Full Transcript for Episode 99 - Backyard Fisheries with Josh Potter // Tuesday's Tippets

a long time. 00:04:33.417 --> 00:04:34.297 It was always dead of winter. 00:04:35.157 --> 00:04:38.077 And then in kind of i 00:04:38.077 --> 00:04:40.977 always use sort of the ncaa tournament is 00:04:40.977 --> 00:04:43.797 kind of the the uh time frame of 00:04:43.797 --> 00:04:46.997 you know first week of april post spawn fish are 00:04:46.997 --> 00:04:53.897 very very snappy very competitive heavy looking to feed in in the fast riffley 00:04:53.897 --> 00:04:58.997 water yeah i actually used to back you know 20 years ago i would take guys there 00:04:58.997 --> 00:05:04.797 who had not fly fished much before which i would not do that now because the 00:05:04.797 --> 00:05:06.737 time of the year and the way things set up, 00:05:06.937 --> 00:05:09.777 I always felt like it was a good opportunity for people to catch fish. 00:05:09.957 --> 00:05:16.497 I would not say when we went and the way the creek has changed and the practices 00:05:16.497 --> 00:05:19.377 of keeping the cows off the creek, which is awesome for the fish, 00:05:19.517 --> 00:05:21.837 but it really has changed it dramatically. 00:05:22.097 --> 00:05:24.037 I was texting with some old buddies who. 00:05:25.110 --> 00:05:29.570 Who I cut my teeth with on that Creek, you know, 25 years ago saying, 00:05:29.690 --> 00:05:32.890 Hey man, that's, that, that stretches the deep end of the pool now. 00:05:33.530 --> 00:05:36.930 Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Big fish Brad. 00:05:37.130 --> 00:05:39.910 I was texting with big fish Brad last night, actually saying, 00:05:40.030 --> 00:05:44.850 Hey, you wouldn't recognize, you wouldn't recognize that stretch now compared 00:05:44.850 --> 00:05:47.390 to what it was like the last time he was there. 00:05:47.910 --> 00:05:51.850 Yeah. That's incredible. Well, you know, before we get into like a lot of the 00:05:51.850 --> 00:05:55.750 technical talk, like, you know, give us your like your angling background, 00:05:55.990 --> 00:05:59.950 you know, like you and I were fly fishing together, you know, 25 years ago. 00:06:00.270 --> 00:06:04.370 And then, you know, where do you live? Where do you normally fish? 00:06:04.550 --> 00:06:10.310 Like talk about, I want to talk about your bass, professional bass fishing sabbatical. 00:06:11.790 --> 00:06:14.830 Which wasn't sure we'd ever get you back from that. 00:06:15.210 --> 00:06:20.530 But yeah, give us a little background. Who are you? Well, I started fly fishing 00:06:20.530 --> 00:06:24.370 not super, super young, but fairly young. 00:06:24.810 --> 00:06:30.210 My family's all from the Paradise Valley area in Livingston, actually. 00:06:30.470 --> 00:06:34.250 And so I kind of always had the romantic idea about fly fishing. 00:06:34.250 --> 00:06:40.070 And I think the first time I actually started fly fishing, I was probably about 16 or 17 years old. 00:06:40.210 --> 00:06:46.270 And then I have one speed, kind of all pedal, no gas with whatever I'm doing. 00:06:46.410 --> 00:06:51.190 And so I, you know, in a five or six year period of time, I got myself pretty 00:06:51.190 --> 00:06:52.690 deep into the fly fishing deal. 00:06:52.870 --> 00:06:56.150 And that's about the time you and I met. I think it's funny that you say that 00:06:56.150 --> 00:06:58.110 I'm one of your fly fishing mentors. 00:06:58.310 --> 00:07:03.470 I think you were definitely as good or better of a fisherman as I was at the 00:07:03.470 --> 00:07:06.170 time that we met. but that's very flattering that you say that. 00:07:07.025 --> 00:07:12.105 And I, and I, I stayed in that world for, I don't know, probably 15 years. 00:07:12.505 --> 00:07:18.665 And then I got introduced to tournament bass fishing and it kind of smacked 00:07:18.665 --> 00:07:20.525 me in the face for about a decade. 00:07:20.865 --> 00:07:27.785 And, and that's, uh, I, I kind of, I, I would, I would come back to fly fishing from time to time. 00:07:27.865 --> 00:07:31.745 There was always guys like yourself, a few select individuals who would, 00:07:31.885 --> 00:07:35.625 they would call me and say, Hey, I want to go do this. And I go grab the long 00:07:35.625 --> 00:07:38.705 rod and, you know, get back into it. 00:07:38.925 --> 00:07:47.505 But when, when my, when we moved our family to North Idaho in 2021 and I had, 00:07:47.565 --> 00:07:53.425 I had already kind of been out of the bass fishing world for a couple of years when I got back into, 00:07:53.665 --> 00:07:57.445 when I got back, when I got to Coeur d'Alene, I was like, I just fell right 00:07:57.445 --> 00:08:00.385 back in love with why I love fly fishing. 00:08:00.385 --> 00:08:03.745 I've always said, I think, I think bass are one of the. 00:08:04.025 --> 00:08:07.205 Funnest fish to catch in the grossest places there 00:08:07.205 --> 00:08:09.985 are and i think the thing 00:08:09.985 --> 00:08:13.565 i love about fly fishing it takes you to the most magnificent settings 00:08:13.565 --> 00:08:18.465 and as i've gotten older i i appreciate the settings and the places that fly 00:08:18.465 --> 00:08:22.425 fishing takes you much more than not the trout aren't awesome i love them i 00:08:22.425 --> 00:08:26.845 think they're amazing and i love bugs i think waterborne bugs are one of the 00:08:26.845 --> 00:08:32.805 coolest things i love photographing them i like i like everything about bugs but that's you know. 00:08:33.447 --> 00:08:36.307 I'm i'm back firmly in the fly fishing world 00:08:36.307 --> 00:08:39.347 i will never leave yeah yeah speaking of 00:08:39.347 --> 00:08:42.707 catching you know smacking bass and ugly places 00:08:42.707 --> 00:08:46.587 we took your bass boat about but 00:08:46.587 --> 00:08:49.827 at least a couple times we went out to moses lake and 00:08:49.827 --> 00:08:52.787 yeah yeah we threw flies up under the docks along 00:08:52.787 --> 00:08:55.747 the weed edges we dude joy smash i 00:08:55.747 --> 00:08:58.727 still remember that that was a long time ago but he smashed

00:08:58.727 --> 00:09:01.547 like a five pounder on a popper off the deck of 00:09:01.547 --> 00:09:04.227 the bass boat that was so awesome dude that 00:09:04.227 --> 00:09:07.307 was a fun day i yeah i think. 00:09:07.307 --> 00:09:10.067 I took steve and his uncle and a guy 00:09:10.067 --> 00:09:12.907 out and fished for spawning smallmouth on that 00:09:12.907 --> 00:09:15.847 same body of water a couple years later yeah no 00:09:15.847 --> 00:09:19.707 i i did bass are great man but you're right about trout like i 00:09:19.707 --> 00:09:22.867 summarize it like this like trout generally live in places that 00:09:22.867 --> 00:09:25.807 i would travel to otherwise regardless of fly 00:09:25.807 --> 00:09:28.527 fishing so exactly yeah i'm going to be at 00:09:28.527 --> 00:09:31.267 the foot of the mountains they live in generally live in 00:09:31.267 --> 00:09:34.007 ecosystems that are cold you know cold clean up 00:09:34.007 --> 00:09:36.927 here and they live in the same places that i 00:09:36.927 --> 00:09:40.527 would elk hunt and bear hunt yeah exactly 00:09:40.527 --> 00:09:43.547 you know it's the other thing of which like we're you know 00:09:43.547 --> 00:09:46.767 we promise we're not going to talk about bear hunting on the podcast but 00:09:46.767 --> 00:09:50.167 yeah i'm going but yeah so 00:09:50.167 --> 00:09:52.967 yeah tell us where where you're spending most of your time trout 00:09:52.967 --> 00:10:00.027 fishing these days i spend most of my time in the in the north fork of the coeur 00:10:00.027 --> 00:10:05.387 d'alene and the saint joe drainage in large part i would say for the most part. 00:10:05.387 --> 00:10:09.327 Because i live in coeur d'alene you know bouncing over the fernan saddle and 00:10:09.327 --> 00:10:12.187 into the little north fork or the upper north fork. 00:10:13.273 --> 00:10:17.613 Just all that, all that free stone cutthroat waters, you know, 00:10:17.873 --> 00:10:19.473 where I spend most of my time now. 00:10:19.653 --> 00:10:24.553 My son was living in Helena for four years while he was going to school and 00:10:24.553 --> 00:10:27.533 playing football. So I had bounced over and fished to Missouri with him and 00:10:27.533 --> 00:10:31.633 some little obscure creeks that he discovered in his off time. 00:10:31.793 --> 00:10:35.413 But I would say, you know, my home water is... 00:10:36.382 --> 00:10:39.802 Anything roadless in the North Idaho area. 00:10:40.142 --> 00:10:46.802 And drift boat, I don't know, not a lot, but maybe 25 or 30 guide trips for 00:10:46.802 --> 00:10:49.782 a local outfitter in Cordillan for the last few years. 00:10:50.062 --> 00:10:56.582 This may require a separate podcast, but in talking about why we chase wild 00:10:56.582 --> 00:10:59.762 trout and wild places and it's kind of the romance of that. 00:11:00.602 --> 00:11:03.402 Tell tell me because this is 00:11:03.402 --> 00:11:06.582 like i'm you've told me all about this and i've seen the photographs and 00:11:06.582 --> 00:11:10.202 some video clips so this this little documentary that 00:11:10.202 --> 00:11:13.402 you're you've put together with your son keel 00:11:13.402 --> 00:11:16.262 but tell us tell us a little bit about 00:11:16.262 --> 00:11:19.342 that experience you had in the roadless section that you 00:11:19.342 --> 00:11:22.402 guys did and kind of how that went down again we can maybe 00:11:22.402 --> 00:11:25.242 do a separate podcast on that at some point but what a unique 00:11:25.242 --> 00:11:29.842 experience that was man it's still 00:11:29.842 --> 00:11:33.042 i daydream about that trip on probably a 00:11:33.042 --> 00:11:36.322 weekly basis there is a there's 00:11:36.322 --> 00:11:39.422 a largely roadless section of the 00:11:39.422 --> 00:11:43.242 upper end of the north fork of the coeur d'alene river and i 00:11:43.242 --> 00:11:46.422 fished it one or two two three 00:11:46.422 --> 00:11:49.062 mile sections of it over the course of 00:11:49.062 --> 00:11:52.002 a couple years while i was poking around up there actually i went up 00:11:52.002 --> 00:11:55.282 there a long long time ago like in the late 1900s with 00:11:55.282 --> 00:11:58.122 a friend of mine and and and i 00:11:58.122 --> 00:12:00.962 i just i i fished it a couple summers ago 00:12:00.962 --> 00:12:03.822 the first few miles where the river leaves the road 00:12:03.822 --> 00:12:08.962 and i was looking at on x one day and i was i was telling my son i was like 00:12:08.962 --> 00:12:15.282 hey man you know i'd really like to do is i'd like to parlay sort of this spring 00:12:15.282 --> 00:12:23.082 bear backpack hunting you know kind of backpack expedition style adventure into a fishing trip. 00:12:23.382 --> 00:12:25.362 And I think I've found a. 00:12:25.948 --> 00:12:30.748 Pretty cool place to do it. And I'd, I'd ask some old timers around the fly 00:12:30.748 --> 00:12:35.288 shop in Coeur d'Alene, if they'd ever, you know, contemplated this idea. 00:12:35.288 --> 00:12:40.088 And I wasn't exactly sure how to plan it out logistically, but I thought about 00:12:40.088 --> 00:12:41.188 it for about a year and a half. 00:12:41.328 --> 00:12:45.248 And finally he came around and I was like, Hey, we're going to, 00:12:45.348 --> 00:12:48.248 we're going to do this and we're going to, we're going to start here and we're 00:12:48.248 --> 00:12:51.508 going to, you know, we're going to go put a rig at the end. 00:12:51.668 --> 00:12:54.368 And it was, I think, i think 00:12:54.368 --> 00:12:57.488 it ended up being a little over 25 miles of river 00:12:57.488 --> 00:13:00.828 and we we waited and fished 00:13:00.828 --> 00:13:03.768 so we didn't get out and like walk sections of 00:13:03.768 --> 00:13:07.288 the of a trail and come back down and fish like we entered 00:13:07.288 --> 00:13:14.508 the river where the river comes to the blacktop and we we entered the river 00:13:14.508 --> 00:13:20.688 and we waited the entire 25 miles of that all the

