Fly Fishing Salmon River Idaho Steelhead
Salmon River Steelhead in Idaho had been one type of fish along the Rocky Mountains that had eluded me. I have fished a lot of places, but for some reason, a prime opportunity had never let me check this fish off of my list. The time had come to give it a try and I would have never expected what happened while fly fishing on the Salmon River my first time.
I got back from a trip from Pyramid Lake at the beginning of March. It was a great trip and I had a few friends join in on the fun. One of my friends I had invited was not able to make it. I went to his office and visited with him for a few minutes to tell him how good of a time that we had in hopes of him coming along next time. The high point of the Pyramid Lake trip for me was a 28” Lahontan cutthroat trout. I let him know it was a good time and even saw a couple fish over 30” that were caught by some neighbors on the ladders. You will need to read my Pyramid Lake post if you do not know what I am referring to. This led to my friend letting me know that he was planning on taking a trip on the Salmon River in Idaho for Steelhead. He gave me an invitation.
Salmon River Steelhead had been on my list for a long time. It’s about a 4-hour drive to get to the river from where I live. I had planned a couple trips before but I seemed to always have something else come up. Not this time. I had a friend that had been fishing the river for the last 30 years and was willing to show me the ropes. I couldn’t pass the opportunity up. I was not necessarily expecting to catch any Steelhead, but was hopeful to gain some intel. The questions started rolling in my head.
What type of flies do you typically use? I knew I was going to have some homework to tie up a bunch of flies before we left. My friend let me know that Steelhead fishing was not that technical. This surprised me. The reports I had read and heard was that Steelhead fishing can be very difficult. The numbers were at about all-time lows along this river and seemed to be declining over the years. The answer to the type of flies to use was something like this, “I usually use an egg sucking leach, you want something that is colorful so you can see it in the water, but not something that is so flashy that it will shut the mouth of the fish and cause the fish to seek deeper water”. I have researched the topic and nymphs, buggers, leaches, and minnow patterns seem to be all responsible for causing the majestic Steelhead to nibble on a hook enough to set a fly.
I had been to Alaska before and imagined similar fishing styles to these Steelhead after our conversation. I tied up what I could but was planning on using a type of Clouser Minnow I had tied up that worked great for me on some Alaskan Salmon. Now, to get a better idea of why these fish intrigue me so much, I’m going to go into some details about Steelhead in Idaho. Steelhead are a Rainbow Trout that run into the ocean. In Idaho, to differentiate the difference between a Rainbow Trout and a Steelhead, they use the 20” mark. Anything under 20” is considered a Rainbow Trout and anything over is considered to be a Steelhead. The Steelhead swims up the river and plays in the ocean for a year or two and then come back to their birthing ground to spawn and die. I write “play”, but it’s more of an attempt to survive. The Salmon River is over a 400-mile river that is a tributary to the Snake River. The Snake River is a tributary to the Colombia River and the Colombia River enters the Pacific Ocean on the borders of Oregon and Washington coast. The Steelhead that reach the Salmon River and up to Challis are swimming around 850 miles upriver from the mouth of the Colombia River. The goal is to make it back up the river to spawn and leave another generation of Steelhead to do the same thing. To me, it’s fascinating. The chances of these fish making it back are very slim. Predation and dams are a couple of the huge obstacles these fish face. The large majority will not make it back.
I imagined what it would be like to catch one of these Steelhead. Where would that fish have been, what did it see, how did it escape death, and what did it escape from? These are the questions that come to me as I have researched and fell in love with a fish that I hadn’t even caught up to this time. I wanted to catch something that I knew had been in the ocean. Perhaps not on this trip, but on a trip in the near future. Now that I was able to get some inside knowledge from an experienced Steelhead fisherman, this goal was becoming a reality very quickly. It can be very intimidating to try and fish a river like this and can often take multiple trips before starting to feel confident in what you are doing. Fishing with someone with years of experience can shorten that learning curve a lot. The plan was to leave early in the morning, get our licenses when we got into Challis, fish up the river, stay a night in Stanley, and then fish the river back down the next day.
We got into Challis and stopped at “The Bent Rod Outdoors” in Challis. This was a very nice shop and I do recommend stopping along the way if you have the opportunity. They were friendly and had more than what you would need for an adventure to the area. I have stopped at a lot of fly shops and I can honestly say this shop was a lot better than what I would have expected. We looked at a few pictures on the way out and now the chance was ours. We stopped at a few locations on our way up. We were looking for some higher ground to look above the river and see if we could find the fish swimming around to give us our best chances of stalking and enticing a Steelhead. Our efforts proved fruitless for the first few stops. It was getting to be in the afternoon and I was not sure what to think. I was hoping to get into a few and at least see someone catch one in our party of three.
