The fishing this past week in Firth has been pretty slow, but the few fish that my son and I caught were 16+ inches. Attached are a couple of photos of Browns - one in the 23 inch range and a second in the 25 inch range. These were caught in the same area in the Firth Nature Park along the Snake. The 23 incher was caught on Saturday March 21 and the 25 incher was caught one week later on March 28th. My son and I spent maybe 6-7 hours fishing the area over that week and caught a dozen fish, the smallest being a 15 inch Rainbow and the biggest being the big Brown. Most of the fish were caught using big rubber legs on a 6wt fly rod while a few others, including the big brown, were caught using a Rapala.
I have lived in Firth for 8 years now and really didn't start fishing the river near my home until this past fall. I am a South Fork fisherman but decided to spend some time fishing close to home last fall. It has been alot of fun as I have caught big fish more often on this stretch of river than on the South Fork were I spend most of my time. We have even started floating from Firth to Rose now and have had great success.
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nice looking fish. I mainly stillwater and I always tell myself to hit the snake but just never do. Those fish make me think about doing it though.
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I love fishing that area. Do it quite often with my Nephew. There are some nice fish in there, and the stonefly hatch can be awesome.
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First of all welcome to the forum. Those are some great fish. I hope to get out on the river on Friday.
Windriver
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hiya ff and welcome to the site..
I see you have already found and posted on the Idaho forum (nice browns btw).. you may want to check out the [#000000][size 4][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/gforum.cgi?category=69"]fly fishing forum[/url][/size][/#000000] where I am sure you will find anglers who are more than willing to answer questions if you have any..
MacFly
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Good info and great fish. I keep hearing stories of amazing size fish in that stretch, I just need to put some time in on it I think. Hopefully this summer. Keep the reports coming.
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Firth, How long is the float from firth to rose? Time?
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If we don't stop to often in the bigger holes or to wade the riffles, it takes between 10 and 11 hours to float in our drift boat. We have taken as short as 10 hours and as long as 14 hours to finish the float depending on how often and for how long we stop along the way. The stream isn't very braided (only a couple of islands on the float) so most of your fishing will be done in the main channel.
You don't want to be on this section in a drift boat if the wind is stronger than 10MPH - I know this from experience. There are two long (about 1 mile) stretches on this float with little current and if the wind is blowing you must really oar hard to get downstream. We usually catch big Rainbows down deep in the bigger holes (hard to do with a fly rod) and pull the Browns off of the banks or in the riffles - the usual places.
As far as trash fish on this float, I don't catch many Whitefish in this stretch but I know they are there. Get ready to haul in big (5+ lb) Suckers too if you are nymphing or using nightcrawlers.
I almost always use a wooly bugger or rubber legs with a bead head nymph in this area. I have seen alot of people stream minnow patterns too and they seem to do well. If you are spin casting then use the Rainbow Rapala or BIG Panther Martins with a Silver blade and a colored body. Those have been the most successful for me. Of course, rolling a minnow or using a nightcrawler will always work too.
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I've run that section up to the diversion dam near the Shelley Park I think and then flaoted back down. I don't think it was more than a 3 or 4 mile float. You don't happen to know that first take out spot that's right off the highway do you ? Just can't remeber it- I seem to think it started with a P.
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There are two boat launches in Firth and one in Shelley. The one in Shelley is at North Bingham County Park which is just one mile west of Shelley and about 2 miles east of the Shelley exit on I-15. This park is sometimes called Pioneer Park. It is the one used by most boaters going upstream to the big diversion in Shelley.
Firth has an improved boat launch site at the High School Track that is often used by jet boaters running upriver all of the way to Gem lake dam passing through the diversion in Shelley.
The second Firth boat launch site is downstream from the first and is the one that I use. It is unimproved. It is in the Firth Nature Park (follow the gravel road to the end) and is right below the big diversion in Firth. I have seen jet boats up to 17 feet put in at this location without trouble but it isn't a very good boat launch. This allows you to float all of the way to the Rose overpass on I-15 where there is an improved boat launch site. If you float past this boat launch then you will be caught up in a couple of diversions between the Rose overpass and Blackfoot.
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Here is a map of the four boat launches that I referred to in my previous post (in PDF format). Hopefully this helps clarify. If anyone needs more detailed information or a map on accessing these boat launches just let me know. Making maps is what I am paid to do.
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My secret is getting out. [
] I fish this area quite a bit since I live in Blackfoot. There are some nice fish in there and this is where I pulled the 15.5lb Brown out. It is usually hit and miss tho. One day it can be on fire and the next day nothing. It is a slow relaxing float later in the summer or early spring and many people do it on pontoons. I am not sure I would float it when run off is coming down. Right now at 2000cfs it is quite low and floating is slow, but when it hits over 15000cfs is can get quite interesting and better suited for drift boats or jet boats.
Another nice float is from Blackfoot to Tilden Bridge. This float is a little shorter, but the water and fishing is the same.
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Ohohoh Tilden.....I love that area...NICE
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[quote prvrt]My secret is getting out. [
] I fish this area quite a bit since I live in Blackfoot. There are some nice fish in there and this is where I pulled the 15.5lb Brown out.
Hey PRVRT , do you have a picture of that 15+ lber...I'd love to see it...thanks!
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I use to. It was on a 35mm camera so the picture is in a box somewhere. I will have to see if I can find it. That has been over 10 years ago. I am thinking it was 97' or 98' just below Gem Lake dam in the fall when they were spawning when I caught that one..
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Very cool!! I haven't lived here too long...I fish that area quite often and have caught a few browns a hair under 5 lbs, 23 inches long...those seem big to me...I would ilke to see what a 15 lber looks like..especially since it came from the same area that I fish.
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