way up to his origin where 00:13:20.688 --> 00:13:26.408 we where we were able to where the road a Forest Service road comes down and touches and yeah, 00:13:26.588 --> 00:13:29.748 we waited that entire thing. It took us about five and a half days to do it. 00:13:30.148 --> 00:13:33.828 Yeah, yeah. Fishing with your camp on your back in a river, right? 00:13:34.188 --> 00:13:38.128 Camp on our back, yeah. That was the part that I was worried about. 00:13:38.268 --> 00:13:44.608 I wasn't, I'd never fished with like a 55 pound pack on my back before and I 00:13:44.608 --> 00:13:47.988 you know, I wasn't exactly sure how that would go. 00:13:48.728 --> 00:13:54.168 Within the first couple miles or so I found that it It really wasn't that bad. 00:13:54.388 --> 00:13:57.268 You know, I kind of had the idea, like, we would a whole hop, 00:13:57.428 --> 00:14:01.508 you know, like, we would just, we'd fish, like, really select. 00:14:01.608 --> 00:14:06.748 And, of course, I had kind of plotted this track out well in advance. 00:14:06.848 --> 00:14:09.688 And so I dropped pins on all these areas that we were going to fish. 00:14:09.688 --> 00:14:12.228 And I thought, oh, well, you know, we'll hike. We'll hike. 00:14:12.832 --> 00:14:15.272 And then we'll get to these areas, we'll drop our packs and we'll fish. 00:14:15.412 --> 00:14:18.792 And then, you know, you get to the river and all of a sudden, 00:14:19.032 --> 00:14:22.552 you know, you find yourself fishing and your packs on your back and we just kind of did it. 00:14:22.772 --> 00:14:26.892 So it really wasn't the bad. Of course, every day our packs got two and a half 00:14:26.892 --> 00:14:31.132 pounds lighter as we ate through our food. And so by the time we got to the 00:14:31.132 --> 00:14:33.132 last day, our packs were pretty light, honestly. 00:14:33.732 --> 00:14:39.972 That sounds like an awesome trip. Yeah. Some of the photos from that excursion, pretty remarkable. 00:14:40.532 --> 00:14:44.112 Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty cool. I knew that took, you know, a lot of planning, 00:14:44.152 --> 00:14:48.112 you know, we, we may unwind that in different discussion, but yeah, 00:14:48.412 --> 00:14:51.732 man, let's, let's talk, uh, let's talk tactical trout, man. 00:14:51.992 --> 00:14:56.072 So we, uh, we hit the Creek the other day, as you said, it was 38 degrees and raining. 00:14:56.532 --> 00:15:00.272 Of course, I forgot my rain jacket cause I didn't think it'd be 38 degrees and raining. 00:15:00.632 --> 00:15:05.372 Uh, it, it let up, but man, it blew pretty, it blew pretty good, 00:15:05.692 --> 00:15:07.892 you know, which made things a little bit more challenging, especially, 00:15:08.212 --> 00:15:12.172 you know, I started out that day, you know, I grabbed one rod and I was going 00:15:12.172 --> 00:15:15.952 to be, as you know, I really like euronymphing or tightline nymphing. 00:15:16.072 --> 00:15:20.932 I almost despise the term euronymphing because I feel like there's a stigma associated with that. 00:15:21.853 --> 00:15:26.633 Tightline nymphing is the productivity of fishing nymphs with the tightline 00:15:26.633 --> 00:15:30.293 grabs and the tugs of streamer fishing on an ultralight zone. 00:15:30.673 --> 00:15:35.313 Like, the challenge is like, man, I've talked about this podcast in the past. 00:15:35.413 --> 00:15:40.813 Like, it's really hard to get people that have fished a long time into it. 00:15:41.073 --> 00:15:44.053 And generally, people try it just enough to hate it. 00:15:44.193 --> 00:15:47.273 And they don't really want to relearn something. for me 00:15:47.273 --> 00:15:50.573 once i saw how effective it was i was 00:15:50.573 --> 00:15:54.013 interested once i experienced how fun 00:15:54.013 --> 00:15:57.513 and rewarding and then the control that you 00:15:57.513 --> 00:16:00.313 had i i just went head over heels man i mean that's 00:16:00.313 --> 00:16:05.053 generally plan a for me is i'm going to tight line nymph but in that wind that 00:16:05.053 --> 00:16:10.153 we were having you know in the situation that we were in you know i i realized 00:16:10.153 --> 00:16:13.453 pretty quickly we had to kind of throw some longer casts upstream and then we 00:16:13.453 --> 00:16:17.853 kind of had to hold drifts and some of that slower were water and you couldn't really, 00:16:18.093 --> 00:16:22.613 it seemed like the fish that were in the pools were probably really spooky because 00:16:22.613 --> 00:16:26.153 some of that water we fished that was in the pools, we could get them stripping 00:16:26.153 --> 00:16:28.493 streamers across it, but we couldn't, 00:16:28.573 --> 00:16:31.193 I couldn't, I couldn't get them like trying to tightline nymph it. 00:16:31.333 --> 00:16:33.813 It was just not enough current. Right. Yeah. 00:16:34.353 --> 00:16:37.353 Yeah. I was actually disappointed in that because I leading, 00:16:37.653 --> 00:16:39.773 you know, when you had called and said, Hey, let's fish the Creek. 00:16:39.773 --> 00:16:43.473 All I could think about was, because I've been listening to your podcast, 00:16:43.773 --> 00:16:50.853 and I realized how archaic some of my fishing styles are, and I've been stuck in a rut. 00:16:51.133 --> 00:16:56.293 It's not that I'm opposed to learning new things. I just haven't seen it. 00:16:56.573 --> 00:17:01.073 And I had told my son actually early in the week, I'm like, I cannot wait to 00:17:01.073 --> 00:17:05.513 fish with Joe on Wednesday because I'm going to milk him for everything he's 00:17:05.513 --> 00:17:08.333 got as it pertains to these new techniques. 00:17:08.333 --> 00:17:12.553 That I see all the time But I just You know For whatever reason I'm a little 00:17:12.553 --> 00:17:15.933 short on time I'm not a professional fisherman I don't have time To go out and 00:17:15.933 --> 00:17:18.173 fart around And I don't mind To. 00:17:18.738 --> 00:17:22.858 I don't mind spending a day or two days learning something new, 00:17:22.878 -->

00:17:27.218 but I just hadn't seen it before. And I'm a lot better if I can watch somebody do it. 00:17:27.318 --> 00:17:30.498 So I was a little bit bummed the conditions ended up being in the way because 00:17:30.498 --> 00:17:37.978 I had fully intended on watching you just smash fish out of holes that I couldn't catch. 00:17:38.018 --> 00:17:42.278 And then I was going to steal your rod and try to replicate what you were doing. 00:17:42.778 --> 00:17:48.618 That was my whole plan. Well, I took some of the clips that we shot, 00:17:48.738 --> 00:17:52.178 You know, we shot some GoPro, you know, or DJI footage that day, 00:17:52.358 --> 00:17:53.938 you know, just the headcam type. 00:17:54.118 --> 00:17:57.598 Well, we didn't use headcam, but we'll just say GoPro for lack of a better term. 00:17:57.698 --> 00:18:01.718 But we shot some GoPro footage that day, but the wind was so awful. 00:18:01.838 --> 00:18:07.318 It was just blowing out the mics and it really wasn't usable in a format other than a few examples. 00:18:07.498 --> 00:18:11.038 But, you know, like, let's just run through the day, I guess. 00:18:11.238 --> 00:18:15.438 Like, you started with your, you know, your Oros and a double Nymph Rig and 00:18:15.438 --> 00:18:17.838 you walked down and what happened? 00:18:18.738 --> 00:18:26.118 Well, like, got just, you know, first couple of drifts got smashed by really eager fish. 00:18:26.538 --> 00:18:31.078 But even when I walked up to the water, I was like, oh, this is not ideal. 00:18:31.378 --> 00:18:33.278 I'm going to throw a cannonball in there. 00:18:33.718 --> 00:18:37.118 I really figured that what we would see was... 00:18:38.435 --> 00:18:44.355 Higher, less visible water, like a foot of visibility on that Creek is like 00:18:44.355 --> 00:18:48.335 the ideal situation where you can just walk right up, stand on top of the hole. 00:18:48.855 --> 00:18:50.155 Drift through and catch fish. 00:18:50.315 --> 00:18:53.615 And when I, we got there and I saw that, I was like, Oh, this isn't great. 00:18:53.675 --> 00:18:59.775 I remember cringing the first couple of times, my large ball and I wasn't fishing a big one. 00:18:59.895 --> 00:19:04.335 I was fishing the smallest Oros they make, but I mean, they were, 00:19:04.455 --> 00:19:07.315 they were snappy fishing at first, but yeah, it was pretty 00:19:07.315 --> 00:19:10.675 obvious that that wasn't going to be the ticket that day yeah 00:19:10.675 --> 00:19:13.335 so so you know josh throws the 00:19:13.335 --> 00:19:16.155 oros in there a couple of nymphs you hook three fish boom 00:19:16.155 --> 00:19:18.815 boom boom oh my god we're going to slaughter these things and then 00:19:18.815 --> 00:19:22.015 it was just the pool that obviously the force 00:19:22.015 --> 00:19:25.935 had been disturbed you know for sure and 00:19:25.935 --> 00:19:29.395 and i started out with like you know my hardy 00:19:29.395 --> 00:19:32.255 ultralight ll 499 i love that 00:19:32.255 --> 00:19:35.135 rod because like you know on that 00:19:35.135 --> 00:19:38.295 creek and i think this is true for a lot of listeners like it's 00:19:38.295 --> 00:19:41.255 it would be the concept of like having like a rod holder 00:19:41.255 --> 00:19:45.175 and snapping a rod into a rod holder and switching between like a dry you know 00:19:45.175 --> 00:19:49.595 like let's say a delicate nymph rig like a dry dropper and then maybe a streamer 00:19:49.595 --> 00:19:54.095 or something heavier is great but in that grass and brush dragging a second 00:19:54.095 --> 00:19:59.035 rod around on your hip would be a nightmare like that second rod would be tangled 00:19:59.035 --> 00:20:00.895 and everything, it would be a distraction. 00:20:00.895 --> 00:20:05.495 So I wanted to take one rod with me and I started out tight line nymphing and 00:20:05.495 --> 00:20:08.895 then realized really quickly, I'm like, yeah, we can't walk up to the creek, 00:20:09.135 --> 00:20:12.195 you know, because it's gin clear, which as you said, like, 00:20:12.535 --> 00:20:16.315 you know, a little higher flow, a little dirtier water would have been an advantage to the angler. 00:20:16.735 --> 00:20:20.315 And it was so windy and we had to throw from further back. Pretty quickly, 00:20:20.315 --> 00:20:24.555 I realized, okay, like this micro leader system with a, with a cup, 00:20:24.695 --> 00:20:26.035 with a pretty gone style nymph. 00:20:26.633 --> 00:20:30.153 Is not going to be the ticket because I'm getting so much wind push and wind 00:20:30.153 --> 00:20:34.753 sway and that leader that I really, the nymph is moving when it's not supposed to. 00:20:35.053 --> 00:20:40.933 And wind sway is bad because it's not like it's agitating the nymph and like making it look real. 00:20:41.193 --> 00:20:44.873 It's literally just making it look phony because it's on a constant drag, 00:20:45.233 --> 00:20:46.113 you know, constant tension. 00:20:46.333 --> 00:20:50.313 So I switched up and I don't know if you remember this, but I went from like 00:20:50.313 --> 00:20:55.073 a conventional euro nymphing leader that was super long, very hard to handle 00:20:55.073 --> 00:20:57.833 on longer casts, And I cut that off. 00:20:58.173 --> 00:21:01.513 And what I like to do is run like a seven and a half foot, three X leader on 00:21:01.513 --> 00:21:06.613 my regular floating fly line, regular four weight floating, real gold fly line, nothing fancy. 00:21:07.093 --> 00:21:12.813 But then I tied a two foot chunk of yellow cider material on there and it put a little streamer on. 00:21:13.613 --> 00:21:17.573 And I did end up, you know, the advantage to that is when I, 00:21:17.713 --> 00:21:22.893 when there was a couple of those fast little corners that I was able to slide 00:21:22.893 --> 00:21:26.053 a little, a little jig leech, you know, which could be a crayfish. 00:21:26.053 --> 00:21:28.813 It could be a leech, it could be a minnow, it could be a dragonfly nymph,

