Fishing Trips

Summer Trips-Trout and Bass

Our best fishing is on the Middle Fork, for rainbow and cut-throat trout. A serious fisherman can catch dozens of trout, especially later in the season after the river drops and slows. We can provide two-passenger McKenzie drift boats or small rubber boats for serious fishermen. The fishing boats usually leave camp right after breakfast, before camp gear is loaded, and stay on the river longer each day, to maximize fishing opportunity. Good fishing is also available from the larger boats, though opportunity is less than in the small boats. The Middle Fork is a classic fly fishing stream, but spinning gear is also effective. The Middle Fork is catch-and-release fishing.

On the Main Salmon, we fish for rainbow, bull trout (formerly Dolly Varden), and cut-throat trout, usually in and around tributary streams. Either fly or spinning equipment is fine. Fishing is not a major activity on Main Salmon trips, but adds spice to the trip. We can keep hatchery rainbow trout on the Main and Lower Salmon.

On the Lower Salmon in mid to late summer, trout and small mouth bass fishing is very good. Trout are often larger than on the Middle Fork, and action can be as fast. This fishery is worth a drift boat. Sometimes we'll try for a 300 lb. sturgeon, but they must be released.

Good fly patterns include elkhair and bucktail caddis, grasshopper, and muddler minnows. Mepps spinners in gold or red/white, #2, and Panther Martins or roostertails are good.

Fall Season-Steelhead/Chukar Trips

 

From late September through mid-October, we offer five-day trips on the Lower Salmon, fishing for steelhead and hunting chukar partridge. We float in two-passenger McKenzie boats, dories specially designed for river fishing. A camp boat breaks down camp after we leave in the morning, and has camp set up, with tents, kitchen shelter, chairs, dining tables, and lanterns, when we stop for the night. This enables us to start fishing early and stay on the river through evening shadows. Most of the fishing is from the boat, using lures, but fishing from the bank is also productive. Fly fishing is also an option for the expert. Wild steelhead are catch-and-release, but we can keep hatchery fish. We sometimes do a little sturgeon fishing on these trips.

Days are spent drifting, fishing from the boat in productive water, watching for a covey of chukars on the bank, sometimes tying up to walk into the hills for birds. We run some major whitewater, through remote canyon scenery.

Steelhead trout, weighing five to fifteen pounds, have come into the river from the Pacific, to over winter and spawn in the spring. Set your hook in a steelhead as long as your arm, and you'll know why they're the premium game fish in the Northwest. Taste fresh steelhead steaks grilled over driftwood coals... you're living good!

Chukar partridge are among the most challenging of western game birds. The Lower Salmon is ideal Chukar habitat. Floating enables us to hunt areas that have no other access. We hunt rugged country, but when we locate a covey, action is fast.
 
You will frequently wake up to hear chukars calling near camp at daylight. You can hunt from camp, or pull over to hunt during the day. We have dogs available or you can bring your own. During dry periods, chukars are very close to the river. If we have had rain, we find some birds close to the river, but we have to do more walking. Some hunting is in easy terrain, but serious hunters will find themselves in rugged country. Much of this area is accessible only by boat, so hunting pressure is low.

The Lower Salmon is excellent Chukar habitat, with populations dependent on winter and nesting conditions. Daytime temperatures in clear weather are in the 70's, with possibility of frosty mornings. We have some good rapids on this trip, but the McKenzie boats are very dry. They are the most comfortable of whitewater boats.
 

We can arrange steelhead trips on the Main Salmon in mid-to-late October on which we stay in lodges each night instead of camping. We use the McKenzie boats on these trips. The lodges offer a degree of comfort over camping at this time of year, especially if the weather turns marginal. We do not have much bird hunting opportunity on this section of the river. It is within the River of No Return Wilderness Area, and more isolated than the Lower Salmon. We see bighorn sheep and other wildlife here. We will see some jet boats, but they thin out a few miles from the launch sites. Usual trip length is 5 days.

Fall and Spring: One-day steelhead fishing trips

Our most exciting fishing is for steelhead. These 5-15 lb.fish have a life history similar to salmon, coming into the river from the Pacific in early fall to over winter and spawn in early spring.
 
From September through March, water conditions permitting, we fish for steelhead by the day near Salmon, floating in drift boats through ranch lands with only limited road access.
 
We fish Hot-shots from the boat, and stop to cast from the bank for variety. The river is smaller in this area, so fish location can be predicted with more precision than farther downstream. This benefits the fly fisherman in particular.
 
Since a drift boat carries only two fishermen, a guide can provide more individual attention than on a boat with larger capacity. This is a very scenic area, with frequent views of the Continental Divide. We may see otter, deer, geese, or bald eagles as we float.
 
Fishermen usually stay in a motel in Salmon, and fish one or more days. We furnish lunch, tackle and carry a heater in the boat. Also see our fall season river trips.  

For those with limited time, we offer one-day or half-day scenic trips near Salmon. On these trips we float through ranch lands, with frequent views of the rocky peaks of the Continental Divide. Lewis and Clark, Jim Bridger and Kit Carson traveled along this portion of the Salmon. Whitewater is insignificant on this stretch. We furnish lunch on full-day trips. These trips are scheduled around our wilderness trips.