Angler and I decided to head out for an adaventure this morning close to home. Weather forecast was great and flows were on the drop after the last high water. After working up a good sweat dragging the raft a couple hundred feet down a few hillsides and over some giant rip rap we were off on our float.
We spotted several eagles along our journey and even a large group of eagle watchers. We declined taking any photos of the eagles due to the fact they are all over now. Just as we passed the large group of eagle watchers angler hooked up on a nice fat 3.5lb rainbow which appeared as if he hadnt missed many meals.
Shortly after that we rolled up to a nice pocket and I plucked out a nice 15 inch dolly on some hardware.
A few minutes later angler landed a nice 16 inch cutthroat (slipped out of hands before photo).
As we moved down river we encountered log jam #1 which required a relatively quick drag as we would come to find out.
The fog cleared and the sun was out. A few more rapids and runs and my spoon just stopped on the opposite side of the river. I applied some pressure thinking i would lift the spoon off a rock when all over a sudden a I feel a head shake... and it has some weight to it. Is it steel? Not fighting like it... but then again I'm not gaining on him. Finally as we row across the river Im able to make some ground on him and land a nice 5lb dolly that had been eating very well on some dead chum carcasses.
We both missed a fish in that same run before heading down river.
After lunch we were thinking we had made it through all the obstacles the river could throw at us when we encountered Log jam #2...To get around it was either 1. A couple hundred yard drag across some rolling gravel bars or 2. up and over a bunch of big cottonwoods, back in the river, over one more cottonwood and then push down a small side channel. We chose option #2
45 Minutes later we were back to fishing/floating. Both of us were about dead after that.. and the fishing went dead through some great looking water. About 2pm angler jumped on the sticks as we finished out our float. Low and behold last chance hole. My line stops. Crap im snagged up...oh wait there goes 30-40 yards of line flying back up stream. Finally head turns and I gained some line with help from the current. I work him down until he is about even with me before he headed back up stream for another quick run and jump.. then down stream on another crazy run. Slowly I work him in and angler flawlessly nets the roughly 15lb buck to finish of the day. He swam off strong after cooperating for a couple photos.
