cold steelhead

[nijimasu]

it was a little chilly in Stanley thiese last couple of days.



Really pretty though, in a blizzardy kind of way. If you don't mind clearing the ice from your flyrod guides every couple of casts, and you want to catch a lot of steelhead, get up there. There's a lot of water downriver of Stanley that would be great to hit if you want a solitary experience (watch out for elk- they were jumping out on the road a lot). Yankee Fork area was crowded (so I'm betting there were a few fish being caught there) but anywhere around there would have to be awesome- it seems like there are fish all through the system now.

Thanks to Snakeriver's help, even a noob like me managed to hook up repeatedly. Here's a buck and a hen taken from behind the same boulder on an egg pattern fished on a nymph rig.





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[chrome_junky]

nice dude! congrats. i still need to get one on the fly rod.
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[PokyFishermen]

Did i see you yesterday at the bridge ? We were the ones wading..?
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[nijimasu]

Yup! surprised you recognized my ugly mug!
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[PokyFishermen]

Haha, what a day... 45 fish day... not to bad?
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[snakeriver]

Good for you Dale, Glad things worked out!! Sounds like the conditions were brutal. Is the river still clear or running off color now? I may head back up monday if I can swing it.
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[nijimasu]

It was still gin clear when I left yesterday afternoon. I don't think anything's melting or falling from the sky in non-frozen form yet. I wish I could could get over there again myself. Man, I love Idaho!
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[STEELHEADKID]

What type of shape are the fish in around stanley? Are they spitting eggs when you land them or are they still in skein form?
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[PokyFishermen]

Fish are still in great shape nothing has started to get sores, nor are the eggs out of the skeins yet, fish were still really solid between me and my uncle we hooked over 40 fish right next to niji, we landed around 15 wilds and 15 hatchery fish all were in great shape... should be about a month before the fish in stanley start getting ugly, once again it was great to meet another bft'r and be able to help out!
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[ChrisTheFish]

I was up there on thurs and it seemed like a lot of the fish weren't necessarily spitting eggs but that they weren't in skeins any longer either.
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[tmas]

Awesome! Thanks for the report, I hope it stays clear and full of fish for a few more days up there, heading up soon! Hopefully it'll warm up a bit though[shocked]
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