00:21:28.813 --> 00:21:33.533 a grub, you know, it could be any bug that has a little bit of ability to move 00:21:33.533 --> 00:21:35.553 within the river itself or move within the current. 00:21:35.713 --> 00:21:39.153 So I could dead stick and tight line those through the swifter spots, 00:21:39.153 --> 00:21:42.733 which works with a heavy bug, even with a little bit of wind sway. 00:21:43.193 --> 00:21:46.933 And then in the slower pools, rather than being relegated to just trying to 00:21:46.933 --> 00:21:51.513 imitate a nymph drift, I was able to take like a naughty hooker fly or a leech 00:21:51.513 --> 00:21:53.993 or soccer bomb, whatever, a little swimming bug. 00:21:54.313 --> 00:21:57.293 And I was able to throw because I was using the conventional 00:21:57.293 --> 00:22:00.353 fly line across the pool so basically 00:22:00.353 --> 00:22:03.153 that rig was like I had a I had 00:22:03.153 --> 00:22:06.693 a seven and a half foot three x leader just your standard leader two 00:22:06.693 --> 00:22:11.013 feet of cider and then about four feet of tippet so I had a pretty long leader 00:22:11.013 --> 00:22:15.333 was still like 12 plus feet you know whatever the math works out to it was still 00:22:15.333 --> 00:22:19.693 a fairly long leader but then I could blast that thing across the pools and 00:22:19.693 --> 00:22:24.493 I did catch a couple of fish and I hooked that big one the bigger brown and 00:22:24.493 --> 00:22:26.473 just snap. I mean, that thing broke me off like. 00:22:27.587 --> 00:22:31.687 I mean, I saw the fish eat and busted it off, but I was able to work the big 00:22:31.687 --> 00:22:33.507 pools like by stripping a fly. 00:22:33.767 --> 00:22:37.647 And then, and then I was able to, you know, tight line nymph and pick apart 00:22:37.647 --> 00:22:41.907 some of that swifter stuff around the brush more than like a dead stick fashion in the car. 00:22:42.347 --> 00:22:45.447 Cause there's certain water that's too tight. You can't strip a streamer. 00:22:45.627 --> 00:22:49.187 It's just, this goes in and it's at the mercy of the river. 00:22:49.467 --> 00:22:52.627 You're going to, you know, float it under cut banks and stuff like that. 00:22:53.647 --> 00:22:56.747 But i don't know did you think it was odd when 00:22:56.747 --> 00:22:59.587 you know when i had that yellow cider and was just casting it 00:22:59.587 --> 00:23:02.587 across the pools and then that piece of cider was just being stripped 00:23:02.587 --> 00:23:06.147 across the pool there's nothing 00:23:06.147 --> 00:23:09.067 that is normal about fishing those little waters you 00:23:09.067 --> 00:23:11.687 know you think they're small and so everything's going 00:23:11.687 --> 00:23:15.327 to be tight and intimate and what i found honestly 00:23:15.327 --> 00:23:18.007 is that a lot of times you have 00:23:18.007 --> 00:23:21.247 to make long casts yeah like 00:23:21.247 --> 00:23:24.907 i mean it seems so anti-intuitive 00:23:24.907 --> 00:23:28.147

because you're fishing this ditch and you're 00:23:28.147 --> 00:23:32.847 like oh i can walk in now man to get to get the egg because of the way the creek 00:23:32.847 --> 00:23:37.767 lays out and the steepness of the banks and all that stuff like it is some it 00:23:37.767 --> 00:23:43.787 is some of the longest most technical casting i think that you'll ever find 00:23:43.787 --> 00:23:46.427 well not ever but But it's just, 00:23:46.467 --> 00:23:49.207 it's shocking. It's surprising. 00:23:49.947 --> 00:23:54.487 Yeah, so we haven't really described the body of water very well. 00:23:54.547 --> 00:23:58.747 And I think there's a lot of these backyard creeks and prairies all over the country. 00:23:59.667 --> 00:24:04.707 This place is special to us. It might not be special to other people if you 00:24:04.707 --> 00:24:05.707 were to come visit us, but... 00:24:06.361 --> 00:24:09.301 Because it's lesser known it's unique 00:24:09.301 --> 00:24:12.641 not a lot of people know about it i'm not 00:24:12.641 --> 00:24:15.401 going to say the name of it with respect to other anglers that fish there 00:24:15.401 --> 00:24:18.521 but i'm not going to hype it up and tell you like it's so 00:24:18.521 --> 00:24:21.421 incredible it's cool no it's cool 00:24:21.421 --> 00:24:24.201 because it's ours right like it's a bad fishery that's the 00:24:24.201 --> 00:24:27.341 only reason it's awesome exactly but yeah it's 00:24:27.341 --> 00:24:30.381 a ditch in places and it does it gets really wide and 00:24:30.381 --> 00:24:33.901 then the banks are really high above you so you might be standing it times four 00:24:33.901 --> 00:24:37.501 or five feet above the water and to net a fish you got to drop down on your 00:24:37.501 --> 00:24:41.101 butt with your feet in the water because it's deep and then net a fish you know 00:24:41.101 --> 00:24:45.421 through the tall grass but what i was doing is i was casting that cider material 00:24:45.421 --> 00:24:47.381 as part of my tapered leader in my setup. 00:24:47.821 --> 00:24:50.741 And that cider material helps me control my streamer when 00:24:50.741 --> 00:24:53.641 i'm dead sticking it in the the swifter parts and the technical 00:24:53.641 --> 00:24:56.921 corners where you there's no room to strip a streamer but 00:24:56.921 --> 00:24:59.881 then you might walk downstream 40 feet and now 00:24:59.881 --> 00:25:02.581 you've got a big billowy pool and now i've got 00:25:02.581 --> 00:25:05.521 to cast all the way to the other side and you you 00:25:05.521 --> 00:25:08.401 have to have a conventional fly line to make those casts because we're 00:25:08.401 --> 00:25:11.561 going to propel it to distance but i've streamer fished 00:25:11.561 --> 00:25:14.441 with that that bright cider material in my leader 00:25:14.441 --> 00:25:20.461 a ton and i have not found that to put fish off at all you know people older 00:25:20.461 --> 00:25:25.601 you know like my my streamer is about four feet behind that that

