Author: Bruce_Staples

Idaho’s Salt River Tributaries

 

Idaho’s Salt River Tributaries

Extreme eastern Idaho is relatively unknown for many fly-fishers because bypassing the South Fork and such as Big Elk and Palisades creeks is  almost impossible to accomplish.  If you can “tough out ” passing these great fisheries and head south down US Highway 89 in Star Valley, a selection of great small streams await. All flow east into the Salt River, and each seems to host the same: browns  in numbers varying stream to stream and cutthroat in good numbers. In fact, these can be considered cutthroat refuges.  Are they Snake River fine spotted or Yellowstone strains?  Likely a mixture of both as in other Snake River drainage places.  You could enjoy fishing an entire weekend trying your skill on Jackknife, Tincup, Stump and Crow creeks.  Tincup Creek is mainly a riffle and run stream paralleled by Idaho State Highway 34.  Being close to this main highway it is likely the most heavily fished, but that isn’t saying much compared to pressure on South Fork and Palisades Reservoir tributaries.  The other three have county or forest service roads nearby making for easy access.  Jackknife, Stump and Crow and their main tributaries are mainly brushy meadow streams.    All host beaver ponds of holdover quality that should catch your attention if you seek big trout.   The picture above shows Stump Creek just off the Smoky Canyon Road crossing.   Note the beaver pond near the center.  Not far upstream of this location a fly-fishing friend of mine caught a 27-inch brown  a few years back.  He sent me a picture, so I have to believe, assuming this was the true location.   Stream character in this picture is typical of these three streams. Visiting during the springtime (June into early July) mayfly emergence peak can be very rewarding.  All have the usual mayfly arrays emerging including gray and green drakes and PMDs.  If action is slow one one stream, another is reasonably close by. Visiting before the mayfly peak after run-off subsides and beaver ponds are repaired, trout  foraging for leeches can bring very satisfying action.    During summer presenting terrestrial patterns is the best way to find success.  Do not let the size of these streams disappoint you because trophy fish reside here.  You must be stealthy to the utmost.  Or you could come back in the autumn around the end of September when streams remaining connected to the Salt River host run-up brown trout running to sizes respectable in any river.  The trick to success at this time is stealth to the point of appearing to be a natural piece of the surroundings is key.  Stump and Crow creeks would be your best bets to encounter these run-ups ranging up to near six pounds.   Are you getting into the Tenkara presentation technique that is proven so effective for small waters? You could not ask for a better location for trying it than on these streams.  And almost anywhere you try these streams you will solitude to appreciate .

 

 

 

 

Harriman Fish Pond

 

 

 

Harriman Fish Pond

Not only is this a pond of legend, it is also among the safest of public still waters to be found in the Island Park area.  It was created by the Harriman family in the early twentieth century as a place to take Railroad Ranch guests fishing.   The family dammed Osborn Creek and a couple of smaller intermittent creeks to form it.   IDF&G has used it on an experimental basis to test trout suitability.  It is not very deep, but rich in nutrients, so over the years it has gained a reputation for producing huge rainbows and trophy-sized brook trout.  It has endured misuse from dewatering and bank erosion, yet properly maintained and kept at full pool year round, it is a superb fishery.  If you are familiar with fishing the Henry’s Fork from Wood Road 16 access, you go by the pond to the south a few hundred yards.   That creek entering the Henry’s Fork just above the access is the outlet from the Fish Pond.  I’m not going to say anything about the fish in that creek below the pond! You can get to the Fish Pond from the Mesa Falls Scenic Route.  Drive down the Route from Highway 20 just above the Osborn Bridge.  A bit more than a mile on the right the access road to river near “Pine Point” goes to the right. Turn off here and take the immediate left, a primitive road that takes one to the north end of the Fish Pond, and on to the west end dam.  You can fish from the dam without needing wading gear. To fish effectively anywhere else here you will need to get out on the pond with a non-motorized craft because the pond bottom is mostly deep silt.  But the pond is ideal for float tubing or pontoon boating, and launching such from the north end is easy.

