TR -- Big Wood River (with photos)

I had some errands in Ketchum today so I fished the Big Wood River for
about three hours. I'd heard the midging was good.

I arrived at the first run, virtually in downtown Hailey, at about 2pm:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr1.JPG

This is a proven spot for me. While I was standing high up on the far
bank I could see several good fish holding in the far seam. I couldn't
get a single take, even though there was a good midge hatch in progress.
Frustrating.

So I moved upriver to another run I'd never fished. It's in the far
distance in this photo:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr2.JPG

I had my dogs along:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr3.JPG

They had a good time and didn't bother anyone, Larry. :-) Both of the
other fishermen I saw also had their dogs. That trophy home behind the
dogs is typical of the Big Wood. The owners are probably there for about
two weeks a year. (I don't know what caused that strange fuzziness in
the photo.)

The fish were concentrated by the cut bank to the right of the dogs. For
about an hour it was more-or-less continuous action. All the fish were
rainbows, in rather dark colors just before spawning. My best was this
16-inch fish:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr4.JPG
http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr5.JPG

They were taking both a #18 pheasant tail I tied and a midge pupa
dropper of Bruiser's.

When I got back to town just before sunset I saw this herd of about 50
elk that have been hanging around:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr6.JPG

I had a funny flyshop experience. The main reason I drove to Ketchum was
to get backing and flylines on the Old Florida reel and extra spool I
bought over the Internet. When I walked into Silver Creek Outfitters my
friend Dave was out to lunch, and some new guy I'd never met waited on
me. I told him what I wanted and handed him the reel, the extra spool
and two flylines. He gave me this "Who the **** do you think you are?"
look, and asked somewhat sarcastically if I also had the backing. (I
didn't.)

This is the kind of flyshop where the typical customer will buy a Sage
rod, and Abel reel, a flyline, a couple of hundred bucks worth of flies,
and maybe a new inlaid shotgun without a second thought.

Then I asked him how the fishing was. He said the midging was good, and
did I need any? No, I replied, but could he suggest some patterns? Then
I pulled out Bruiser's midge box, which I had accidently taken at the
last San Juan Clave. His jaw dropped to the floor. He took his glasses
off and peered at the flies from about 3 inches away. "They're so
small!" And there were so MANY of them! It was hilarious. Then Dave
walked in.

They only charged me for the backing. It's a good flyshop.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

"rw" wrote in message
. ..
I had some errands in Ketchum today so I fished the Big Wood River for
about three hours. I'd heard the midging was good.

snip

Wow. Great TR and photos...thanks for sharing. If the owners of that Trophy
Home need somebody to housesit for the other 50 weeks out of the year, I
think I know somebody who would be willing to take on the task. :-)

Cheers,
Bill

"rw" wrote in message
. ..
I had some errands in Ketchum today so I fished the Big Wood River for
about three hours. I'd heard the midging was good.

Looks like you had a great trip, and in good company.
Thanx for sharing.

/Roger
More TRs with photos please =)

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 22:02:55 -0700, rw
wrote:

I had some errands in Ketchum today so I fished the Big Wood River for
about three hours. I'd heard the midging was good.

I arrived at the first run, virtually in downtown Hailey, at about 2pm:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr1.JPG

This is a proven spot for me. While I was standing high up on the far
bank I could see several good fish holding in the far seam. I couldn't
get a single take, even though there was a good midge hatch in progress.
Frustrating.

So I moved upriver to another run I'd never fished. It's in the far
distance in this photo:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr2.JPG

I had my dogs along:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr3.JPG

They had a good time and didn't bother anyone, Larry. :-) Both of the
other fishermen I saw also had their dogs. That trophy home behind the
dogs is typical of the Big Wood. The owners are probably there for about
two weeks a year. (I don't know what caused that strange fuzziness in
the photo.)

As a dog owner I'd say it looks suspiciously like the smudges all over
the back windows of our cars and the ones that grace our front window
overlooking the bird (i.e. squirrel) feeder.

The fish were concentrated by the cut bank to the right of the dogs. For
about an hour it was more-or-less continuous action. All the fish were
rainbows, in rather dark colors just before spawning. My best was this
16-inch fish:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr4.JPG
http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr5.JPG


I bet those fish had smudges on then too.


*snipped*



g.c.

"rw" wrote...
I had some errands in Ketchum today so I fished the Big Wood River for
about three hours. I'd heard the midging was good.
snip

Nice, Steve. I really like the pic of your dog with the BSEG. He must have
thought *he* caught the fish.
--
TL,
Tim
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

A nice-looking place. Thanks for the report.

--
Jarmo Hurri

Commercial email countermeasures included in header email
address. Remove all garbage from header email address when replying,
or just use .

Dang, nice report! They don't call it the Big Wood for nothing! :-)

bruce h

rw wrote:
A nice TR clipped

Nice Steve. I think Meg's cousin Tina lives a block behind where you
took the first picture from. I've fished those spots in August and had
a hard time getting a strike. But then that was before the lesson from
Willi on the San Juan.

Thanks for the TR.

Chas
remove fly fish to reply
http://home.comcast.net/~chas.wade/w...ome.html-.html
San Juan Pictures at:
http://home.comcast.net/~chasepike/wsb/index.html