cider material 00:25:25.601 --> 00:25:31.141 but i've had i've had no i have no hesitation about just casting you know a 00:25:31.141 --> 00:25:33.461 tight line rig with a chunk of cider in it, which helps, 00:25:33.761 --> 00:25:37.321 it's an indicator for me to gauge the behavior of the fly in the swift water. 00:25:37.421 --> 00:25:40.901 I can measure depth to the bottom, detect strikes, and so on. 00:25:42.127 --> 00:25:46.767 But when I get in those big pools, I just cast my conventional tightline nymphing 00:25:46.767 --> 00:25:50.547 rig out with a TJ hooker or a naughty hooker or a leech or whatever, 00:25:50.627 --> 00:25:51.887 and then I just strip it back across. 00:25:52.067 --> 00:25:57.747 So I pretty quickly changed from like a technical tightline Euro nymphing rig 00:25:57.747 --> 00:26:02.307 to like a tightline streamer fishing rig pretty early in the day, 00:26:02.387 --> 00:26:06.387 and that was a good adjustment. I did get a couple of fish early in the day doing that. 00:26:06.747 --> 00:26:10.927 And then we fished upstream, and then I was like, man, I go. 00:26:11.407 --> 00:26:14.367 Josh, i go you got to try this new zealand thing 00:26:14.367 --> 00:26:17.147 uh so we ended up hiking all the back 00:26:17.147 --> 00:26:20.847 to the ground which was awesome yeah so 00:26:20.847 --> 00:26:23.767 what were your so that was the first time you'd 00:26:23.767 --> 00:26:26.907 actually i mean obviously you're yeah you know you're you're 00:26:26.907 --> 00:26:29.907 a part-time guide you're super pro angler but 00:26:29.907 --> 00:26:33.287 that was the first time you'd rigged up using that kit what'd you think of that 00:26:33.287 --> 00:26:39.627 new zealand strike indicator toolkit oh i it was so awesome on yeah there were 00:26:39.627 --> 00:26:43.987 so many things i really enjoyed about it one the cast ability of it is amazing 00:26:43.987 --> 00:26:48.487 it feels like you're casting a dry fly secondarily it and 00:26:48.907 --> 00:26:51.667 it took me a little while to get used to 00:26:51.667 --> 00:26:54.407 how sensitive that material is 00:26:54.407 --> 00:26:57.267 i i used to a long time ago i 00:26:57.267 --> 00:27:00.247 used to fish with that same type of material 00:27:00.247 --> 00:27:04.447 just you know tied into a leader and like an overhand knot right but the thing 00:27:04.447 --> 00:27:09.567 i really didn't like about is you're very pigeonholed as to what depth and which 00:27:09.567 --> 00:27:14.347 is fine on big rivers but in a creek like that where you're constantly you're 00:27:14.347 --> 00:27:19.487 going to go from fishing a slot that's two and a half feet deep to maybe one that's six feet deep. 00:27:20.414 --> 00:27:24.974 You know, that, that, that wasn't practical for adjusting. And what I really 00:27:24.974 --> 00:27:29.074 loved about that New Zealand deal was the fact that you could move it up and 00:27:29.074 --> 00:27:31.854 down and it didn't put a kink in your leader. 00:27:32.254 --> 00:27:36.854 It didn't, it didn't impact your leader. And I loved after I got used to, 00:27:36.934 --> 00:27:43.454 I think I've, I think I set the hook on several times on just movement in that 00:27:43.454 --> 00:27:47.194 leader because it was so sensitive that once I got accustomed to it, 00:27:47.814 --> 00:27:51.694 yeah, it's hard for me to imagine going back Like I will probably, 00:27:52.114 --> 00:27:56.214 even on the big, you know, dumb cutthroat rivers that I fish, 00:27:56.434 --> 00:28:00.274 I do still fish nymphs quite a bit because there's periods of time where they're 00:28:00.274 --> 00:28:04.994 just not going to charge up and eat a foam fly, despite what everybody thinks. 00:28:06.055 --> 00:28:11.175 It's hard for me to imagine going back to fishing a thingamabobber or oros again, 00:28:11.255 --> 00:28:12.635 now that I've been exposed to that. 00:28:14.735 --> 00:28:20.855 It's the only New Zealand. In fact, the fishery, the way we were fishing the 00:28:20.855 --> 00:28:23.855 creek the other day, certainly there are some giant trout in this creek. 00:28:24.155 --> 00:28:26.915 But we're not there for, I'm frankly not there for the giant trout. 00:28:27.095 --> 00:28:31.595 I'm there for rainbows in the 10 to 16 inch range. That's my game. 00:28:31.955 --> 00:28:34.595 I love just trout. and there's a 00:28:34.595 --> 00:28:37.735 reason that's the only indicator that they use there so like the 00:28:37.735 --> 00:28:41.155 the fishery we were in that indicator system 00:28:41.155 --> 00:28:44.015 you know it's delicate it's sharp you're right 00:28:44.015 --> 00:28:47.055 about the casting accuracy now we can roll 40 00:28:47.055 --> 00:28:49.855 foot cast you know on a razor you know just you know 00:28:49.855 --> 00:28:52.735 we can split grass we can split wickets and control it 00:28:52.735 --> 00:28:55.575 but you you probably i don't think 00:28:55.575 --> 00:28:58.335 you maybe you'd watch some videos or something but you'd 00:28:58.335 --> 00:29:01.435 never actually seen one built with that tool before had 00:29:01.435 --> 00:29:04.495 you no no i nope nope i've only 00:29:04.495 --> 00:29:08.655 seen it in application i've never seen it i've never seen it put together yeah 00:29:08.655 --> 00:29:14.435 and so like i the first time i watched like a video of it i was like that guy 00:29:14.435 --> 00:29:21.655 made it look way too easy there's no way it is actually that easy a moron like 00:29:21.655 --> 00:29:24.095 myself can still could could do that. 00:29:25.293 --> 00:29:29.973 Yeah. So, so we, yeah, we put in, you can, you know, you can customize the size 00:29:29.973 --> 00:29:30.973 of the indicator, right? 00:29:31.113 --> 00:29:35.653 Like you can, you can just run, I like the little spools of this synthetic yarn. 00:29:36.233 --> 00:29:39.473 Oh, and for anybody listening to the podcast, if you don't follow the YouTube 00:29:39.473 --> 00:29:43.893 channel, this podcast will come

out before the video, but in a week or so, 00:29:43.893 --> 00:29:47.793 we'll have a full video that kind of talks about some of these things that are mentioned. 00:29:47.993 --> 00:29:52.073 So just kind of keep your eyes peeled there. But those spools of synthetic yarn 00:29:52.073 --> 00:29:54.733 that the Strike Indicator company makes. 00:29:55.293 --> 00:29:59.093 Are absolutely excellent they're super buoyant 00:29:59.093 --> 00:30:01.793 you still want to run a comb through them and put a little floating on 00:30:01.793 --> 00:30:04.773 them but you can scale them to the size because we were 00:30:04.773 --> 00:30:08.733 just running a solo like little number 16 you 00:30:08.733 --> 00:30:11.933 know variety you know mayfly varietals under that and 00:30:11.933 --> 00:30:14.773 yeah they just you for that you just can run 00:30:14.773 --> 00:30:17.813 one little strand so you don't need a big indicator 00:30:17.813 --> 00:30:20.653 to hold up you know a very small nymph 00:30:20.653 --> 00:30:23.433 like that but i think you still need an indicator you know 00:30:23.433 --> 00:30:26.533 i don't there's a contingency of people that are like no bobbers 00:30:26.533 --> 00:30:30.093 i'm anti-bobber i'm like i'm like whatever whatever 00:30:30.093 --> 00:30:32.813 yeah it's like there are times we got 00:30:32.813 --> 00:30:37.133 to throw 40 or 50 feet like a long cast upstream because that's the only place 00:30:37.133 --> 00:30:42.773 you can access the creek and make the shot like there's some long casts and 00:30:42.773 --> 00:30:47.273 you can throw that indicator just up there on a rope man and and and then let 00:30:47.273 --> 00:30:51.293 it hunt you know part of the way back down or fish it a long ways across from you. 00:30:51.653 --> 00:30:55.033 I really enjoy that yarn fishing. I like the delicate nature of it. 00:30:55.577 --> 00:31:01.337 I think if I were to, if I were to take that same setup, 00:31:01.877 --> 00:31:07.257 double the amount of material that you put in mine that day and were to fish 00:31:07.257 --> 00:31:10.897 the type of winter holding water that I typically fish like in January, 00:31:11.197 --> 00:31:15.297 you know, December, January, and February on the cutthroat streams that I fish. 00:31:15.297 --> 00:31:19.737 Cause these fish winter in slow, you know, deeper holes. 00:31:20.397 --> 00:31:24.737 If I were to, if I were to employ that same tactic that we fished the other 00:31:24.737 --> 00:31:29.697 day, a month ago or two months ago with my buddies that I was floating the Coeur 00:31:29.697 --> 00:31:34.437 d'Alene with, I think I would have increased my fish catch by 25 to 30%. 00:31:34.437 --> 00:31:37.777 Oh, you're, yeah, you're, you're, you're right. 00:31:37.977 --> 00:31:41.617 Because in slow currents, like the sensitivity, 00:31:41.897 --> 00:31:45.057 the indicator becomes more paramount because the takes 00:31:45.057 --> 00:31:48.337 are really delicate in the wintertime and that 00:31:48.337 --> 00:31:51.417 fish can pick that nymph up chew on it spit 00:31:51.417 --> 00:31:54.717 it out before you know a larger conventional indicator 00:31:54.717 --> 00:31:58.157 is even going to twitch whereas that yarn you're 00:31:58.157 --> 00:32:01.337 going to see it hesitate you're going to see it dunk dodge dip 00:32:01.337 --> 00:32:06.917 whatever and yeah in slow currents especially yarn becomes even more critical 00:32:06.917 --> 00:32:11.477 so yeah it was it was fun you know launching that new zealand rig on you the 00:32:11.477 --> 00:32:14.777 other day i just think that's it's one of those things it's really easy not 00:32:14.777 --> 00:32:19.417 to employ because again you'll watch the video of the guy. 00:32:20.077 --> 00:32:23.097 Working company and you're like there's no 00:32:23.097 --> 00:32:26.297 way that's that easy but you're 00:32:26.297 --> 00:32:30.397 right even a moron like you can do it i think it's possible it's possible so 00:32:30.397 --> 00:32:34.237 we went and rigged up we made these nice tidy new zealand indicator rigs you 00:32:34.237 --> 00:32:38.397 know back in the truck and then we're like okay so then josh is like hey we're 00:32:38.397 --> 00:32:42.397 gonna hike like a mile downstream so we hike hike hike hike and we went down 00:32:42.397 --> 00:32:44.457 to this beautiful hole on the corner. 00:32:44.757 --> 00:32:49.337 You know, there's a big 90 degree bend with a bunch of swirls and a big flat. 00:32:49.537 --> 00:32:54.037 And then of course we set our rigs up and then we got down there and then what 00:32:54.037 --> 00:32:55.157 did we see down at the corner? 00:32:55.748 --> 00:33:00.768 Big giant heads popping up, sipping blowing olives. Yeah, of course. 00:33:02.688 --> 00:33:07.868 Now we're all rigged up. Which was awesome to see, but yeah, 00:33:08.228 --> 00:33:10.408 quickly scrambling to make an adjustment. 00:33:10.888 --> 00:33:14.028 Maybe we should have hiked down there first and then re-rigged. 00:33:14.288 --> 00:33:19.548 And I fished that whole, when I say this, it'll sound hyperbole, 00:33:19.708 --> 00:33:22.228 but I fished that whole hundreds of times. 00:33:23.208 --> 00:33:28.148 And as sexy as it is when you see it, it is, 00:33:28.940 --> 00:33:34.040 It's the biggest, most wide-open expanse that there is on the entire section 00:33:34.040 --> 00:33:41.500 of creek, and it is the most challenging piece of water there is to catch fish on that entire creek. 00:33:41.960 --> 00:33:46.160 Yeah, it's because, well, they can see you, you know, and there's not a good 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:49.240 angle to approach it. There's terrible angles. 00:33:49.560 --> 00:33:52.460 Yeah, so when you dry flight fish it, you kind of have to throw, 00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:57.340 like, across a big slow slick into really fast current moving at 90 degrees. 00:33:57.340 --> 00:34:00.300 And you can throw, you know, there's the listeners that are like, 00:34:00.360 --> 00:34:04.380

