"JT" wrote in message
...
My son (Austin) and I flew out to SLC to meet my cousin (Sam) last Friday
for a float trip down the South Fork of the Snake. We left for Swam Valley
early Saturday morning. Sam ordered a new Freestone drift boat out of
Idaho Falls. The plan was to meet up with the owner around 10:00 AM after
picking up supplies to take delivery of the new boat. Unfortunately the
boat was not ready, however the owner set us up with a nearly new boat,
several flies and fishing info for the weekend. After picking out a camp
site at Calamity just off Palisades reservoir and setting up camp, we
loaded up the boat, arranged a shuttle and put in at the Palisades launch
for a 12 mile float to Conant. We got on the water around 1:00 PM running
large dries (stones, hoppers, foam bodies, etc..) with a dropper
(lightning bugs, copper johns, etc.) or a double nymph rig. First fish of
the trip was a white fish, after that we started getting into rainbows and
cuts in the 10 - 18 inch range. Several fish came to the large dries and
many were landed on the dropper. About 4:30 PM we had a nasty thunder
boomer roll through, we pulled off to stay as dry as possible, however got
pretty well soaked. The clouds passed and the sun came out for a nice
afternoon of fishing and drying out. Started seeing some heads pop, went
to caddis and various mayfly patterns for better than average dryfly
fishing. Just before dark the Conant launch came into site. After loading
the boat we headed back collecting fire wood at the dam on Palisades
reservoir for a nice camp fire and dinner.

Day two, after breakfast we broke camp and planned an over night stay on
the river. After packing the tent, bags, food, clothes, drinks, etc into
the boat... we stopped for a shuttle from Conant to Byington through the
cannon section and stopped at the SouthFork Outfitters to check out all
the new gear. They have a really nice shop, bring a fat wallet if you
stop.... We got on the water about 11:00 AM, stared picking fish with the
same combinations used the day before. Weather was great the entire day.
We pulled into camp site #4 at Gormer about 13 miles below the Conant
launch. It's a primitive site in a roadless area of the cannon section. We
only saw a few boats on the day since we got on the water late and didn't
see any other campers. After setting up camp, we had a few beers, started
dinner and hit the sack about 11:00.

The next morning we woke to a blue sky, started cleaning up from the
previous nights dinner and got breakfast started. I kept hearing a
flushing noise down at the rivers edge. Peaking over the edge of the bank,
and about 10 ft. down to the water, I watched a large brown in the 22 - 25
inch range feeding in frog water on the surface. The fish would hardly
move feeding just under the surface on cripples and adults. I couldn't
take it any longer and had to try throwing a bug at him. I was afraid I
would spook the fish since the boat was only tied up about 15 ft. away. I
eased down the bank and rigged a PMD cripple, the first several casts
landed 6 to 12 inches out of the feeding lane, the fish wouldn't move to
the fly. I thought I might have the wrong pattern on, but tried a couple
more before putting the fly directly in the lane about 3 feet in front of
fish, wait, wait, wait, he came up and took the cripple, I set the hook
and pulled the fish toward me a good two feet before the fly pulled free,
and watched him slide into the deep water at the rivers edge. Crap! I put
the rod back in the rod holder and started out of the boat looking back up
where the fish was laying... Unbelievable, the fish was back and continued
feeding! Did he not know I had just given him a sore lip, he just got
stuck in the mouth?? I continued my assault and threw four different
patterns over the brown two of the patterns, he would come within about
two inches of the fly and watch it... Eventually he got tired of the game
and moved back into hiding. Deflated, I went up to finish breakfast. After
breakfast, we broke camp and packed the boat with 15 miles of river ahead
of us to the Byington takeout. The fishing was very much the same as the
previous two days, although we saw several drift boats and a few jet
boats, in total probably over 20, most all appeared to be guide boats.
The largest fish of the trip was a brown in the 19 inch range.

Awesome trip with my son, he will be a senior this year and off to
college. I cherish every chance with him these days.

I wouldn't have changed anything over the 40 + miles we floated, we saw a
lot of wildlife, caught several fish, more than anything I enjoyed the
company.

I'll stick a few pics up on abpf...

I wanna go back!
JT

Great TR thanks!

Op