Another Day on the Salt River, Fall is Rapidly Approaching

As I floated down the Salt I didn’t think I would catch anything. I had already tried two setups that usually produce fish but they just didn’t work. On top of everything else it started to rain and I was still another mile from my takeout point.

Putting on a small dry fly, I cast to several good looking cut banks but nothing happened. Another meander approached and I cast to a small rapid. As my fly serenely floated along the edge of the rapids a nice cutthroat took the fly and startled I took a second to set the hook!

Lucky for me the fish had hooked itself and I fought in the nice twelve-inch fish. It was fat and sassy and I quickly unhooked it before safely releasing it back into its home. Finally, a fish! Maybe I could salvage the day after all!

Renita had dropped me off at the start of the float and I had high hopes that today would not be a dues day, (A dues day is one of those days where you fish hard, learn some new lessons of what doesn’t work, and pay your dues of time spent learning about the river.

At first, I tried a dry fly with a dropper, a small nymph, but nothing happened. Continuing downstream I made cast after cast, all to no avail. I decided to try another approach and put on two nymphs, wet flies, with a strike indicator and several small split shot. This usually worked but I drifted past hole after hole and didn’t even catch a mountain white fish.

Finally, I caught the fish described above, hoping it could be the start of a productive pattern, Luck is when you catch one fish, two fish mean you are close to doing it right, and three or more fish means you have finally found a good pattern or method that works.

The next hole approached and I cast to the edge of another small rapids. Bingo, another trout took my fly! It was a small fish, only eight inches but another beautiful fine spotted snake river cut throat trout. As I passed the next rapids a nice fish took my fly and I missed it. I stopped and cast several more times but nothing happened.

Beaching my pontoon boat, I cast to other likely looking spots and missed several more fish. Floating further downstream ripples appeared as trout started to go into a feeding frenzy, well not really a frenzy but at least they were eating something. I missed several fish before catching a ten and then a fourteen-inch cut!

Just as quickly, the bite was over, punctuated by the clap of a bolt of lightning. It was time to get off the water and so I hurried to the take-out point! Dragging my pontoon ashore I took out my phone and discovered that water had gotten into it. I tried to call Renita but nothing worked, (yup the phone was done for). Talk about another lesson learned!

Still it had been a good day on the Salt River. I don’t know if I will get out again as the weather has taken a major turn. Temperatures this morning are in the low thirties and next week looks like it will be cold and wet. So perhaps it’s time to finish packing, time to winterize our summer retreat, (our Bighorn fifth wheel), and get the Durango Fifth wheel ready for its journey to warmer climates. Clear skies