oh, just throw a reach cast, just throw a wiggle cast, a downstream men. 00:34:04.520 --> 00:34:06.180 You're like, yeah, we know all that, right? 00:34:06.520 --> 00:34:10.060 Those fish were damn hard to catch sipping betas in that hole. 00:34:10.520 --> 00:34:14.580 Especially those that were on the other side. So there's slick water, 00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:16.580 fast water, slick water. 00:34:16.760 --> 00:34:21.160 And of course, the biggest, most aggressive, you know, the most steady eaters 00:34:21.160 --> 00:34:25.640 were on the second slick. And the second slick, the bank is like eight feet 00:34:25.640 --> 00:34:27.320 high all the way around with willow trees. 00:34:27.740 --> 00:34:29.960 I've tried to go fish that. 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:36.760 I mean, I started fishing that creek in 1998. I've tried every possible way, 00:34:37.020 --> 00:34:40.580 every single approach there is, and there is no good approach to those fish. 00:34:40.940 --> 00:34:44.220 Yeah, you just got to get one to wander over to your own side there. 00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:48.000 You know, we threw over them, but, you know, the drift, even a stream, 00:34:48.100 --> 00:34:50.740 you know, you can pitch a streamer across that quick water. 00:34:50.740 --> 00:34:53.900 And if you get one, great, but you're not going to get two, you know, 00:34:54.120 --> 00:34:57.960 you're not going to get probably more than two casts with a streamer in there 00:34:57.960 --> 00:35:00.940 before they're like, hey, something's up, man, this is weird. 00:35:01.560 --> 00:35:04.720 So we dry fly fished a little bit. You got two good eats. 00:35:05.340 --> 00:35:10.440 Hey, share, because of the wind and the mayflies, share what you experienced 00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:14.500 on those, you know, you managed to get two good eats from good fish over there. 00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:18.120 Share what you learned about drag on the fly in the wind. Oh, 00:35:19.080 --> 00:35:22.540 drag on the fly with wind is your friend. 00:35:23.620 --> 00:35:27.860 I don't, I, I, I mean, I, I tried to pile up line, you know, 00:35:27.980 --> 00:35:32.060 I'd throw cast over and I'd try to pile line behind in the current and keep 00:35:32.060 --> 00:35:33.260 it as drag free as possible. 00:35:33.680 --> 00:35:39.220 The more effort I put into a drag free drift, the less fish I got to eat the, 00:35:39.220 --> 00:35:46.400 the two or three that I got to eat or when I lost track of the fly and it actually 00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:47.800 started, started to swing. 00:35:47.820 --> 00:35:50.200 I think, I think actually one time I said, you know what? 00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:53.760 I've actually had a little bit of luck stripping these back slowly. 00:35:54.360 --> 00:35:58.320 Whack. And then, you know, a fish eats it and I just didn't see it. 00:35:58.900 --> 00:36:01.520 I missed both of those because I didn't know where my fly was, 00:36:01.520 --> 00:36:02.840 to be perfectly honest with you. 00:36:03.100

--> 00:36:08.840 But yeah, we were watching those betas in the wind and even the mayflies were 00:36:08.840 --> 00:36:10.600 getting blown along pretty aggressively. 00:36:10.820 --> 00:36:13.340 Now, those are the duns. Those ones are done emerging, you know, 00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:16.560 so they're not really attached to the film anymore. But the betas were getting 00:36:16.560 --> 00:36:17.660 blown around pretty good. 00:36:18.398 --> 00:36:21.658 And yeah, those times, you know, you said that you go, yeah, 00:36:21.838 --> 00:36:26.338 and we're just going to like let it in gracefully and then slow strip it back. 00:36:26.618 --> 00:36:29.258 Plus you got to clear the pool before you make your next cast. 00:36:29.398 --> 00:36:32.318 You can't just rip your fly out of the pool because they can help. 00:36:32.598 --> 00:36:35.338 I mean, those fish are smart, man. They're very defend, you know, 00:36:35.418 --> 00:36:35.998 they're very defensive. 00:36:36.198 --> 00:36:41.838 But yeah, that's that really allowing your dry fly to end gracefully, 00:36:42.118 --> 00:36:43.738 you know, don't give up on it. 00:36:43.838 --> 00:36:47.358 Don't just strip it out of the pool, but actually work it out of the pool as 00:36:47.358 --> 00:36:50.438 though it's being flutter along by the wind or it's trying to 00:36:50.438 --> 00:36:53.558 take off it's trying to fly away but man 00:36:53.558 --> 00:36:56.378 sometimes you can't give up on drifts just because they're not 00:36:56.378 --> 00:36:59.538 they don't meet your standards the only standards that 00:36:59.538 --> 00:37:03.958 matter are the trout standards and we're not sure what those are from fish to 00:37:03.958 --> 00:37:08.838 fish and moment to moment in each scenario so yeah that was that was fun we 00:37:08.838 --> 00:37:12.958 got to dink around with some dry fly fishing and these and these are not pressured 00:37:12.958 --> 00:37:17.158 fish no they're just smart man they live in that They live in an aquarium, man. 00:37:17.238 --> 00:37:21.218 That water is super clear and it's super small. How many blue herons did we see? 00:37:22.298 --> 00:37:25.818 Zero, actually. Yeah. Well, we saw one when we first pulled up. 00:37:26.698 --> 00:37:30.898 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You pretended, right? No, I remember you threw your fly 00:37:30.898 --> 00:37:33.658 rod up like a shotgun, like you were going to shoot the blue heron. Yeah. 00:37:34.818 --> 00:37:36.978 I took some photographs of it. 00:37:38.998 --> 00:37:43.218 So we had, so those fish, despite not being fished to, at least in the section 00:37:43.218 --> 00:37:47.278 that we were fishing, they're constantly pestered by blue herons. 00:37:47.578 --> 00:37:52.118 There are osprey and there was no shortage of otter poop. 00:37:52.678 --> 00:37:55.798 Oh dude, there was otters. Yeah, we didn't see them, but man, 00:37:55.938 --> 00:38:00.618 their otter sign and their little tracks and trails were freaking everywhere in that Creek. 00:38:00.838 --> 00:38:05.878 So there was no sign of human traffic anywhere along that section of Creek. 00:38:06.740 --> 00:38:12.680 But those fish, like elk in the wilderness, they may not be being hunted by 00:38:12.680 --> 00:38:15.580 humans, but they are always being hunted. 00:38:16.520 --> 00:38:19.560 Yeah, you're absolutely right. Those otters were frigging everywhere. 00:38:19.960 --> 00:38:23.300 And yeah, I do remember, yeah, I was joking about you shooting, 00:38:23.460 --> 00:38:24.260 you pretending to shoot the heron. 00:38:25.380 --> 00:38:29.320 I was pretending to shoot those buffalo heads a little over. Oh, that's right. 00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.120 The heron, you did take some photographs of the heron, that's right. Yeah. 00:38:34.340 --> 00:38:37.520 It was a big camera. yeah so that we uh then you 00:38:37.520 --> 00:38:40.400 know after that we threw those ends the new zealand rigs 00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:44.060 back on and then that was our most efficient 00:38:44.060 --> 00:38:47.360 system of high sticking over tall 00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:50.060 grass when we had high banks and we 00:38:50.060 --> 00:38:54.140 couldn't get in and then we would get in the creek and then we would rifle you 00:38:54.140 --> 00:38:58.400 know 30 to 40 foot shots upstream you know that would come right back at us 00:38:58.400 --> 00:39:03.880 which is a very difficult scenario with you know like a tight line nymphing 00:39:03.880 --> 00:39:08.720 rig or streamer rig or anything sometimes you do have to throw a dead drifted fly straight upstream, 00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:12.900 and you did catch a nice rainbow and you 00:39:12.900 --> 00:39:18.860 were in river and you let your nymph you had to get it just right but you let 00:39:18.860 --> 00:39:25.340 your nymph kind of wash up under the cutback my best tactic of the day was rather 00:39:25.340 --> 00:39:31.180 than avoid the grass was to throw my flies up in the grass and 00:39:31.524 --> 00:39:37.704 And then finesse them out of the grass onto the water and then let the current 00:39:37.704 --> 00:39:39.724 do what it wanted to do with the bugs. 00:39:40.104 --> 00:39:42.864 And that was my best tactic of the day. 00:39:43.484 --> 00:39:48.364 Yeah. And I thought you were going to, you know, say you employed the weed whacker strategy. 00:39:49.264 --> 00:39:50.924 I did a little bit of that too. 00:39:51.824 --> 00:39:55.864 Yeah, the weed whacker strategy did work out once for you. I did notice that. 00:39:56.024 --> 00:40:01.404 But we did find, we were kind of joking about this at first. 00:40:01.524 --> 00:40:03.704 But I think there was some truth to it. 00:40:03.964 --> 00:40:08.904 The smaller the fly, the less it would actually stick in the grass. Yeah. 00:40:09.664 --> 00:40:14.944 So like we got down to like number 16s, maybe even an 18 with a jig head tungsten 00:40:14.944 --> 00:40:18.804 bead on it, just so that it could actually, it wouldn't just flop around in 00:40:18.804

--> 00:40:22.204 the current helter skelter, but it actually would track a little bit. 00:40:22.424 --> 00:40:26.264 But the smaller flies, yeah, the smaller fly you had, it seemed like, 00:40:26.424 --> 00:40:28.344 you know, you could actually land in the grass. 00:40:28.344 --> 00:40:32.544 There's sincerity in that technique of just, yep, just going to nick the grass, 00:40:32.684 --> 00:40:35.704 coax it in, and that's the only way I'm going to get that. And you have to wash 00:40:35.704 --> 00:40:39.544 up under those cut banks where those trout are, you know, those trout are residing. 00:40:40.264 --> 00:40:43.224 Kind of in those little bedding areas, as I like to think of them, 00:40:43.324 --> 00:40:44.944 like bedding areas for trout, you know. 00:40:45.064 --> 00:40:48.264 Like when they're out feeding, they're out in the open, but when they're bedded 00:40:48.264 --> 00:40:50.144 down, man, they're up under those cut banks. 00:40:50.224 --> 00:40:54.364 They're damn hard to dig out of there. I think some of what we were dealing 00:40:54.364 --> 00:41:00.384 with too was probably some fish that we didn't have good conditions for being able to see. 00:41:00.664 --> 00:41:05.604 Like it was not high sun, low wind. It was high wind, no sun. 00:41:05.984 --> 00:41:12.284 I think some of what we were dealing with, there was probably some fish that were starting to spawn. 00:41:13.150 --> 00:41:18.470 And so they were not, they were not aggressive. So getting, getting those flies 00:41:18.470 --> 00:41:23.370 in those, in those areas that are a little harder to access was, was pretty important. 00:41:23.730 --> 00:41:26.390 Well, I got to tell you, we got enough trout to be just super satisfied, 00:41:26.390 --> 00:41:29.550 but it, it, there was no, there was no free launch. 00:41:29.690 --> 00:41:34.010 But man, if that Creek were, if that Creek were like a whole lot better, 00:41:34.270 --> 00:41:37.410 you know, cause there's like, there's public access, you know, in various places. 00:41:37.410 --> 00:41:39.770 And there's lots of these types of creeks around. And again, 00:41:39.930 --> 00:41:46.110 these are just backyard fisheries, but if it were, if it were much better, it'd be popular. 00:41:47.430 --> 00:41:51.890 It would be popular. Yeah. It was like, you know, I'm not going to, 00:41:51.970 --> 00:41:54.350 I'm not going to, I'm not going to bullshit you, man. 00:41:54.490 --> 00:41:58.570 Like there's a smug satisfaction of going out to these little hidey hole backyard 00:41:58.570 --> 00:42:00.630 fisheries that are your fisheries. 00:42:00.890 --> 00:42:04.210 You love them because they're yours and their heart is hell, 00:42:04.430 --> 00:42:07.550 but you like them because there's nobody out there. 00:42:07.550 --> 00:42:10.590 And there's there's nobody out there there's nobody trying 00:42:10.590 --> 00:42:13.990 to lease this property up to you know start start 00:42:13.990 --> 00:42:16.830 an outfitting service i'm certainly not it's too hard 00:42:16.830 --> 00:42:19.610 i would have a really tough 00:42:19.610 --> 00:42:22.390 time trying to guide anybody there but you know 00:42:22.390 --> 00:42:26.710 for just you know we were just young schmucks you know now we're just old schmucks 00:42:26.710 --> 00:42:31.250 but young we're just young schmucks when we started fishing out there and and 00:42:31.250 --> 00:42:35.750 i think i said a little quote like i caught a 12 inch rainbow and i was like 00:42:35.750 --> 00:42:39.650 this might as well be the biggest trout in the world right now at this very moment, 00:42:39.950 --> 00:42:41.870 like super satisfying. 00:42:42.050 --> 00:42:45.310 You know, you know, when you make a good task and then you can plan it, 00:42:45.330 --> 00:42:47.950 you do it right. And it all comes together. 00:42:48.610 --> 00:42:52.810 I have, I have taken people there in the past and, 00:42:53.220 --> 00:42:56.540 And been offended with their reaction. 00:42:56.880 --> 00:43:01.280 Like when you say these are our fisheries, I'm like, yeah, you're doggone right. 00:43:01.500 --> 00:43:06.020 And if I take you there and you don't think it's as awesome as I do, I'm not taking you back. 00:43:06.340 --> 00:43:10.060 Oh, dude, that's like somebody hitting your dog. I mean, like. 00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:14.840 Exactly. Yeah. Or you cook them a steak and they put ketchup on it. 00:43:14.840 --> 00:43:16.640 It's like, no, that's offensive. 00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:24.580 Yeah, man. Yeah. I was going to do a piece of backstrap and you doused it in ketchup. 00:43:24.840 --> 00:43:28.180 Like, you're not coming back here again. We're not friends anymore. 00:43:28.900 --> 00:43:33.200 Yeah, if you have to explain why, you know, some of these quirky little backyard 00:43:33.200 --> 00:43:37.880 fisheries, and I don't care whether it's this creek or any other of the thousands 00:43:37.880 --> 00:43:43.480 of little bodies of water that, you know, anglers have that are like there, maybe it's a pond, 00:43:43.780 --> 00:43:48.080 you know, maybe it's a little creek or a river, particular area or section and 00:43:48.080 --> 00:43:52.300 you love it because it's yours and you have memories there your heart maybe 00:43:52.300 --> 00:43:55.180 your ashes or you know maybe some of your ashes are going to go in that place 00:43:55.180 --> 00:44:01.520 and then people are like meh it was okay yeah i'm more than mildly offended. 00:44:03.680 --> 00:44:08.840 That's exactly right man yeah i couldn't put my finger on on it but yeah you said it best, 00:44:09.420 --> 00:44:15.200 hey so as as uh so yeah just to kind of wrap up you know the the kind of the 00:44:15.200 --> 00:44:18.880 outcome of the day yes we we fished a you know i fished a variety of different 00:44:18.880 --> 00:44:22.240 kind of leader systems and strategies and they they were all effective for different 00:44:22.240 --> 00:44:24.340 reasons and different things and i would i would,

