TR: SF Snake (longish)

My son (Austin) and I flew out to SLC to meet my cousin (Sam) last Friday
for a float trip down the South Fork of the Snake. We left for Swam Valley
early Saturday morning. Sam ordered a new Freestone drift boat out of Idaho
Falls. The plan was to meet up with the owner around 10:00 AM after picking
up supplies to take delivery of the new boat. Unfortunately the boat was not
ready, however the owner set us up with a nearly new boat, several flies and
fishing info for the weekend. After picking out a camp site at Calamity just
off Palisades reservoir and setting up camp, we loaded up the boat, arranged
a shuttle and put in at the Palisades launch for a 12 mile float to Conant.
We got on the water around 1:00 PM running large dries (stones, hoppers,
foam bodies, etc..) with a dropper (lightning bugs, copper johns, etc.) or a
double nymph rig. First fish of the trip was a white fish, after that we
started getting into rainbows and cuts in the 10 - 18 inch range. Several
fish came to the large dries and many were landed on the dropper. About 4:30
PM we had a nasty thunder boomer roll through, we pulled off to stay as dry
as possible, however got pretty well soaked. The clouds passed and the sun
came out for a nice afternoon of fishing and drying out. Started seeing some
heads pop, went to caddis and various mayfly patterns for better than
average dryfly fishing. Just before dark the Conant launch came into site.
After loading the boat we headed back collecting fire wood at the dam on
Palisades reservoir for a nice camp fire and dinner.

Day two, after breakfast we broke camp and planned an over night stay on the
river. After packing the tent, bags, food, clothes, drinks, etc into the
boat... we stopped for a shuttle from Conant to Byington through the cannon
section and stopped at the SouthFork Outfitters to check out all the new
gear. They have a really nice shop, bring a fat wallet if you stop.... We
got on the water about 11:00 AM, stared picking fish with the same
combinations used the day before. Weather was great the entire day. We
pulled into camp site #4 at Gormer about 13 miles below the Conant launch.
It's a primitive site in a roadless area of the cannon section. We only saw
a few boats on the day since we got on the water late and didn't see any
other campers. After setting up camp, we had a few beers, started dinner and
hit the sack about 11:00.

The next morning we woke to a blue sky, started cleaning up from the
previous nights dinner and got breakfast started. I kept hearing a flushing
noise down at the rivers edge. Peaking over the edge of the bank, and about
10 ft. down to the water, I watched a large brown in the 22 - 25 inch range
feeding in frog water on the surface. The fish would hardly move feeding
just under the surface on cripples and adults. I couldn't take it any longer
and had to try throwing a bug at him. I was afraid I would spook the fish
since the boat was only tied up about 15 ft. away. I eased down the bank and
rigged a PMD cripple, the first several casts landed 6 to 12 inches out of
the feeding lane, the fish wouldn't move to the fly. I thought I might have
the wrong pattern on, but tried a couple more before putting the fly
directly in the lane about 3 feet in front of fish, wait, wait, wait, he
came up and took the cripple, I set the hook and pulled the fish toward me a
good two feet before the fly pulled free, and watched him slide into the
deep water at the rivers edge. Crap! I put the rod back in the rod holder
and started out of the boat looking back up where the fish was laying...
Unbelievable, the fish was back and continued feeding! Did he not know I had
just given him a sore lip, he just got stuck in the mouth?? I continued my
assault and threw four different patterns over the brown two of the
patterns, he would come within about two inches of the fly and watch it...
Eventually he got tired of the game and moved back into hiding. Deflated, I
went up to finish breakfast. After breakfast, we broke camp and packed the
boat with 15 miles of river ahead of us to the Byington takeout. The fishing
was very much the same as the previous two days, although we saw several
drift boats and a few jet boats, in total probably over 20, most all
appeared to be guide boats. The largest fish of the trip was a brown in the
19 inch range.

Awesome trip with my son, he will be a senior this year and off to college.
I cherish every chance with him these days.

I wouldn't have changed anything over the 40 + miles we floated, we saw a
lot of wildlife, caught several fish, more than anything I enjoyed the
company.

I'll stick a few pics up on abpf...

I wanna go back!
JT




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