We celebrated the fourth by walking outside and watching the fireworks. There was really nothing nearby but looking across the Lower Valley we could see occasional bursts. There seemed to be two main areas, one was near Thayne and the other along the Salt River. No fireworks were allowed in the resort as the threat of fire is always present.

Two days later found us floating the Salt River, from the Creamery to a landing point called the Swimming Pool. George, Val’s husband, had agreed to take the truck to the take out point and so we pushed off into a fast current. In no time at all Val was around the first meander and Renita followed closely behind her.

I could tell Renita has learned a lot about floating the river as she chose the quieter channel, easily avoiding the one hazard. Val had hit the low branches one time and dumped her kayak but both women easily passed the test.

Meanwhile I was attempting to fish the fast moving stream using two nymphs with a small split shot and a strike indicator. I had tied on the new flies, a pheasant hair nymph and a very small nymph called an emerger. On the first cast I watched the indicator move sideways and was fast onto a really nice fish.

As I fought the fish the current kept sweeping my kayak downstream and between the fish pulling in one direction and the yak in another the hook pulled out. Another cast and the same result before I caught a small mountain whitefish.

Around the next bend another good looking spot presented itself and on the first cast I snagged and broke off both flies. Fifteen minutes later I caught up with the two speeding girls, they had pulled over and waited as I had retied two new flies.

Two more casts and I broke off the new flies and so I switched to a dry, a purple haze with a small emerger as a dropper. Nothing took my flies even though I made some casts to rising fish. Meanwhile the current was taking me rapidly sideways and I soon swept into a submerged log. I was lucky I didn’t dump the boat!

Snagging the flies I lost two more and then high centered on another snag. Deciding this simply wasn’t working, I resigned myself to enjoying the float and placed my fly rod aside for the rest of the float. After about two hours we reached George at the first take out point and after a brief chat we pushed off to finish the float.

The river was moving so fast that we reached the Swimming Pool in about twenty minutes, (it has taken us forty minutes on previous floats, because we seldom are in a hurry). It had been a nice day and a nice float. It had also shown the promise of the new flies I had purchased along with the folly of trying to fish while floating a fast moving river.

On the way home we talked of the great float and the promise of more floats to come. I also decided I need a shorter kayak as my twelve footer is just to long for the fast current and sharp bends of the Salt River. Clear skies