00:44:25.140 --> 00:44:29.040 rationalize why i would do it but i i would do it all with one rod and kind of, 00:44:30.246 --> 00:44:33.186 When you kind of get good at making those little adjustments to your rig, 00:44:33.386 --> 00:44:37.886 it's actually really fast. It's not a big deal. And then you can use one reel and one rod. 00:44:38.086 --> 00:44:41.686 You can leave the rig in the morning with one reel and one rod, 00:44:41.686 --> 00:44:45.426 and you can do a lot of different things with it for different types of water. 00:44:46.166 --> 00:44:50.246 But, yeah, we ended the day. I ended up going back just to a streamer and ended 00:44:50.246 --> 00:44:54.466 up catching a decent rainbow on that last cast of the day, which was a pretty 00:44:54.466 --> 00:44:56.146 good way to hit it and quit it. 00:44:56.266 --> 00:45:00.066 And then, yeah, I remember I told you, I go, yeah, it's like 530. 00:45:00.246 --> 00:45:03.086 And uh you're like what time is 00:45:03.086 --> 00:45:05.826 it i guess like 5 30 yeah you thought it 00:45:05.826 --> 00:45:09.226 was like what like three o'clock i didn't 00:45:09.226 --> 00:45:11.946 want to go i hadn't been there in a long time and i was having 00:45:11.946 --> 00:45:14.846 so much fun being with you doing what we had done so many 00:45:14.846 --> 00:45:17.526 years ago i just didn't want it to end i probably would have 00:45:17.526 --> 00:45:20.246 fished till dark despite the fact that i don't think we'd have 00:45:20.246 --> 00:45:23.246 been any more productive had we stayed there another three or four hours 00:45:23.246 --> 00:45:27.146 but so it was just one of the you know it's just one of those deals yeah. 00:45:27.146 --> 00:45:30.006 So this is yeah super day i encourage anybody listening like 00:45:30.006 --> 00:45:32.906 find those quirky little fisheries you know i guarantee you've 00:45:32.906 --> 00:45:35.866 got some near your house you know i've been 00:45:35.866 --> 00:45:38.586 appalled and man you did a ton of this in 00:45:38.586 --> 00:45:41.906 eastern washington of just checking these little ditches and 00:45:41.906 --> 00:45:44.826 minals and creeks and can you 00:45:44.826 --> 00:45:47.746 remember like one instance where you were just shocked at 00:45:47.746 --> 00:45:51.166 what you found in uh oh oh yeah 00:45:51.166 --> 00:45:55.406 for sure actually about a 00:45:55.406 --> 00:45:59.146 week ago i got a i got a photograph texted 00:45:59.146 --> 00:46:02.286 to me from from one of my my 00:46:02.286 --> 00:46:05.306 only childhood friend that is still in my life's mom 00:46:05.306 --> 00:46:08.286 where i caught a 20 i was holding this 00:46:08.286 --> 00:46:11.146 fish back then if you didn't bring the fish home it 00:46:11.146 --> 00:46:14.826 didn't happen right so i i feel terrible today about 00:46:14.826 --> 00:46:20.346 having killed this fish but i caught a 21 inch rainbow out of a out of a creek 00:46:20.346 --> 00:46:27.906 that was like three feet wide yeah

yeah i and it's it's a trib actually of the 00:46:27.906 --> 00:46:31.686 so as small as the creek was that you and i were fishing last week this was 00:46:31.686 --> 00:46:34.326 a tributary of that imagine how small that is. 00:46:35.117 --> 00:46:39.517 Dude, how old are you? Your friend's mom had like an old photo? 00:46:40.197 --> 00:46:44.877 An actual photograph. I was in eighth grade. It was May of 1988. 00:46:46.637 --> 00:46:51.717 And I was holding two fish. One was 21 inches and the other one was 15 inches. 00:46:51.817 --> 00:46:55.657 I caught both of these fish on back-to-back casts out of the exact same hole. 00:46:56.237 --> 00:46:59.937 And it was one of those deals where I was like, well, there's got to be fish 00:46:59.937 --> 00:47:01.377 in here. Look at how awesome this looks. 00:47:01.517 --> 00:47:04.677 But there was like, you know, there's one good hole. and i 00:47:04.677 --> 00:47:07.437 don't know how many miles we fished up and down that day and we came 00:47:07.437 --> 00:47:10.177 back to the first hole and i caught those two fish and i was just 00:47:10.177 --> 00:47:16.797 like holy smokes since that day i've never driven by a piece of water and not 00:47:16.797 --> 00:47:22.017 thought to myself i'll bet there's some big fish in there oh totally yeah there 00:47:22.017 --> 00:47:27.877 i mean yeah yeah folks listening there are a lot of blue ribbon blue ribbon rivers and streams, 00:47:28.137 --> 00:47:32.757 but man, there's a lot of unnamed blue ribbon creeks out there. 00:47:33.117 --> 00:47:37.317 And I think that red ribbon and green ribbon and white ribbon or whatever the 00:47:37.317 --> 00:47:41.797 heck the placings are for second, third, fourth place, like there's a lot of 00:47:41.797 --> 00:47:44.477 like lesser known streams out there. 00:47:45.325 --> 00:47:50.145 That you could have half of the fish count, but five times the productivity 00:47:50.145 --> 00:47:51.805 just based on the lack of pressure. 00:47:52.585 --> 00:47:56.025 And, uh, and yeah. And when you pull up, when you, when you hook a fish, 00:47:56.205 --> 00:47:58.445 when you catch a fish out of one of those places, 00:47:59.185 --> 00:48:03.605 like it's so satisfying because you think about the number of people who've 00:48:03.605 --> 00:48:07.865 driven by that and never considered it, you know, and you went and tried it 00:48:07.865 --> 00:48:11.105 now for every one of those, like that example I gave you, 00:48:11.265 --> 00:48:15.045 I fished five or six where I fished all day and never touched the fish. 00:48:16.165 --> 00:48:20.405 But the only ones I really, really remember are the best ones. 00:48:21.005 --> 00:48:25.125 Well, those were the days when we didn't have Onyx maps or trout routes or, 00:48:25.345 --> 00:48:27.025 you know, we didn't have any of this stuff, man. 00:48:27.185 --> 00:48:30.045 Like you just kind of drove around and I can remember, you know, 00:48:30.225 --> 00:48:34.725 driving on lots of scouting trips only to get out to where there was a creek on my Gazetteer map. 00:48:35.045 --> 00:48:38.685 And you get out there and what would happen? It'd be dry, you know, 00:48:38.765 --> 00:48:40.865 like literally no water in it. 00:48:40.965 --> 00:48:43.945 But then, you know, I would hear from somebody else, oh 00:48:43.945 --> 00:48:47.245 yeah you got to go upstream two miles it de-waters and 00:48:47.245 --> 00:48:50.305 then you go upstream two miles and man there's fish the worst 00:48:50.305 --> 00:48:53.325 part of onyx is now i know when i'm 00:48:53.325 --> 00:48:58.565 trespassing was in the old days i wasn't 100 sure yeah you said that the other 00:48:58.565 --> 00:49:05.425 day you're like man i used to fish down there all the time i didn't i didn't 00:49:05.425 --> 00:49:11.025 know it was just we fished a quarter of what i used to fish back then yeah Yeah, 00:49:11.305 --> 00:49:15.445 there's not really any excuses now to not know where the boundaries are. 00:49:15.605 --> 00:49:18.205 But yeah, it does make doorknocking a little easier. 00:49:18.405 --> 00:49:22.945 You know, at least you at least know the person on the tax assessor's, 00:49:22.945 --> 00:49:26.245 you know, paperwork. At least you know their name. That's true. 00:49:26.845 --> 00:49:31.005 Can help out a little bit. Hey, so shifting gears. So what's going to happen 00:49:31.005 --> 00:49:35.265 in the North Idaho cutthroat fisheries? What's the spring forecast looking like? 00:49:36.341 --> 00:49:42.001 Oh, man. You know, the last couple of years, everything's been a little bit on fast forward. 00:49:42.401 --> 00:49:48.581 So normally, I would say, you know, historically speaking, 00:49:49.181 --> 00:49:54.861 we usually kind of the squala action, March Brown action, which typically happens 00:49:54.861 --> 00:49:59.801 together, is usually, I would say, around, you know, mid-April. 00:49:59.801 --> 00:50:07.021 And then we kind of flow into the, the salmon fly PMD, you know, 00:50:07.261 --> 00:50:11.901 time, and then you kind of flow into the green drake, you know, some of that stuff. 00:50:12.621 --> 00:50:17.781 Last year, I was a little late to the game because I was bear hunting all spring. 00:50:17.781 --> 00:50:22.901 And when I went up with my big foamy salmon flies, you know, 00:50:23.021 --> 00:50:28.301 the third week of May to fish for the salmon flies, I, I, I discovered that 00:50:28.301 --> 00:50:30.001 that had already happened. Thank you. 00:50:30.814 --> 00:50:34.254 So I don't want to be, that's one hatch. You don't want to be late, 00:50:34.854 --> 00:50:38.134 man. And I missed all of the squalor, all the March. 00:50:38.274 --> 00:50:42.434 Honestly, I think my favorite time of the year is I really liked them as much, 00:50:42.574 --> 00:50:45.054 as much attention as the big, and don't get me wrong. 00:50:45.194 --> 00:50:49.294 I love fishing the big foamy fly like everybody else does, but you know, 00:50:49.374 -->