We pulled off again and began to walk along the river. We found a spot and watched the river again for a few minutes like we had been doing all morning and then the glare of a fish came in to sight. My friend spotted it first and told me to go give it a try. I told him he found it and should be rewarded for the find and by the time I had agreed to give a whirl, the fish had swum elsewhere. My gut sank, but I remained hopeful to have another chance. Then we saw another couple Steelhead come in by where the first fish was swimming. I worked my way down in hopes of getting a chance to cast at a Steelhead. I lost my footing on the steep ledge we were standing on due to the loose dirt and gravel and slid the rest of the way down. I would have thought the raucous would have scared everything away in the area, but I gave it a try anyway.
I suspected the fish to be holding near the bank under some overhanging shrubs and tried to place my fly a few feet in front and let it get down a bit deeper and dead drift to me. The water near the bank got deep fast and the river pushed a good current near where I was standing. It would have been enough to knock me off my feet and push me a little down river. My footing was still not the greatest, but this was an opportunity I didn’t want to back away from. The anticipation was high and the mending in my line had my full attention. Nothing else mattered at the moment. It was my escape from real life and all that mattered was coaxing one of these Steelhead to take my fly. And then it happened, what every fisherman likes to see, the line went taught. I quickly raised my rod, pulled my line, and set the fly and it was game on.
I reeled the slack onto my spool while keeping the line tight and now it was a battle. The line got reeled in as the fish would allow and then the fish would run as I placed my palm on the edge of the reel to assist in controlling the drag and to slow down the Steelhead. Based on the appearance of the initial fish we saw, I was expecting something in the range of 25” to come up, but this felt bigger and heavy. I thought that maybe the current was making the fish feel even bigger. The line came in and the fish came in closer and surfaced up to splash the water and give me a view of the magnificent creature that was hooked at the end of my line. I was stunned to see a fish that appeared to be longer than 30”. I was even more excited. So excited that my friends probably thought I was acting like a 5-year-old kid with his first fish. I didn’t want to lose the fish and tried to focus on keeping the line tight and getting the fish into a softer current and shallow water so we could net this thing. I was backing up and my footing kept stumbling with gravel flying up in the air. It was as if I was stumbling backward after losing my balance to make the last couple yards into the end zone to score a touchdown.
My focus was keeping the line tight and my rod tip up, to make sure no slack got into the line to give the Steelhead a chance to shake the fly off and swim back into the depths of safety. My heart was pounding and my mind and hands were trying to fulfill my hearts desires and not let it shatter into a thousand pieces. The colors were beautiful on the majestic creature. The head and eyes stood out to me as the fish was placed in a net. Aww, the net. Finally, a sense of relief as I processed the epic moment in time that had just happened. A pure rush of joy flowed into my veins allowing me to remember the sense of accomplishment. An addiction that can only be satisfied through effort and luck. I admired the beauty and started to look at some measurements. My net is 30” from end to end and it went over about a couple inches so I estimated the fish to be about 32” long. It was bigger than anything I would have expected to catch that day and became a new record on a fly rod for me. I was ecstatic. Another bucket list item was checked off for me. The monkey was off my back. My friend who invited me let me know his sense of relief as well that I was able to catch a Steelhead. So grateful to have shared the moment with them.
This fish was by far the biggest one we caught that day. We went further up toward Stanley and the numbers of fish seemed to be increasing. I caught a couple more and my friends caught 2-3 apiece as well. There were some Steelhead fry, about 8” that you could see in sections and there were thousands of them. You couldn’t keep your fly away from these little guys and we would inevitably hook into several of them and release them, hoping that they would be able to make it to the ocean and come back to be caught in another year or two. It was a great time and the scenery was amazing. The river continued to beckon me to partake of its bounty. It started to snow and darkness was upon us and it was time to call it a day. Dreams of the dark green pine trees, cold crisp free flowing waters, and the beautifully colored Steelhead would have to satisfy me now.
We woke up the next day to a few inches of snow. We were hopeful it would clear up so we could see better, but the snow made it difficult to see. After a difficult and slow couple of hours fishing, we grabbed some breakfast at one of the local restaurants to see if the snow would break, but it didn’t seem like it was in the cards so we called it a trip and headed back home. It was an experience I hope to share with my kids as they get older. I’m grateful for those friends who took me up there and shared an experience of a lifetime. I found a love for another river and even a deeper respect for the Steelhead and salmon that swim back up this river. It is a resource that needs care so that future generations can enjoy and admire such a majestic species.
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Orvis Clearwater fly rod 9ft 8wt
P line 8lb– I use this instead of a typical leader. I will cutoff an 8-10ft section and tie a loop and connect it to my line.