July 21 & 22, 2020
Summer has a tendency to speed up after the 4th of July and no doubt this one is flying now. We had Steve and Lisa from AZ visit early in July, then Jesse Belcher, and now my brother and his family. They drove across country over the weekend and met us for some Tuesday and Wednesday camping at one of my favorite old haunts that I rarely get to anymore.
Granny and I arrived to this fantastic spot early. We found a wonderful spot that would fit the whole family right along the river. At first there was the occasional rise to a smorgasbord of mayflies hatching. But shortly after we settled in to our Yeti chairs came the yellow sallies. Yellow sallies, though small, create one of my favorite stonefly hatches. I believe that’s true for the trout too because they got more serious about eating. Soon there were sippers everywhere so we rigged up and hit the water.
Its been awhile since my lady “really” fished. She’s been dabbling with fishing this spring and early summer but after an hour her shoulder got sore (you may recall she had major surgery in September). This weekend however she was able to stretch out each outing. It probably helped that she was fishing my 4-weight Winston Pure which is light as a feather and effortless to cast.
We both whacked a half dozen beautiful little browns from 12” to 16”. It was impressive how hard these guys fought. Each ran some line and leaped several times. The fishing was a treat to say the least. This area is known for gale wind but we had it calm with a comfy 84°, perfect for wet wading.
My brother and his family arrived around 2 PM. Greg isn’t an angler so he sets up a sweet camp and he and his wife Kerry start cooking and passing around the various microbrews they pick up as they cross country. Its about as relaxing as fishing and camping can be.
I also had my nieces Sammy and Montana to hang with. You may remember I brought them on an epic backpacking trip a few years ago. Montana and I also did some fishing in NH in June. Sammy doesn’t fish but I took Montana out in the evening but unfortunately the one fish she hooked got away.
It was a beautiful weekend with Granny and the family. We carried our fishing and relaxing right through till about 4 PM today then made the journey to Victor. My bro and his family will be in and out over the next couple weeks. I’m going to work and watch the Cubs. I can’t believe I’ve had to wait till now for the 2020 baseball season to start!
My next adventure will be on the lower Snake River for huge trout, carp and smallies with Boots Allen and Erik Moncada. Last years trip down here was incredible!