WILD THINGS--I hope you folks enjoyed Memorial Day weekend. What’s more American than roughing it out in the woods? And what better place than the beautiful country of North Idaho, interrupted by the winding (and now clear) Coeur d’Alene River?
The weekend had its up and downs for me. I hit the Little North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene at my usual spot off of the Kingston exit. It was prime afternoon fishing — the sun was out and so were the flies. These flies were all over the surface of the water and after an hour or so of patient casting, I finally saw some trout rise.
One of ’em took a fly upstream of me, about 10 feet, which motivated me to stay at my spot. I was casting my dry fly across the river from the shore (still no waders), landing it perfectly beneath an over-hanging tree. No takes.
And then a trout rose directly to my left, downstream about a couple feet. So I reeled in my line and put out some short casts upstream and let the dry fly float down right in front of me. The fish finally took my fly and due to both panic of what to do and pure excitement, I think I kept my rod tip pointed down and lost the fish.
That was my last dry fly, so I drove out angry and upset. I decided to wake up early Sunday morning to see if I could outsmart the fish as the sun rose. I was back out casting by 8 a.m., but there were no flies on the water. The sun was out, birds chirping and fully awake, but the flies were not out and about, which worried me.
On a side note, the river is looking a lot clearer even though it’s still running high.
About mid-morning, I drove back out to civilization, fish-less and hungry, when I spotted my first moose in Idaho. There was a baby moose thrashing around in a pond on the side of the road. About 100 yards further up, I saw two large moose, no antlers, standing alongside the river munching on some plants. I stopped and got some great pictures before they swam across and jogged back into the woods.
Anyways, I purchased some new dry flies and got back out on the river shore. By this time, it was warmer out and so a bunch of flies could be seen floating on the surface.
By about 3 p.m., the trout started hitting like crazy. A deep pool that I hadn’t noticed upstream from me was where two or three trout were rising every minute to snag up some flies.
Unfortunately, as I walked up to cast into the pool, my line was getting snagged on some trees. I made the bold decision to take off my sneakers, roll up the pants and get in the water. I was standing above the fish now, letting my line slowly float into the pool where these monsters of trout were feeding.
I saw the fish come up and this time I was ready for him. I kept the rod tip up in the air and a little line ran off under my finger, which was holding the line.
The fish took the line again! I reeled the line in, shocked the fly was gone.
Now, just cause the only thing I caught this weekend was a moose (and that was on a camera), doesn’t mean the fish aren’t there. They are hitting, believe me.
On another note, bear and turkey hunting season have come to an end in the valley. Rich at the Valley Fishing Hole reports two more black bear that he tagged. The bears were again harvested by baiting and shot with rifles. I will update you with a total number of black bear harvested in our unit.
As for fishing, everything is biting according to Rich. The lakes are hot as Kokanee, pike, bass, croppie and catfish are hitting. Pike are being caught off spinner baits and spoons, bass on worms and lizards while Kokanee are taking flashers, double whammers and wedding rings. Rich also reports that every week there is more and more weeded water, so shore fisherman beware.
If you have any hunting or fishing stories you’d like to send my way, send me an email at reportertwo@shoshonenewspress.com or give me a call at 752-1120.
