Semper on the Fly

2025 is quickly turning into my cross country fly fishing tour. I've already caught brown trout in Minnesota and Wisconsin; caught brook trout, rainbow trout, landlocked salmon and largemouth bass in New Hampshire; and now cutthroat trout and more rainbows and brookies in Idaho. And the year isn't over yet!

First stop of the Idaho 2025 tour with my Coast Guard friend, retired Chief Warrant Officer Brad Hinken was the North Fork of the Big Lost River, a small meandering stream ideal for wet wading, light fly rods - my Orvis 761-4 Superfine was my weapon of choice, and dry flies - Elk Hair Caddis was the top fly but Light Cahills, a parachute white mayfly, and a Caddis with a red tail also worked. Fishing was slow from 9-11, but really picked up from 11-2 where Brad and I caught trout in bunches.- I had 20+ at this point. We then took a couple hour break and drove further upstream toward the more wooded areas to scope potential water. Working back to our spot we jumped in a section where the water wasn't as wide or deep, but I still got 1 or 2 in short order. We fished from 5:30 till 8 - I went downstream to the bridge and Brad stayed further upstream. Standing on the bridge I could see lots of trout upstream so I made a few really long casts to the head of the run half expecting/half not expecting to get a hookset from that position, but low and behold- fish on. I worked back to the water, landed that cuttie, caught a few more above the bridge and then several under the bridge in the shadows. I was using a double dry setup with an EHC and a #18 white mayfly as a trailer. I had good luck working my way back up to Brad with probably another 20+ trout. making it a 40 fish day for me and Brad had solid numbers too.

One of 40+ trout caught on dry flies during the day

Brad with a nice cutthroat trout

Most cutthroat trout were about 11-12 inches

Aggressive brook trout were throughout the stream

... all in all, Day 1 was a terrific start to the trip. We stayed in Mackay for lodging. Tried the Wagon Wheel Motel for a change of pace. The rooms were clean, but very small. Not sure I'll stay tere again, and may return back to the Bear Bottom Inn for future trips. We ate breakfast each morning at the Nine Peaks Restaurant - absolutely no better way to start each day. We had a dinner a couple of nights at the 7C BBQ Reataurant also on Main Street.

Day 2 we headed to Camas Creek, a tributary to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. IT's a couple cours on dirt roads, but for a wilderness experience - there's nothin to beat it. We loaded up and hiked 2.2 miles downstream before jumping into the river. The first hole had several trout holdng deep - water clarity and bright sunshine made them easy to spot. We tried dries, nymphs and streamers but no takers early on... hopefully not an omen of things to come. Shortly after I had a beautiful long distance hookup with a big Cutthroat on a grasshopper. Pushing 18 inches I think it was the biggest trout I've caught in that river in the 10+ trips up there. We worked our way upstream, I had a little more luck today than Brad, but we each caught some really nice Cutthroats on grasshoppers. We also caught lots of 6 inch rainbows to keep the action fairly regular. In one big corner hole where Eric and I had an epic time years ago, we hooked three nice fish in there. Covering 8.8 miles of ground total, we wrapped up another really good day. Fewer fish, but bigger fish, and who doesn't like catching big trout on grasshoppers. I think I had upwards of 20 trout, counting the 6 inch rainbows. We also saw 4-6 migrating Pacific Salmon that had made ther way from the ocean, up the Columbia, to the Snake, to the Salmon, to the Middle Fork of the Salmon, and then to Camas Creek where they'll spawn, and ultimately die, but not before restarting the cycle of life for these magestic huge fish. On the drive out we saw handfuls of deer, and then a herd of at least 100 elk - yes a 100 elk - on the road, on the hlllseide to our left and in the gulley to our right. Wow!

