Articles

The Black Canyon stretch of the Bear River is one of the few public access points on this river in eastern Idaho (photo: Heidi Oberstadt).

There comes a time when the notion of casting through icy guides or standing in frigid water in search of trout feels more like a chore than an actual fishing endeavor.

But sometimes the urge is simply too great—particularly on familiar water where the exploration process isn’t as important as past knowledge. The elements are easier to handle if you know, generally, what’s coming.

Such is the case with Idaho’s Bear River as it runs through Black Canyon near the little farming town of Grace and just over Fish Creek Summit from the resort community of Lava Hot Springs. This is one of only a handful of public access points to the Bear in Idaho that’s easily reached by the public—a cooperative arrangement between Idaho Fish and Game and Pacificorp allows anglers to visit this gorgeous stretch of river in southeastern Idaho, where rainbows and native Bonneville cutthroat trout can be dependably targeted.

And winter might be the best time of year to pay this stretch of river a visit.

Dam removal is receiving a great deal of attention lately, and deservedly so. On many of the nations rivers, especially larger ones, dams have become outdated, costly and inefficient. Dams have also long blocked fish passage, disrupted habitat, and damaged or destroyed wild fish populations. Overwhelmingly positive results have been observed where dams have been removed, with rivers' surging flows recreating long lost habitat and wild fish returning to the river to spawn in sections of river they've not been able to reach -- in some cases -- for over a century. Dam removal, however, is costly and often involves a considerable amount of bureaucratic struggle in order to implement. As a result, while dam removal is a growing trend, the time frame surrounding these projects span many years, often decades.

But dams -- whether they be the ones that drive major hydro-electric generation stations or simple irrigation diversion dams -- aren't the only widespread barrier to fish passage on many of our streams and rivers. Culverts, which are incredibly common throughout virtually every region of the country, often pose just as serious an impediment to fish passage and an equally significant threat to fish habitat and populations, only with a much simpler and less costly solution.

Carolina Redfish

We slept in. Alarms set for 6:30. Not because we were slugs, mind you, but because we needed the sun to melt the ice glaze from the Ankona’s decks and to begin to warm the frigid salt marsh waters. It seemed to make sense, hanging in the trailer a bit longer, and had nothing to do with the jumble of dead soldiers sitting on the kitchen table.

Despite our delay, it still felt early when we arrived at the launch, the sun not yet separated from the eastern horizon. Early, that is, until we found that the duck hunters were already taking out, stout johnboats draped in camouflage and full of dark decoys, their sporting day already done. A different breed, duck hunters. Hardy or crazy, I’m not quite sure which.

Tough morning, the men said. More bird watching than hunting. They hoped that the fishing would be better.

You after drum?” asked a close-cropped lad as he pulled off his gloves and shook himself out of his thick camo coat. “Saw a ton over on Boar, maybe a half mile down. Stacked up like cordwood. If I’d had a dip net I could have filled the boat.” We’d intended on hitting King’s, thinking they’d be where we’d found them a couple of weeks earlier, but fishing plans change when the intel is fresh. We pointed the skiff east, instead of west, out of the launch.

One of the film's awe-inspiring scenes from Iceland. Here, Siggi Haugur walks into his favorite pool on the Hofsa River in Eastern Iceland.

RC Cone, the filmmaker that brought us Breathe -- a film that, through the lens of a month on some of Montana's greatest waters, reminds us why we go fishing -- has recently announced the release of his newest film, Tributaries. Tributaries travels the globe to some of fly fishing's greatest paradises: to the Bahamas in search of bonefish, to Argentina for big, beautiful Patagonian trout and to Iceland to chase elusive Atlantic salmon.

Like Breathe, Tributaries is about more than just fishing. Tributaries follows three guides as they make their way through their local waters and their local cultures and seeks to explore the commonalities shared by fly fishermen throughout the world. According to Cone, Tributaries is a continuation of the journey that started with Breathe, in which Cone explored what fly fishing meant to himself and anglers he met along the way in Montana. In Tributaries, Cone's goal was to look at the bigger picture.

"I wanted to explore the wider implications of fly fishing. How does our sport fit into the world? What is this worldwide community like? What are the differences and similarities on a global scale? Instead of a personal journey, I wanted to explore the world’s waters and the cultures that inhabit them," Cone said.

The wonderfully versatile RS2.

The RS2, a very effective pattern and a favorite of many an angler. It can be fished as a nymph, makes an excellent emerger pattern and can even be fished like a dry. It was created over forty years ago by Rim Chung. The RS2 stands for “Rim's Semblance 2” and will imitate a midge or mayfly. Since the original creation, which was tied with beaver fur for dubbing and saddle hackle for the wings, there has been many variations of this pattern.

Vary the pattern by changing the color, using different materials for the tail / wing, forgoing the bead, etc. But, despite the variations, what all RS2 flies have in common is their profile.

Pages