Humbled at SF Boise

[eagleflyfshr]

Flows at the South Fork of the Boise have been in the low 600s so time to go wade it, right?? Report is afternoon Pink Albert hatch, clear water, finicky fish. Found a great area, nice seam with a reverse current into a deep pool. Closer examination - lots of fish. OK. Started in the morning - no hatch, but the fish were active. Tried everything I could think of - attractors, caddis, hoppers, nymphs, PMDs, PAs, LCs, etc. No takers. A few Pink Alberts started lifting off so stayed with the PAs. Nothing. They completely ignore all of my offerings. Well, let's increase our finesse, so I switch my 5x (5#) tippet to a 6x (3#). First cast with an 18 CDC PMD emerger, a little drift along the seam, and Bam! One of the big girls hits and takes off. Lasts about 6 seconds and Gone! So much for my 3# tippet. Thinking it's just a poor knot, I try it again, this time with an 18 Pink Albert. A few casts and Bam! Same thing, a few seconds of action and so much for my 3# tippet. Oh well. Had to settle for a few 10 inchers that didn't break off my tippet.

Lesson: a summer of care free still water fishing requires me to work on my finesse fishing before I try to tangle into large wild rainbows with very light tippets. I am humbled by the experience.

Still, it was nice to know that the SF Boise continures to have a very healthy population of large wild rainbows. And with smaller fish plentiful and fry in the shallows, it apparently remains self sustaining.
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