River was in great condition for dry fly fishing

8-10 nice Cutthroats makes for an awesome day on the water

Beautiful Cutthroat Trout

All the trout were hard fighters - Brad with fish on

Not another person around for probably 50 miles - remote backcountry fly fishing

Fish on again for Brad

Another gorgeous Cutthroat

We had the river to ourselves

A huge herd (100+) stood and ran around us

A race up the hill to catch up with the Bull Elk

What a scenic area - "This is why we come to Idaho!"

On Day 3 we ventured to new waters - the East Fork of the Big Lost River located in Copper Basin. Uncrowded - which is a requirement for the fishing we want - we had the river pretty much to ourselves. The water was crystal clear - maybe ever too clear as the trout speeked really easily. Brad's persistence and patience paid off in one nice run as he landed several on dries after continually switching out different sizes and patterns before hitting on the right one. I missed several nice Cutthroat but found success in one run using a hopper / dropper (Copper John) combo and landed four trout. We fished the river from about 10-4. It's great looking water, and the conditions made the trout a bit more cautious - we'll have to work it more carefully next time.

The East Fork of the Big Lost definitely requires another run in the future

Cutthroats are beautiful trout

With daylight to spare, we headed over to the North Fork to fish the last three hours of daylight. We headed down to the bridge and the trout in and around the bridge (and there lots of them) were spooked under the still bright sunshine conditions. Undeterred we headed upstream and soon were picking off 1, 2, 3 trout per god looking hole - alternating turns fishing. This had the potential for an awesome night. ut about and hour and 20 trout into the evening, we heard voices upstream and then around the next corner we ran into a coupe fishing downstream. After passing them, the bite shut down completely. It happens.

Late afternoon on the North Fork

Brad with one of many Cutthroat landed

Every Cutthroat has a slighly different color shade and spot appearance

This one was much darker.

Compared to this lighter shaded Cutthroat

For our final day, we planned to make the drive over Doublesprings Pass Road by Mt Borah and hit one of the small creeks running out from the mountains feeding into the Pahsimoroi River. Ah but for the best laid plans... After crossing the summit and heading down into the valley, we blew the front right tire... in the absolute middle of nowhere - dirt road (with small jagged rocks), no cell coverage, and no one within miles. We changed the flat and put on the spare - just a temporary donut. Our backcountry adventure was shot, but I knew (or thought) we could head to Challis about 60 miles away and get the tire repaired as we had done that about 20 years ago. No tire shop service was available when we got there. A good samaritan said he plugged flats all the time and offered to help. His plug didn't seal 100% so we still had a major problem. A guy said the nearest tire service was in Arco about 80 miles away. In lieu of running with the slow leaking regular tire, we put the donut back on and made the trip down to Arco Point S station where the team there was incredibly helpful and responsive. We were repaired and back on the road shortly thereafter.

It was now about 4 pm and were were 30 miles south of Mackay. We read that Antelope Creek held trout so were headed up there, but after a short time in the water, we both felt the water temp was too high and, in fact, we saw a dead (nice size) rainbow trout floating dead in the water -- I'm guessing not enough oxygen in the lower reaches of the stream. Now it was 5 pm and we had time to fish one more spot. We headed to the Big Lost River in Mackay. The water was running at 350 cfs, fast but wadable. Heading downstream, we didn't have much lick though I landed one rainbow on a Copper John nymph rig and sawa few huge rainbo flash. As the water got faster, Brad said he was going no further and fished the holes where we were. I decided YOLO and headed across the fast current once again (did I mention I lost my wading staff a few days earlier) and once across, made my way around the bend and into a long fast and deep run that I had luck in previous years skirting a Crane Fly across a back eddy on the other side of the run. The next 90 minutes was magic! I hooked up to a huge rainbow and he immediately took ff downstream in the fast deep current. If I tried to stop him there, he'd break me off in a split second. My only option was to run downstream along the banking. I did, for about 100 yards. When I ran out of bank I jumped into check deep water and had no more room to go. So we battled here. I could see he was a huge rainbow. After several minutes, I got him in. Easily over 18 inches, I had no good way to take pics. After fumbling my cell phone around ( I dropped it in the water twice this week), I took a bad pic and when I tried to get my phone ready for a better pic, the rainbow escaped from my net. But I knew I got him... no fish story here. After regaining my composure I promptly hooked on to another nice rainbow. He took me downstream, not as far, and I successfully got him in (about a 14 incher). I was pretty stoked and after landing a third in the hole, headed back upstream to get Brad onto the Crane Fly hatch. Once together, i hooked on again to another great rainbow. And not long after we had a double. The only trouble was I placed my iPhone on the water's edge to record the battle, and as the fish took me downstream, I couldn't find my phone afterwards. After about 5-10 minutes I stumbled across it - whew. We fished back upstream catching a few more along the way and getting lots of eager missed takes as the skittering technique creates both exciting hooksets but also many missed takes from the trout. What a terrific way to end the trip - big rainbows, big water, dry flies!

