Fished Silver Creek yesterday. Just west of Picabo, Idaho. The best fishing is generally considered to be the Nature Conservancy's preserve so I headed there. Also no fees and just about the only public access. It's flyfishing only and catch-and-release only. The water is gin clear and the fish are big and smart. You can see them and they can see you! It's always the ultra challenge! The weather wasn't the best! The wind was blowing most of the day and not much of a insect hatch. It's still a little early in the season. Did get some small caddis hatches and I hooked up on a couple of smaller rainbows with a elk hair pattern. I talked to a couple of local guys from Hailey and they gave me a couple of ideas, I switched over to a sink tip and started to pull a Wolleybugger along the bank and on about my third cast bam a 22" Brown. I think the three fish I landed today was a personal best for me on Silver Creek. I grew up in the Magic Valley and have fished this great place a ton but it's usually always a lesson in what you don't know about flyfishing. Don't get me wrong you can catch alot of fish here. Later in the summer the Mayfly hates are unreal but it was my first fish over 20" in a long time for me on this creek. It made for a enjoyable ride back to Idaho Falls. I hope to get some pix up, my wife had by good camera and I used my cell, I just need to figure out how to download them to my computer. I did send a couple of pix to Ironrod just for the record! Anyway it was a great trip and I hope to get back at least one more time before the summers over!
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I have never been to silver creek. I guess I have always been a little intimidated by the reputation.
Windriver
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I have only fished it once -- in the Nat Conservancy area. I dang near stepped on one of those "logs" they have for fish there. Scared the heck out of me when it moved! Obviously I didn't do that well as I am intimidated by fish that are bigger than me.
I did catch a few smaller fellows on some terrestrials - dry damselfly, beetle, and ant. They were the only uneducated ones I could find.
I would like to know more about the other areas up there though. Is it better wad fished further down, or is something like a float tube better?
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Alot of guys will fish the eastern part of the Conservancy to the Kilpatrick Bridge with a float tube. This area is referred to as the "Pond". East of the Kilpatrick Bridge you can float (with float tubes only I think / No toones) accross the Purdy Ranch section to the Hwy 20 Bridge. ( You can't get out of the high water mark here) and You' ll need a shuttle back to Kilpatrick. Thats about the only public access left thats any good. Don't be worried about the rep of Silver Creek, the big fish are smart and hard to fool but it gets some of the best hatches you'll ever see later in the summer and you can catch fish with a little work. Besides that it is just a out of this world experience just to be there. I always look for the mother ship for a ride to fly fishing narvana when I'm there. If you love to fly fish it's something you need to do. It's alot like the South and North Forks of the Snake in the sense that it's in our backyard and people come from all over the U.S. and World to fish it. Yesterday I talked to a couple of guys from North Carolina that were just way cool, everybody is just so nice, it's like everybody's first time at Disneyland.
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Can you download a pic of that brown[:p]? I've fished silver creek on the south side of the rd..meaning the "private club" area...it's been 10+ yrs ago. I used to pick leaves for the state seed potato fields...well, after completing a field I saw that water and had to give it a try..there were a few guys decked out in the river -beating the water with their fly lines and not much luck. I decided to give it a shot and managed to catch one on almost every cast!!![cool]-after deciding that fishing shouldn't be that easy I talked to the farmer...he laughed and explained that I was fishing on the "private" section that cost easily over $10k/yr...we both had a good laugh and I soon left[:p]!
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Silver Creek Pix's
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