00:50:57.014 the staple on these, on these cold free stone streams early on are the mayflies 00:50:57.014 --> 00:50:58.594 until you get to the caddis. 00:50:58.594 --> 00:51:02.214 And we don't get, like, we get, there's some, there's some good caddis hatch. 00:51:02.314 --> 00:51:05.874 We don't, we don't get that crazy caddis hatch, like that Mother's Day caddis 00:51:05.874 --> 00:51:08.734 hatch that you guys get in the central part of Washington. 00:51:08.974 --> 00:51:11.614 We, you know, we have, we have caddis that happens throughout the course of 00:51:11.614 --> 00:51:14.514 the year, but it's not really like necessarily a key event. 00:51:14.654 --> 00:51:19.594 Like some of these mayfly hatches, honestly, I, I kind of, I kind of gear my 00:51:19.594 --> 00:51:21.254 thought process around the mayflies. 00:51:21.254 --> 00:51:27.854 And then if the big bugs show up, the big bugs show up and I'll certainly have 00:51:27.854 --> 00:51:29.794 some of those and be ready to make that adjustment. 00:51:30.894 --> 00:51:36.054 But I'm thinking with the snowpack that we have this year and the warm weather 00:51:36.054 --> 00:51:40.694 that is forecasted this year, last year's warm weather was not forecasted. 00:51:41.034 --> 00:51:45.034 I'm anticipating that some of those big bugs are going to, I wouldn't be shocked. 00:51:45.034 --> 00:51:48.914 I haven't been up the North Fork, but I wouldn't be shocked if I was up there 00:51:48.914 --> 00:51:52.334 today if there were squalas on the water. 00:51:53.954 --> 00:52:01.214 So you guys don't have June openers on the North, the Coeur d'Alene and the 00:52:01.214 --> 00:52:03.654 St. Joe, but what about the tributaries? 00:52:05.500 --> 00:52:12.900 There are some trips that have later openers, but I don't remember when it was, 00:52:12.900 --> 00:52:16.680 you know, it used to be back when I was, when I was originally, 00:52:16.960 --> 00:52:21.660 when I first, my first endeavor into fly fishing, the, you know, nothing opened up. 00:52:21.900 --> 00:52:25.180 The main rivers didn't open up until Memorial day weekend. That was always the 00:52:25.180 --> 00:52:26.620 weekend was Memorial day weekend. 00:52:27.020 --> 00:52:32.620 And then the trips were July 1st. And then sometime when I was gone, 00:52:32.680 --> 00:52:39.680 you know, in the, in the, you know, the shiny glass boats, chasing bass, they changed all that. 00:52:39.980 --> 00:52:43.400 And the main rivers and the tribs stayed open year round. 00:52:43.540 --> 00:52:47.140 So my understanding is there are some trips that have a later opener. 00:52:47.200 --> 00:52:52.360 But as far as I'm aware of in the main drainage that I spend most of my time 00:52:52.360 --> 00:52:55.560 because it's close to home, everything is a, it's a free for all. 00:52:55.700 --> 00:53:00.720 It's, it's all year, all the time. What do you anticipate for runoff in the 00:53:00.720 --> 00:53:02.180 North Idaho area this year? 00:53:03.160 --> 00:53:08.200 Not much. You guys are still light? Not much. Now, yeah, we're super light. 00:53:08.440 --> 00:53:13.620 We did get a fairly significant snowstorm last weekend. 00:53:14.720 --> 00:53:18.500 And a lot of times, you know, I've only been over there for five years, 00:53:18.600 --> 00:53:23.060 so I don't have a great frame of reference. But I have noticed over the last 00:53:23.060 --> 00:53:26.060 couple of years, some of our biggest snowfalls happened in March. 00:53:26.760 --> 00:53:31.840 And so I suppose it's feasible that everything catches up, 00:53:31.940 --> 00:53:38.280 but I had 10 inches of snow at my house Friday morning of last week, 00:53:38.300 --> 00:53:43.900 and it's forecasted that by Thursday of this week, the third week of March, 00:53:44.480 --> 00:53:46.320 that we're supposed to have mid-60s temps. 00:53:47.342 --> 00:53:50.742 So I don't, I don't, I don't think we're going to have the big push of the runoff. 00:53:50.862 --> 00:53:54.722 I've seen, I've been there in June when the river completely flooded out. 00:53:54.862 --> 00:53:58.442 I think three years ago, I did a guide trip on a day where we actually broke 00:53:58.442 --> 00:54:02.962 a record for flows, which was absolutely insane that we were on the water that 00:54:02.962 --> 00:54:05.502 day, but they insisted that we go. 00:54:05.742 --> 00:54:09.382 So I, I don't, I don't think we're going to have the big, the big push that 00:54:09.382 --> 00:54:10.722 we normally experience. 00:54:10.882 --> 00:54:14.182 Did you guys catch fish the day you were floating in flood conditions? 00:54:14.422 --> 00:54:17.542 No, we were just trying to stay alive. we were floating 00:54:17.542 --> 00:54:20.262 through trees we we normally have like a 00:54:20.262 --> 00:54:23.102 half mile dirt road off road to get 00:54:23.102 --> 00:54:26.502 to the launch and we launched our boats off of 00:54:26.502 --> 00:54:29.402 the main road and paddled our way through the timber to 00:54:29.402 --> 00:54:32.402 get to the main channel it was 00:54:32.402 --> 00:54:35.422 the dumbest thing i've ever done i've never been so terrified 00:54:35.422 --> 00:54:39.042 for a eight to ten hour day sitting 00:54:39.042 --> 00:54:42.022 in the middle of a drift boat and i was i was fortune i 00:54:42.022 --> 00:54:45.522 was with two professional guides who had 10 times 00:54:45.522 --> 00:54:48.422 the experience that i had from wyoming and we 00:54:48.422 --> 00:54:51.282 got to a couple places they're like and of course they had no 00:54:51.282 --> 00:54:55.122 idea but they're like because i'm an older guy you know i'm 50 they were in 00:54:55.122 --> 00:54:58.322 their 30s they're like man i'm glad you're on mistakes because i wouldn't want 00:54:58.322 --> 00:55:02.082 to be rolling this water and all i could think to myself was you have no idea 00:55:02.082 --> 00:55:07.102 how little experience i have right now compared to you guys so that's dude So 00:55:07.102 -->

00:55:10.862 you were just like floating through the timber, like, okay, the river's this way. 00:55:11.222 --> 00:55:14.922 Joe, I will put it to you this way. When I got to the fly shop. 00:55:15.282 --> 00:55:18.602 There's a big eddy right before you get to the fly shop. 00:55:18.862 --> 00:55:24.062 I watched a porta potty come through the big eddy. 00:55:25.442 --> 00:55:31.782 Where were you floating down to like the snake pit? Floated from the snake pit down to Cataldo. 00:55:32.282 --> 00:55:34.702 And this was a bachelor party. 00:55:35.568 --> 00:55:41.648 With a guy from wyoming and there was we took eight boats that day there were 16 anglers. 00:55:42.208 --> 00:55:45.148 And they he he'd made a deal with his buddies where 00:55:45.148 --> 00:55:48.308 they were staying at the cordelaine resort and they were like they were gonna fish one 00:55:48.308 --> 00:55:51.408 day play the golf course one day 00:55:51.408 --> 00:55:54.328 and he was adamant about the fact 00:55:54.328 --> 00:55:57.088 that they not we tried everything we could possibly do 00:55:57.088 --> 00:56:00.188 to cancel this trip and he would not cancel the 00:56:00.188 --> 00:56:03.048 trip out of eight boats 16 anglers there 00:56:03.048 --> 00:56:05.928 was a single fish caught that day dude that's a 00:56:05.928 --> 00:56:09.068 great story though man they went and floated flood conditions 00:56:09.068 --> 00:56:12.668 you had a port-a-potty float through the back i was just 00:56:12.668 --> 00:56:15.348 happy to put the boat on the trailer at the end of the 00:56:15.348 --> 00:56:18.868 day my hands stopped shaking about the 00:56:18.868 --> 00:56:21.588 time we hit cataldo and i could see i could 00:56:21.588 --> 00:56:24.828 see the ramp i'm like okay i can finally relax we 00:56:24.828 --> 00:56:27.828 would not let them take care we wore life jackets the 00:56:27.828 --> 00:56:30.668 entire day of course yeah and cold cold high 00:56:30.668 --> 00:56:33.488 water man that's dangerous oh it was it 00:56:33.488 --> 00:56:36.628 was awful it was one of the worst experiences i've ever 00:56:36.628 --> 00:56:39.408 had on the water that's great these 30 year old dudes 00:56:39.408 --> 00:56:42.708 are like man i'm so glad you're on the sticks yeah and 00:56:42.708 --> 00:56:45.808 i was thinking to myself i'm like yeah i've got a total of 00:56:45.808 --> 00:56:51.788 about 17 to 18 days on these sticks yeah you guys did more of that the week 00:56:51.788 --> 00:57:00.668 before you came here we survived they drank a lot of whiskey yeah and they kept 00:57:00.668 --> 00:57:05.688 trying to give me whiskey the i'm like fellas look if i'm gonna die today i want to die sober. 00:57:10.268 --> 00:57:16.448 Oh my gosh so but in general i've been up on that river before and it it'll 00:57:16.448 --> 00:57:23.588 run uh it'll it'll run high but quite clear it seems to hold its color really well. 00:57:24.585 --> 00:57:27.545 Color really well normally we don't 00:57:27.545 --> 00:57:31.305 have to cancel a trip based on water 00:57:31.305 --> 00:57:34.145 levels there's always something i mean that that 00:57:34.145 --> 00:57:37.225 was like i think we broke like a 50 year record seriously it wasn't 00:57:37.225 --> 00:57:40.105 like it wasn't just blown out it was like blown out and 00:57:40.105 --> 00:57:43.125 blown up that day it was it 00:57:43.125 --> 00:57:46.145 was dirty it was all yeah no and and and 00:57:46.145 --> 00:57:49.125 really when it gets big like that oftentimes the fishing 00:57:49.125 --> 00:57:52.085 can be amazing i don't i wouldn't you 00:57:52.085 --> 00:57:55.925 know water levels would not be of much it becomes 00:57:55.925 --> 00:57:58.565 unweightable but if you're in a 00:57:58.565 --> 00:58:01.445 drift boat i water and water levels would 00:58:01.445 --> 00:58:04.305 be a zero concern to me because the water is 00:58:04.305 --> 00:58:07.345 so clear yeah that thing holds its color it 00:58:07.345 --> 00:58:10.305 just said there's no mud you know there's no dirt you 00:58:10.305 --> 00:58:12.945 know there's not a lot of silt there's no glacial you know what 00:58:12.945 --> 00:58:16.085 i mean it's like it's it's flowing it's all 00:58:16.085 --> 00:58:19.585 this canyons are very steep now with burns 00:58:19.585 --> 00:58:22.325 that have happened the last couple years i suppose they're you know 00:58:22.325 --> 00:58:24.965 there could be some sediment dumps in them but most of the 00:58:24.965 --> 00:58:28.105 time you know they're they're blown up but 00:58:28.105 --> 00:58:33.065 they're they're still running crystal quicker yeah i i've only fished that river 00:58:33.065 --> 00:58:38.605 once and had a great time it's long i mean how many miles of the and that's 00:58:38.605 --> 00:58:42.845 great so you wait back to this you guys you had eight you had eight boats in 00:58:42.845 --> 00:58:46.365 this bachelor party which is the reason they had you as the part-timer. 00:58:46.585 --> 00:58:49.305 The part-time guy. Hey, I'll help out every now and then. 00:58:49.505 --> 00:58:54.105 Like that's the reason they had you as well on the car. And they thought I was 00:58:54.105 --> 00:58:56.345 dumb enough to say yes. Yeah. 00:58:57.745 --> 00:59:01.665 Yeah. Yeah. Port-a-potty floating around to the back, Eddie. 00:59:02.085 --> 00:59:04.845 Cast to the left of the grabber, man. 00:59:05.485 --> 00:59:09.545 Yeah, it was wild. No, the river's really, really long. 00:59:10.839 --> 00:59:18.519 I would say, man, I'm going to guess here. I've never actually mapped it out. 00:59:18.839 --> 00:59:25.019 But when you get off at Kingston, if you want to drive all the way up to where 00:59:25.019 --> 00:59:30.039 the roadless section starts in the other big stem of the trip, 00:59:30.219 --> 00:59:36.779 it's an hour and a half at 45 miles an hour. It's probably 60 miles. 00:59:37.019 --> 00:59:40.399 And then you have the 25 miles roadless section. 00:59:41.113 -->