To end the day we were going to have dinner at the Bear Bottom restaurant, but they totally failed to deliver in both hospitality and product, so we pivoted to the 7C BBQ where they had live music outside on the back patio. The next two hours was a complete slice of heaven. Cool air, high mountain peaks in the background, a roaring firepit, comfortable Adirondack chairs, a lively crowd of Mackay residents, a talented musician, and restaurant hosts who had cold frosty beers constantly at the ready. If Carole had been there, I think I could have convinced her to move to Idaho right then and there!

A flat tire, smack dab in the middle of nowhere

The only glimpse of my Big Lost big rainbow trout

One of several nice Rainbow Trout caught in this big run on Crane Flies

Another Big Lost Rainbow on a Crane Fly

Another Big Rainbow

And another nice Rainbow

Double hookup !

Four days of hard fishing coming to an end

Connor Jay Liess performing at the 7C

... until next time.

To see videos of this fishing trip, go to YouTube and search Semper on the Fly by Scott LaRochelle.

Blasting up to northern New Hampshire to beat the Florida summer heat meant spending some time at the family camp in Ossipee, seeing family and friends, and oh yeah, spending time on home waters chasing (mostly) trout.

Carole and our grandson Zane spent a few days at Duncan Lake, and we spent a few hours trolling for brookies and/or rainbows. With tempered expectations - July trolling has not historically proven highly successful - we pressed ahead. In two evening outings, Zane caught 4 rainbows and I caught one, but one pushed 14-15"!

They flew back to DC and Florida, not without hiccups in the flights on July 9th out of Manchester, and son Eric flew in from Houston same day in Portland so I had some hopping around. We planned to do some bass fishing to one of our secret local ponds and we also gave Duncan a shot trolling. Archers Pond is a great place to catch fish - any fish. The pond holds largemouth, chain pickerel, yellow perch, bluegill and crappie. We caught'em all! Eric used this wonky crayfish lure that I never would have thought using and he caught all five species (need to come up with a name celebrating catching all five species?). He caught a couple big pickerel, a big perch, but not the big largemouthhe was hoping for. I caught a couple decent bass casting poppers and a few bluegills.

We spent a night trolling Duncan and the bite was on! We caught six - all rainbows - and after a nice 14 incher, Eric landed a a beast that pushed 17-18 inches. A black Wooly Bugger was the hot fly, and they hit everywhere - in front of Browns' camp, off the point, in front of the boat launch, down by the public beach...

After Eric left, I spent three nights trolling for an hour each night before sunset and picked up 2-4 each night, and several nice rainbows once again. Go figure!

Finally, I had the chance to head north to Pittsburg. Marc couldn't make it so I ventured up solo. I did some research on potential new areas to fish and one caught my eye. A feeder stream into the Mohawk River was my target. After checking out several access (and non-access) points, I found a spot to jump in. Three casts with a Golden Retriever netted three brook trout so I switched quickly to dries and the bite stayed on. An Elk Hair Caddis worked well and eventually became waterlogged so I switched to a Parachute Adams and that kept it going. I landed about 15 in 2-3 hours. Nice water, I hope it stays that way in the future.

