I had lived in Montana for a couple of years, when I began to hear stories about the great Steelhead fishing just a few hours away in Idaho. And then I started to see articles about this incredible Steelhead fishing. As a matter of fact, my friend Doug brought an article to me that explained exactly where to go. In hindsight the mere act of sharing that article with me, was the beginning of the entire debacle. From that point on, it was go time. Doug and I were making the trip to Idaho to experience some of this incredible Steelhead action. It ended up being about a six hour drive and most of the time was spent reminiscing about Steelhead fishing trips Doug used to take with his father while growing up. We grew up in central Pennsylvania and Doug's father was the best fisherman that I've ever known. He was very tuned in to what was going on in not only the local fishing scene, but also in upstate New York, where he would go and fish for salmon and steelhead and sometimes take us with him. Doug is full of stories about salmon and or steelhead fishing with his father.
And we talked about the various techniques and any tips that could be remembered after the passing of fifteen or twenty years. In our minds we got everything worked out. How we were going to fish, the area's we were going to fish, and the techniques we were going to use. All of this from reminiscing about a river some two thousand miles away and a freakin magazine article that could be read by anyone! But one of the things that I've realized in my fishing life is the fact that many times this is how it works. Poor saps like me, read an article, get all jacked up, talk to a few people, and then bam.....take off for whatever destination with delusions of grandeur firmly planted in their mind. And that is exactly what we were dealing with. As with many things in life, the trip sounded great on paper, but the execution was going to be difficult.
We arrived at the first river at dusk. It was a cold and rainy day, which is what we had always been told, was perfect for steelhead. We got out of the truck and walked down to the river. As we were walking one of us made the comment, "this river is much bigger than I thought it would be." In our experience, large rivers are usually difficult to fish from the bank. Especially when you're relying on drift fishing as the main technique. We threw large spoons and plugs around for awhile and then it got dark.
On the way to the hotel, we talked about how large the river was, and how difficult drift fishing was going to be from the shore. Then we decided, as we usually did, that going out and getting sloshed was a great way to cope with the river being so large. This was our mentality at the time, and although there were some really good times, it ended up not serving us too well. Before we left for the bar, we arranged a wake up call for five AM, so at precisely five AM, the phone rang.....Son of a bit.....I thought to myself as I picked up the phone.
As I lay in the bed contemplating whether or not fishing was a good idea, I thought to myself, "Why in the hell do you do this to yourself?" But in the end, I figured I had to fish, so I got up and headed down to the river. You may be wondering where Doug was? I would have had better luck trying to verbally entice pigs to fly than I did getting him to get his hung-over butt out of bed. It was clear that the morning fishing was going to be a solo mission. I was on my own.
It was a beautiful morning, and when I got down to the river I realized that this wasn't that much of a secret after all.
There were other fishermen chucking large lures and huge bobbers all over the place. They were standing in the river and fishing out of boats. It was quite a scene, and made me realize that someone must have been catching fish to warrant all of this attention. It was soon after making this realization that I felt my first bite of the day. I waited and set the hook, and reeled in my first Idaho fish! A six or seven inch rainbow trout. Yea, not at all what I was hoping for, but at least it was a fish, right? Seeing as how it was the only fish either Doug or I landed in 36 hours, I suppose I should have been more grateful than I was.
It's true though, we fished for the next thirty six hours and that was the only fish that was landed by either one of us. We didn't even see a steelhead on that trip. Caught by us or anyone else! But we did get the distinct pleasure of hearing from anyone we asked about fishing in that god forsaken state how; we should have been there the week before, because everyone was catching fish! Isn't this always the case on trips such as this though? It surely is for me. Everyone tells you how great the fishing was just before you arrived. It's as if the moment I step my foot into an unfamiliar river to fish for an unfamiliar fish, said fish decides not to bite. At least the fish most certainly decides not to bite my offering.
This, in a nutshell, is the reason I don't make many long trips to fish rivers that I'm unfamiliar with. I've found it's just not worth the time, money, and heartache to try to figure out a totally new type of fishing in a couple of days.
And we talked about the various techniques and any tips that could be remembered after the passing of fifteen or twenty years. In our minds we got everything worked out. How we were going to fish, the area's we were going to fish, and the techniques we were going to use. All of this from reminiscing about a river some two thousand miles away and a freakin magazine article that could be read by anyone! But one of the things that I've realized in my fishing life is the fact that many times this is how it works. Poor saps like me, read an article, get all jacked up, talk to a few people, and then bam.....take off for whatever destination with delusions of grandeur firmly planted in their mind. And that is exactly what we were dealing with. As with many things in life, the trip sounded great on paper, but the execution was going to be difficult.
We arrived at the first river at dusk. It was a cold and rainy day, which is what we had always been told, was perfect for steelhead. We got out of the truck and walked down to the river. As we were walking one of us made the comment, "this river is much bigger than I thought it would be." In our experience, large rivers are usually difficult to fish from the bank. Especially when you're relying on drift fishing as the main technique. We threw large spoons and plugs around for awhile and then it got dark.
On the way to the hotel, we talked about how large the river was, and how difficult drift fishing was going to be from the shore. Then we decided, as we usually did, that going out and getting sloshed was a great way to cope with the river being so large. This was our mentality at the time, and although there were some really good times, it ended up not serving us too well. Before we left for the bar, we arranged a wake up call for five AM, so at precisely five AM, the phone rang.....Son of a bit.....I thought to myself as I picked up the phone.
As I lay in the bed contemplating whether or not fishing was a good idea, I thought to myself, "Why in the hell do you do this to yourself?" But in the end, I figured I had to fish, so I got up and headed down to the river. You may be wondering where Doug was? I would have had better luck trying to verbally entice pigs to fly than I did getting him to get his hung-over butt out of bed. It was clear that the morning fishing was going to be a solo mission. I was on my own.
It was a beautiful morning, and when I got down to the river I realized that this wasn't that much of a secret after all.
There were other fishermen chucking large lures and huge bobbers all over the place. They were standing in the river and fishing out of boats. It was quite a scene, and made me realize that someone must have been catching fish to warrant all of this attention. It was soon after making this realization that I felt my first bite of the day. I waited and set the hook, and reeled in my first Idaho fish! A six or seven inch rainbow trout. Yea, not at all what I was hoping for, but at least it was a fish, right? Seeing as how it was the only fish either Doug or I landed in 36 hours, I suppose I should have been more grateful than I was.
It's true though, we fished for the next thirty six hours and that was the only fish that was landed by either one of us. We didn't even see a steelhead on that trip. Caught by us or anyone else! But we did get the distinct pleasure of hearing from anyone we asked about fishing in that god forsaken state how; we should have been there the week before, because everyone was catching fish! Isn't this always the case on trips such as this though? It surely is for me. Everyone tells you how great the fishing was just before you arrived. It's as if the moment I step my foot into an unfamiliar river to fish for an unfamiliar fish, said fish decides not to bite. At least the fish most certainly decides not to bite my offering.
This, in a nutshell, is the reason I don't make many long trips to fish rivers that I'm unfamiliar with. I've found it's just not worth the time, money, and heartache to try to figure out a totally new type of fishing in a couple of days.
Trevor Kugler is co-founder of JRWfishing.com and an avid angler. He has more than 20 years experience fishing for all types of fish, and 15 years of business and internet experience. He currently raises his three year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country…..Montana!
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