Fly-fishing season on the pond begins as soon as ice comes off and the primitive access road to its north end is passable. I have fished it as early as the end of April after a winter of scanty snowfall.  During the early season any pattern resembling a leech or dragonfly  nymph works.  When midges begin emerging in number, life cycle patterns for them work until resident fish become filled. When that happens, go elsewhere.   After the fish are over this “midge binge” try speckled dun life cycle patterns.  By then, however, you may need to fish  mostly on or near the surface because weed growth clogs so much of the pond that fishing wet is mainly good for dredging up weeds.  Any time you fish here a floating line is best because for the most part the pond is so shallow.  There is some deeper water in front of the dam on the west end and along the creek channel in its middle.  I usually avoid the pond as July approaches because fishing there slows.   But I come back very late, as late as the first of November when weeds are dispersing, and I present midge life cycle patterns or a small (size 12-14) bead head peacock leech.  This is when I have caught my largest fish, but one can certainly encounter large fish here any time during the season.  These  big ones are a bit tougher to encounter in recent years because hatchery catchables are now present, but one benefit of  those hatchery catchables is that if they hold over, they can become big guys.  So if you are looking for a chance for a fish of the season under safe conditions compared to a wind-blown Henry’s Lake or Island Park Reservoir, or you have youngsters or have physically challenged folks wishing for the same, put this spot near the top of your destination list.

Birch Creek

It is now timely to give this great little stream some attention.   That attention is appropriate for several reasons.  Access, proximity, reliably aggressive wild trout,  put and take fishing, reasonable solitude, and natural beauty are some.   Also Birch Creek is ready for fishing right now.  From the Snake River Plain this creek is about an hour and a half drive  at the most over good highways. Little traffic can be expected going and returning from it.  Believe it or not, Birch Creek is a spring creek in that it originates mostly from springs in the Kaufman area. From here it becomes  a small but classic desert stream.   Below Lone Pine resort Birch Creek flows mostly through public land, and it is here where weekenders congregate to fish, camp, and ride. Thus IDF&G generously supplements the wild fish population here with hatchery catchables. The result is that the wild fish mostly move out to the diversion below to escape piscatorial crowding and human hub-bub.  For sure one can encounter good fishing here, but usually under less tranquil conditions.  If one travels upstream past Lone Pine, Birch Creek is to the left and on private land.  But this land is under agreement  for public access and as such is designated a “family fishing area” through the generosity of its owner.  Signs at either end and the middle proclaim this. Access here is walk-in with distances from parking varying upwards from a bit less than one hundred yards.  Fencing limits intrusion by cattle, so degradation is minor.  The stream in the upper end of the area runs through broken willow patches with undercuts and surprisingly deep holes and runs.  Throughout the area one can see superb in-stream gravel beds that host aquatic insects as well as offering spawning locations.  Rainbow and brook trout, introduced many years ago, inhabit the creek  in good numbers.   No need to supplement trout populations here!  This is high country, so it takes a while for Birch Creek to regain heat lost through radiation at nighttime and early light.  That means aquatic insects become most active around mid day, and the same goes for the resident ‘bows and brookies.   So if you intend to fish here, enjoy a  hearty breakfast and leisurely drive to arrive  about then.   Hip waders are all that is necessary to walk around the creek in the family area, and during the heat of summer, wet wading is not out of the question.  I have a two-weight rod which is ideal for small streams, Birch Creek included.  I use a floating line and nine-foot leader tapered to 5x, and I have a ball catching brookies and bows ranging upward to a rare sixteen inches.  They are full of fight and eager as can be. This time of year caddis,  midge, isoperla, and BWO life cycle patterns work.    So do traditional attractors in small sizes.  A few golden stoneflies are also present.    As summer comes on any traditional terrestrial pattern works well.

Experience tells me that large rivers tend to intimidate entry level fly-fishers.  Small streams  are almost like a laboratory situation where all things are in a smaller scope and more easily observed.  That means small water is more quickly understood  with respect to realizing where fish hold within, where they move to feed, and where they seek cover.  Essentially all these are more “concentrated” in a small water siting.  It also seems that trout in smaller waters are inherently more aggressive when feeding is considered.  This results in a consistency in feeding that larger waters do not always offer.  It follows from this that the fly-fisher will have more chances per given amount of time to learn how to respond to  feeding fish.  Thus it is to a small stream that I take or recommend to a rank beginner, and Birch Creek is one of the best for this purpose.   Afterwards it is up to that person to  take lessons learned to be sharpened and expanded on through fishing larger waters.