00:59:45.433 Oh, yeah, there's there's 25 miles of roadless and then there's another stem, 00:59:45.653 --> 00:59:47.733 you know, that goes another 20 miles. 00:59:47.973 --> 00:59:51.893 And then there's, you know, many trips that are, you know, yeah, 00:59:52.073 --> 00:59:57.073 it's I've been there five years, Joe, and I've fished as much as I possibly 00:59:57.073 --> 00:59:59.573 can. And I have yet to touch it all. 00:59:59.833 --> 01:00:04.013 I mean, there are still places where people say, I can't believe you haven't fished that. 01:00:04.153 --> 01:00:08.573 I'm like, dude, I got to, you know, I mean, I fish as many days as I fish more 01:00:08.573 --> 01:00:12.273 than the man or person does. and I still can't see it all. 01:00:12.553 --> 01:00:14.873 Yeah, it's impossible. There's so much to fish. 01:00:15.373 --> 01:00:18.993 Yeah, I love those cutthroat fisheries. One of the best, you know, 01:00:19.413 --> 01:00:22.093 obviously a slightly different river that you also fish. 01:00:22.253 --> 01:00:27.513 But yeah, I think two summers ago, my son Jake and my wife Kelly and I went and fished the St. Joe. 01:00:27.953 --> 01:00:33.693 And we've kind of gone to a no drift boat policy on our family road trips for a couple of reasons. 01:00:33.933 --> 01:00:37.113 You can't be nearly as spontaneous, you know, when you have a boat. 01:00:37.933 --> 01:00:41.173 So we like the latitude of being able to fish. 01:00:41.333 --> 01:00:44.853 Like some days we might fish two or three rivers on our road trips. 01:00:44.973 --> 01:00:48.353 You know, we'll go one place in the morning and check it out and then, 01:00:48.353 --> 01:00:49.953 you know, jam over to another stream. 01:00:50.133 --> 01:00:52.633 And when you're wade fishing, it's really easy. But, you know, 01:00:52.653 --> 01:00:55.373 we fished the Joe and that was, yeah, it was one of the best. 01:00:56.153 --> 01:00:59.693 We've done a lot of fishing on our family road trips. That was one of the best 01:00:59.693 --> 01:01:05.193 trips we had because, you know, like my wife, Kelly, who you've known for, 01:01:05.413 --> 01:01:10.713 you know, way before you were dating. Yeah, exactly. 01:01:11.473 --> 01:01:15.653 20 some years. You know, she, she likes fishing, but she wants just straight 01:01:15.653 --> 01:01:18.653 dry fly fishing, single dry, no hopper dropper stuff, man. 01:01:18.733 --> 01:01:24.073 She loves casting and simple and she can step foot in the Joe and just be like, 01:01:24.393 --> 01:01:26.893 yeah, she can do her. She can carve out her own water and do her own thing. 01:01:27.033 --> 01:01:30.873 Nobody bugging her. she fishes with her airpods in her which is really funny 01:01:30.873 --> 01:01:34.693 I do that sometimes too well she listens to audio books and she's a big reader 01:01:34.693 --> 01:01:37.553 and so she just wants to be totally left alone. 01:01:38.933 --> 01:01:42.833 There's a funny story I got actually so we were fishing another desert creek, 01:01:43.445 --> 01:01:46.045 that you're familiar with. It's the one with all the rattlesnakes. 01:01:47.245 --> 01:01:50.865 And, you know, that one's a real high stakes fishery, tons of rattlesnakes on this creek. 01:01:51.245 --> 01:01:56.665 Of course, like, you know, like myself and most women, most men and most people 01:01:56.665 --> 01:01:59.705 in general, you're terrified of rattlesnakes when you're walking around in tall grass. 01:02:00.525 --> 01:02:04.285 And, you know, she was being sporty and she's like, yeah, I'll go fish that place with you. 01:02:04.405 --> 01:02:07.805 She's like, oh, just help me watch for snakes. You know, she was super easygoing 01:02:07.805 --> 01:02:10.865 about it. I'm like, man, she sees a spider and screams. 01:02:11.225 --> 01:02:13.865 She once got held hostage by a spider in the 01:02:13.865 --> 01:02:19.665 bathroom that was blocking the exit and i 01:02:19.665 --> 01:02:22.305 had to call me on the phone i had to come home and 01:02:22.305 --> 01:02:28.345 kill the spider but so she's we're fishing on this creek and she jake you know 01:02:28.345 --> 01:02:33.925 whom you know jake my younger son jake's like he's he's like rattlesnake he's 01:02:33.925 --> 01:02:37.445 saying and i'm like we're to we're hiking up a trail together to you know along 01:02:37.445 --> 01:02:39.685 the creek and he's like hey rattlesnake And I'm like, oh, 01:02:39.845 --> 01:02:42.185 man. And I can immediately, of course, hear rattling. 01:02:42.545 --> 01:02:44.345 And it's about six feet from Kelly. 01:02:44.885 --> 01:02:48.985 And I'm like, Kelly's not even reacting. She's just standing there looking around, 01:02:49.245 --> 01:02:50.965 like, you know, like completely distant. 01:02:51.205 --> 01:02:55.045 And Jake's like, man, that's a big rattlesnake. And we're having an entire conversation 01:02:55.045 --> 01:02:57.505 about the size of a rattler that's coiled up and rattling. 01:02:58.085 --> 01:03:01.885 And it was only then we realized that she had her AirPods in and she's listening 01:03:01.885 --> 01:03:03.845 to a book and couldn't hear the rattlesnake. She had no idea. 01:03:04.145 --> 01:03:06.845 To this day, she has no idea about the rattlesnake. I love it. 01:03:07.065 --> 01:03:09.345 I love it. One of the things... 01:03:09.822 --> 01:03:14.042 One of the things that Idaho does, and I'm not a huge fan of the way governments 01:03:14.042 --> 01:03:18.042 typically, you know, are heavy handed, but one of the things that Idaho does 01:03:18.042 --> 01:03:21.802 that is really, really cool, I think that makes it, there's a huge advantage 01:03:21.802 --> 01:03:24.222 for the recreational, you know. 01:03:24.842 --> 01:03:29.282 Weekend warrior type of fly fishermen is there are a bunch of these fisheries 01:03:29.282 --> 01:03:32.442 that they're not guideable, you know. 01:03:32.442 --> 01:03:36.782 So like of that 60 miles or whatever there is of the North Fork of the Coeur 01:03:36.782 --> 01:03:41.862 d'Alene, the permit for the outfitter that I guide for is very short. 01:03:41.882 --> 01:03:43.402 It's the very bottom end. 01:03:44.283 --> 01:03:47.623 And so it's not to say that you won't see some drift boats on the river, 01:03:47.623 --> 01:03:49.523 but those are not guide boats. 01:03:50.183 --> 01:03:55.643 So from, you know, the snake pit, the, where the South Fork dumps in down to 01:03:55.643 --> 01:03:59.343 Cataldo, that's, that's the only place you're allowed to guide from a boat. 01:03:59.443 --> 01:04:02.843 Now there are some, there are a handful of every once in a while you will see 01:04:02.843 --> 01:04:06.383 some, you know, there might be some walk and wade guide, you know, 01:04:06.523 --> 01:04:08.783 type situations, but most people aren't paying for that. 01:04:08.963 --> 01:04:13.483 So that means, you know, no guide pressure, not to say that there isn't pressure. 01:04:13.483 --> 01:04:17.983 There's plenty of pressure, but you are not getting the flotilla of guide boats 01:04:17.983 --> 01:04:21.663 on a lot of these North Idaho rivers, which I think is pretty unique. 01:04:22.363 --> 01:04:25.423 Yeah, I think that is really cool too. I'm not, you know, certainly I'm a guide 01:04:25.423 --> 01:04:30.543 and outfitter, but I'm extremely conscientious the fact that guides do apply 01:04:30.543 --> 01:04:34.583 much the most direct pressure, you know, on a lot of these Western fisheries. 01:04:34.743 --> 01:04:37.743 And so, yeah, supremely conscientious about it. 01:04:37.823 --> 01:04:41.263 I know the South Fork of the Boise is non-guide water too. 01:04:41.263 --> 01:04:46.903 And the guys just they love having that one refuge they can go that is not guided so yeah, 01:04:47.443 --> 01:04:50.143 yeah man well this has been good i think we'll 01:04:50.143 --> 01:04:53.543 probably wrap her up man but it was yes super 01:04:53.543 --> 01:04:57.403 great fishing with you the other day i just always appreciate the time i could 01:04:57.403 --> 01:05:01.383 spend and you know for folks listening you know just go find those quirky little 01:05:01.383 --> 01:05:04.583 backyard fisheries they don't have to be blue ribbon fisheries they don't got 01:05:04.583 --> 01:05:09.863 to be famous just you know look at water with a bit of curiosity and see if 01:05:09.863 --> 01:05:11.543 you can kind of find your own, you know, 01:05:12.023 --> 01:05:14.003 kind of your own fishery that's yours.