Finding the Unexpected

As soon as we got off work, we went to the Coeur d'Alene River to fish for rainbows. After quite a bit of walking and searching, we found fish..... just not the ones we were looking for. This time of year, the more predatory fish like the bigger cuts and bows are searching and hunting sculpin, so we mainly fished streamers in the olive black and brown patterns to no avail. Hmm... what would the next option be? I wanted to fish a dry or two, but since there wasn't a single rise, I decided to go for a deep down nymph. Two drifts later... BAM!! I hooked up to a small cutty in the 13-14 inch range. Next cast was followed by another hit that I wasn't able to lock into. Then that fast, the hole was barren.

After working our way down through a few more holes, we tried everything I could think of and again,  I was back to a nymph and indicator. Sure enough, the second float through the eddy had the the indicator pause a little bit too long. The hook was set and the water produced a mature cutty all dressed up for the future dance. The color of the cut could only be comparable to the vibrant color of an arctic char. We snapped a few pictures and back into the icy water it went, hopefully to come back and play another day. We fished our way back to the rig, loaded up and headed for the barn. That fish seemed to have put a bug in my mind because sleep was almost impossible....

To what seemed like a blink of an eye, I found myself up again at 4:00 a.m. What better time to tie up a few bugs and have a cup or two of coffee? Well, I would have left early to head back up the river, but I was in need of a new wading bag and magnets for the net. Oh come on, 7:00 just get here already! The trip into the fly-shop was a great way to start the day, talking about the fish from the day before and topping the fly box off with a few much needed essentials. I jumped into the rig and headed for the hills. I fished the little north fork for a couple of hours and nothing, not a follow, not a tap, not even a bump... I got back on the road headed for untouched water up past Shoshone creek knowing there would be fish up there just like every year.

I pulled up to the "secret spot" to find guys' tracks all over.

Well then, I guess it was time to start going back down the river to try to find just one fish. By now, I am starting to feel the pressure building as I watched a few elk here and there. It seemed to pass a bit of time. But, I was not up there to sight see - I have a mission to find fish, any fish I would be happy with. A ways down the river, I pulled off at one of the side parking spots to watch the water... I started thinking to myself that watching for a fish won't make them bite, so I got out and made my way down to the water. I unhooked the heavy weighted prince I tied up a few hours earlier and set it to drifting. The indicator had just seemed to settle, when it was gone! I ripped that rod like I was trying to stop a freight train. Sure enough, there was weight and hard shakes. I was using the 5 weight in swift current which was turning into a bad idea at this point. But, after a few good runs, I brought the fish to the net. It measured out at 17 1/2". It was not a monster by any stretch of the imagination, but, a very respectable fish. Then I heard a noise that I am used to hearing in evenings during summer, it sounded like a gulp and blurble crossed with a plop. I looked up to see tell tale rings of a fish that had just rose to something, but being the earliest part of the beginning of spring what could it be?

I landed a few more fish on the prince and that fish kept gulping up bugs that seemed invisible to the naked eye. I felt something crawling on my neck. So, slowly and gently I reached my hand to the back of my neck to grab whatever this thing was. To my surprise, it was a blue winged olive clinging to my glove.

JACKPOT!!!

I hurriedly tied a b.w.o. on and casted out. I could see that fish coming up like a bullet, and turn off at the last possible second. I am pretty sure my heart officially stopped. As the fly floated through the emptiness that had so recently held an absolute monster, another fish rose to hit the little offering there tethered to the end of my line. Nothing huge, just and average Cd'A river cutty of about 14 inches. Then another one, another and another.... Once the hatch started, the fish began gorging on those tasty little morsels. I proceeded to fish that same run for over 4 hours with fish continuously grabbing my offerings. It was an amazing day, one of which hopefully will be repeated every week this summer.

Make sure to come in to any of our flyshops and get set up for any or all  of the waters near you.

The gear I was using today:

Heavy wighted prince nymph with a tungsten bead head #10

golden stone nymphs #8 & #10

Lex's Sexy Stone-Skwalla #10

Air-Lock 1/2"

5 wt Echo Base rod 9'

Lamson Liquid reel

Sculpin patterns #2

B.W.O.  #16 & #18

This article is written by Jake Twardowski - our new shop employee in CDA.