The next day I went to the Trophy section of the Connecticut, but found 18 vehicles in total at all the pullouts... are you kidding me? So I ventured for some new waters - the river between the 1st and 2nd Connecticut Lakes. After hiking about 30 minutes from the dam downstream I jumped in. Over the next few hours I hit lots of pocket water and caught 20 brookies and salmon - all on dries (Parachute Adams and Caddis). Nothing big. After a short lunch break I headed to the Trophy section for a couple of hours in the late afternoon. I caught a beautiful rainbow in Doc's Pool on a stimulator (pic below), but failed to get a pic. I caught a gorgeous brookie in the Judge pool (pic below) and caught a few others as well - all on dries. I caught a couple more working up to the corner pool. They opened the dam and the flow was a bit too much to hit the home stretch leading up to the dam.

The next day I headed to Colebrook to fish a favorite brook trout stream, but after three hours and 1.5 miles of wading upstream, I walked out skunked! That stream just isn't the same anymore - the water temp felt much warmer than it should have and the trout were nowhere to be found. I did see a group of 4-6 small trout sucking the oxygen and cooler water flowing from a bit of water trickling into the stream. Too bad. After being physically worn out - the deer flies were non-stop, I decided to take a break and play nine holes at the Colebrook Golf Club, a course that includes a Par 6 625 yard uphill hole (I got a 7 on that hole)! Feeling rejuvenated, I headed to where I fished the day prior, but walked downstream a ways before starting - am I glad I did. I caught 10-12 brookies (Adams) in 3-4 pools right from the start. I fished the last pool, which was the first pool from the day before and landed 5-6 from that one hole. Great water... and cold! Only 5 miles from the other lifeless stream, but the temp had to be 8-10 degrees colder. I jumped in the truck and fished part of the stream Marc and I had good luck a few year back... and although it didn't look promising, I caught another 10 brookies, including 5 in one hole before calling it a day.

All of which brought me to my final day in Pittsburg. Truthfully, I was pretty worn out and unsure if I'd fish on my way out of town. My go / no go decision would be the number of fishermen parked at the cemetery on Route 3. I left Lopstick at 10 am and saw there was only one truck, so I stopped and loaded up. I rigged two rods, my 5-wt with a dry, and my 10ft 2-wt Euro nymphing rig, which I have yet to crack the code on. I had low expectation so I thought - why not. I started nymphing at the pool above Doc's pool, and in the first five minutes hooked a huge salmon that skyrocketed out of the water and spit the #18 red copper john. I did catch one smaller salmon with the copper john, but never felt I was Euro nymphing the way I see it done on YouTube by others.

So I walked down to Doc's Pool and began with a dry - a stimulator. The sunshine and water clarity allowed me to see several trout come up and turn so I was encouraged dry fly fishing might be on but that I had the wrong fly. BINGO! I switched to a Green Drake that I had success with last year and added a #16 Light Cahill about three feet behind. The next 45 minutes were arguably the best fly fishing I've ever experienced on the Connecticut, maybe anywhere for that matter. Big rainbows and big salmon - 12-16" continuously across the entire pool. A second person could have captured unbelievable video and pics but I managed to snag a few pics with my phone while worrying about dropping it in the river. Awesome. After the bite finally cooled, i walked down to the Log Pool. The water looked terrific, but nothing on dries. I did Euro nymph another salmon so that was encouraging.

At that point I was ready to call it a morning, and as I walked back out I told myself if the Judge Pool was open I try that for a few minutes otherwise I'm done. It was open and so I jumped in. Yikes! I lost another big salmon right off that bat when it spit the Cahill, but I caught and landed several nice rainbows when the skies opened and a downpour ensued for about 15 minutes. I hung out in the trees until it stopped and caught one more rainbow (no rain no rainbow!) ending my trip trip with a nice fish on my final cast.