The alarm woke me at 4:15 a.m. I struggled out of bed, brushed my teeth, dressed as quietly as possible, kissed my wife, and headed to my daughter's kitchen to make a quick cup of instant coffee.
Cup in hand, I left her house, jumped into the rental car — a Toyota Sienna hybrid minivan — and left Boise headed towards Jackson, WY. The plan was to be at the Jackson airport by 11:25 a.m. to pick up my friends flying in from Ohio.
I tooled along, impressed by the line of cars trying to get into Micron at 4:45 in the morning and watching as the sky danced with bolts of lightning. I sipped my coffee, listened to music, and let my mind wander as I worked my way down I-84 at what seemed like a million miles an hour. Man, the speed on that road always amazes me.
The lightning continued its awesome display out my windshield and I wondered, not for the first time, if our week of fishing was going to be cold and wet.
As I entered Idaho Falls, I decided to stop for coffee and gas. I grabbed my phone and noticed I had a missed text message. Weird. Usually, it comes up on my AirPlay in the car. Somehow, I missed it. The time stamp was 4:59 a.m. Not long after I left Boise.
I read the message and cursed myself. The message read, "flights all messed up….getting to Jackson at 6:51 p.m….will
let u know if any more changes."
Damn. Had I seen that earlier, I would have likely turned around and went back to bed. But now, I was committed. I called Greg and got the lowdown. Weather in Chicago had O'Hare on a partial ground stop, so they had to change flights. It was a mess.
I got back in the car and headed to Driggs to grab a little breakfast and make a plan. As I drove, I thought through my options. It seemed I had plenty of time to do some fishing before I picked them up. So, that's what I did.
At a coffee shop in Driggs, I munched on a bagel sandwich and consulted Trout Routes — the Teton River was close and so was Henry's Fork. I walked next door to talk with the folks in the Driggs Fly Shop. They suggested some flies — which I bought — and gave me directions for easy wade access to the Teton and Henry's Fork.
I thanked them, and headed on my way, driving to the closest access for the Teton River. As I got out of the car, lightning flashed and the wind picked up. The river looked fine, but I was already cold. I checked the weather in Ashton – near Henry's Fork. It was 15 degrees warmer and sunny.
Decision made. I drove the 35 minutes to Warm River and finally got to fishing. I played around with a hopper dropper rig and came up empty. On a whim, I took out my Tenkara rod and made a drift. Immediately, I caught a little Rainbow.
I spent the rest of the day changing tactics and rods, but didn't have any luck. I ate a quick snack and decided to head for Jackson — still an hour and a half away.
On the way, another text pinged in. Now they'd be landing at 7:15 p.m. I drove over Teton Pass, hit the grocery store, found the Airbnb, loaded the refrigerator, and finally headed to the airport. The Ohio Boys landed at 7:45 p.m. and were glad for a quick ride to the house and a sudsy dinner at the Mangy Moose in Teton Village.
The Upper Snake
The next day dawned cold and wet. The forecast looked crappy, but the guides were booked, the money was spent, and we were on our way. We met our guides at the Orvis shop in Jackson to find the river we were going to fish was blown out from yesterday's storms, so we pivoted to the Upper Snake, just south of Jackson.
We put three boats in the water around 9 a.m. and floated a steady drizzle, then a serious thunderstorm, one that sent us to the shore warily watching lighting strikes less than a mile away, and then, finally, some sunshine.
We caught mostly Snake River Cutthroat with a few Whitefish and Brown trout thrown in for good measure.
The Salt
The next day dawned cold and damp, but no actual rain was falling. Like the day before, we received a text from the guides. The section of the Upper Snake we were going to float was now blown out. So, we pivoted to the Salt River down near Pinedale, WY.
Like the day before, it was a great decision. The Salt was smaller water and gorgeous. It also fished amazing. We had action from the put-in to the take-out, catching some nice-sized Brown and Cutthroat trout with some small Rainbows thrown in to add a little spice.
The fall colors popped and, except for a brief thunderstorm during lunch, we saw sun most of the day and better temperatures. It was nice to peel off rain gear and fish in just a sun shirt and pants.
Henry's Fork — Again
The next day, Sunday, we dropped the kids off at the airport; they had to head back to work. Too bad for them. The semi-retired guys started working their way to Silver Creek via Henry's Fork.
So, it was back up and over Teton Pass and onto Warm River because Henry's Fork was, you guessed it, blown out.
We stopped in Driggs to pick up sandwiches for the day, then headed on over, staring in awe at the backside of the Tetons.
Fishing on Warm River was better than the first time. We all caught a couple of fish — one on a hopper, one on a bead bouncing off the bottom, and one on an emerger. So, basically, we caught fish throughout the water column, which is kind of weird.
After fishing, we ate our sandwiches on a picnic table near the river and headed to our Airbnb in Carey, ID, which is close to Silver Creek and Picabo Anglers.
We stopped to hit a grocery store in Arco — after taking a look at Craters of the Moon — and fired up the grill as soon as we arrived. After dinner, I walked out to the front porch to witness my friends fishing along the road.
I asked them what was going on.
"We're going to catch one more fish for the day."
"I doubt it," I said.
"Why?" they asked.
"Because you're fishing an irrigation ditch."
Silver Creek
The best day of the trip — in my opinion — started at Picabo Anglers in Picabo, ID. We met our guides and headed to Silver Creek to wade and walk, looking for some big Brown trout.
We caught fish from the jump — which surprised me because I'd been told fishing Silver Creek was technical and tough. We may have caught it on a good day.
For the next four hours, we casted dry flies to rising trout — setting hooks, losing big fish, landing big fish, and having a blast in a setting as pretty as I've ever seen. Elk bugled. Moose wandered by, and the fish cooperated.
Fishing was great at Silver Creek.
After fishing, we headed back home to McCall, stopping in Ketchum for lunch and waiting out a bad accident on Banks-Lowman Road.
McCall
The last two days of the trip were spent in McCall. We spent one day in float tubes on a high alpine lake catching 14-inch Cutthroat and another day on little water playing around with a Tenkara rod and catching 8-inch Rainbows. It was an awesome end to an awesome trip.
