A Contrast in Styles

Encyclopedia authors have a thing or two to say about a couple of the rivers of Idaho.  The St. Joe is the highest navigable river in the world.  The Snake River's dammed slack waters make Lewiston the most inland seaport on America's west coast.  In addition to their extremes of navigability, these rivers also boast world class fisheries.  Nevertheless, those fisheries, and the reaches of the river where they occur, couldn't be a greater contrast in styles.  I fished them last week over consecutive days.

Sturgeon are big fish and require big gear.  Rods designed for giant saltwater fish, reels with hundreds of yards of 60 pound test monofilament and 80 pound leaders, railroad spikes for sinkers, slabs of bait the size of your palm..  You can use rafts or fish from the shore when chasing these beasts, but a jet boat works better... you might have to chase a eight foot long fish down to the next pool and back up again.

Catching a sturgeon in the Hells Canyon Reach of the Snake River is one of the truly exhilarating sportfishing experiences of the Pacific Northwest.  Hells Canyon is a stunning example of Idaho's country.  It is steep, deep, hot, nasty, rocky and hot.  Yep, I mentioned hot twice.  During our journey up the river Monday, the high temperature in Lewiston surmounted the 100 mark.  Constant evaporative cooling from regular dips in the river was the only way to feel good.  Water temperatures were perfect, though.  Sturgeon like to eat when the water is 65 degrees.  Our group landed 11 sturgeon, 6 over 6 feet long, and one taped in at 8'9".  What amazing animals.

That's Emily's first Sturgeon... a 7.5 footer

Fishing for Sturg in Hells Canyon

In contrast, westslope cutthroat trout are considered big when they hit about 13 inches.  Delicate flyrods designed for casting hand-tied weightless flies on the end of invisible tippet, bait is illegal (at least on the Joe) and would be eschewed.  We used a raft to float a long and catch many fish, but we also strolled along side channels and good runs and casted our flies to fish rising on the other side... you could reach 'em, as long as you had a big enough mend.

Flycasting to cutthroat trout on the St. Joe River is one of the truly poetic sportfishing experiences in the Pacific Northwest.  The St. Joe River is lined with cottonwoods in its lower reaches, but cedars dominate the upper reaches I most like to fish.  The day was warm, but the emerald and gold waters were cold and full of fine, fat trout.  The river bottom is paved with colorful cobblestones and mortared with garnet sand.  Sips of cold microbrew and the jovial banter of three anglers made the day feel good.  Our group landed dozens of fat westslopes, some as big as 14 inches.  Couldn't have been a better, more relaxing way to spend the day.

Pop Pop with a fine westslope on the Joe

My Home River

These fishes are my current favorites to chase.  They represent the ends of the Idaho native sportfish spectrum.  What I like most about my two days of fishing last week is that the diversity of these animals mirrors the diversity of Idaho's riverscapes, and the diversity of ways to experience them...