trout ignored my fly but then a rainbow I didn’t see lifted half way to the surface as if to give my fly an inspection. While most anglers continue to cast in such a situation, I like to make the trout wait before he sees my fly again. I don’t want is for the fish to get another good look right away and also, South Fork trout don’t see huge numbers of ants drifting downstream. Two ants drifting by in a row could make any trout very suspicious. So, I relaxed about five minutes then cast again. Immediately the rainbow came up and ate the ant. He was a decent bow of about 16”.

Gary and I caught fish steadily from that point on. I even accidentally snatched a mammoth dragon fly from the air during a false cast. Because of the warm temperatures and overcast skies (we had one thunderstorm) the PMD’s hatched like crazy. I fished one of Vladi's CDC mayflies he designed for fishing his waters in Poland. It’s a fly pattern South Fork trout haven’t seen and therefore it fooled them all day long. In that first riffle alone I landed a dozen or so cutthroats from 13” to 18”’s along with two of the fattest rainbows I've seen this season.

Our day was superb to say the least. The large number of boats and fellow anglers didn’t get to me at all. In fact, we ran into many of my friends that guide the South Fork every day. Most I haven’t seen since the season got busy so that added to an already great day. I guess summer on the South Fork aint so bad after all and I hope to get back next week. Late tonight one of my best friends, Derek Mitchell arrives in town and during coffee in the morning we will plan a two day fishing trip that will begin tomorrow. We are thinking somewhere in the Yellowstone backcountry.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Just One More Whitefish This Year Please

December 26, 2009

Normally, if you suggested floating the South Fork of the Snake River between Christmas and New Years I would respond with, “Ha! No thanks! Snow and ice covered boat ramps, brutal cold, no fun and no way.” I can’t stand when my guides freeze up every cast. However, when friend Rob Parkins, a well know fishing guide and fly tier here in Teton Valley, asked that I join he and another friend , Zack Dalton, of Rio Fly Lines, to fish the day after Christmas, I surprised myself when I answered cautiously, “Maybe.”

Robs offer to me came about a week or so ago. I said if it wasn’t unbearably cold I’d be interested. Assuming that it would be, I never gave much thought to the idea again. But on Christmas Eve Rob was visiting the house and was quick to let me know he and Zack were still going. Since my hunt to Minnesota and Iowa two weeks ago, I’ve spent most my time hunched over art projects waiting for a new excuse to get outdoors. I knew by now that temperatures for the day after Christmas were predicted to be about 12 degrees Fahrenheit along with sunny skies. Surprising to most, 12 degrees isn’t too bad around here as it’s generally a dry cold and with sunshine feels considerably warmer. With all that in mind, my response was, “I’m in.”

Despite being 5 below zero when I woke up this morning, Rob picked me up at 10am and one could already feel the suns warmth. When we met Zack who was arriving from Idaho Falls at the icy boat ramp at the Palisades Dam, it was already about 10 degrees and continuing to rise. While they did our short shuttle, Dam to Husky, I rigged my 6-weight Ross with 10 feet of straight 0X Rio Flouroflex Plus tippet and attached two flies. Usually my streamer rig is about 18 feet of 0X (Shockingly long to most), however, knowing my fly rod guides were going to freeze, the shorter leader would be easier to handle. When the boys returned I offered to row the drift boat across the river to so they could nymph below the dam.


There are huge rainbows and cutthroats taken with regularity directly below the dam on nymphs. If your wondering why I rigged up a streamer it’s because I’m not a big nympher. Despite many years of competing internationally and applying European nymphing tactics to my daily fishing, it’s not my favorite method. My heart is really in dry fly fishing and I’m known to enjoy chucking streamers. I knew Rob and Zack would cover the water well without my help and until it warmed up I’d be content popping some photos and giving moral support.

Fishing was slower than expected. Although Zack nailed a fantastic rainbow on his first drift with a mysis shrimp, they caught only one other trout and a handful of whitefish. Rather than waste a day there we floated down to another favorite run. I struggled to get more than three casts in a row without having to crack ice out of my guides during the drift. That diminished my fly in the water time and I realized my highlight of the day was going to be lunch.

Rob took charge of lunch putting four huge elk burger patties on the boat size charcoal grill. Both Zack and I felt as though we were on a guided trip and indulged on the delicious lunch. Between eating and cooking, they nymphed the run and I dredged, slowly stripping my two streamers. Zack landed a beautiful cutty but then followed with a hand full of whiteys along with Rob and me.

We floated the rest of the short float in an hour hap-hazardly fishing as we drifted along. I avoided a skunk by landing two nice rainbows and Rob nymphed up a good brown and a “mighty whitey”. While spending much of December working on art projects, preparing for the show circuit and gorging around the Holliday table, it was great to hit the river again. The thought of floating the last week of December will never again be considered a “not a chance” deal. In fact, I’ll just bet there will be another fishing report posted here shortly!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Web Site