The Big Wood

My wife's family rented a house up in Sun Valley (Ketchum) Idaho for a week in mid July. The Big Wood River runs right through town and picks up water from many tributaries that are scattered across the valley. The first day of fishing was happening on a Monday and the glimpses of the river I had caught the previous two days got me pumped. The Big Wood is a true freestone stream with wild rainbows and the water was running gin clear.

Jim, David and I headed down to an access point a few miles south of Ketchum. We got down to the river and I was surprised how much water was still flowing. I guess Idaho had a cool spring and we were seeing the tail end of the run off. Regardless, the river was definitely fishable and we went for it. David struck first with a nice fat whitefish by nymphing a little pocket along the bank. We worked the water but the first section we were on did not have a lot of structure or bends to break up the flow so we decided to look for some more promising holes so we hopped in the car and headed further down river. The second spot had some good holes and I also got a nice fat whitefish. For a few minutes David had a nice little tail-out dailed in and had three or four takes in a row but they all popped off within a second or two. After this things shut down and the action came to a halt. We didn't see any sign of bugs coming off the water which surprised me. I headed up to a big back eddy and was able to pull one small fish out. I could see quite a few fish but could not figure out what they wanted. David had a few follows in the back eddy throwing a bugger but that was it. Jim worked his way upstream of us and after a bit we headed up too. There was no action after that and we found Jim upstream aways and he ended up getting skunked for the day. We all went back to the car talking about the tough fishing. It was a beautiful stream and a great day out but the catching left us wanting a bit more. The next evening we wanted to try a small tributary of the Big Wood called Warm Springs where the fish might be a little more willing. As soon as we left the car the mosquitoes were on us and we forgot the bug spray. We walked down stream and found some nice looking holes with no takers. Jim was working his dry at a nice little hole below us and got a nice (for the stream size) rainbow. I had a small nymph rig and switched over right away to a dry. From that point on it was lights out action. The beautiful little rainbows were sipping, slurping, and smacking our dries with reckless abandon. Every place that looked like it held fish did with a few special areas that held dozens of fish. It was the kind of night that you don't forget. We all caught somewhere around 20 fish. We did not document the trip but it is seared in our minds and we created a great memory. The next day David and I decided to hit the Big Wood again. After lunch we headed out and the river had a different feel to it. It seemed alive and bugs were coming off. We started off at a deep hole and ran a nymph rig through it several times with no luck. I tried a Green Drake and started getting hit after hit. I missed a nice fish more than once but landed a smaller rainbow out of the first hole. We then worked our way upstream and had success on Green Drake and PMD dries. These fish were some of the prettiest rainbows I have seen with some having a wide dark red band across their sides.

We missed a lot of fish at each hole or run we fished so the action was pretty hot. At a little side channel I got a nice rainbow to come up and swipe at my Green Drake dry on at least 4 drifts but I never could hook up. I eventually put the fish down but it was fun while it lasted. We then worked our way back downstream and came to some nice pockets and back eddies at a particular turn in the river. David saw a group of three rainbows suspended just above a tree in the water and drifted his fly over them. They looked but none took the fly. Then he skittered his fly upstream and as it was skittering over the fish the second largest trout of the group breached the surface and grabbed it right out of the air! It was a beautiful rainbow. I then switched to a nymph rig and ran a stonefly/green drake nymph (that I had previously snagged and brought up from the river bottom on the first day fishing) in one of the back eddies and my indicator shot under after a few drifts. I had my drag a little too loose and got caught a little off guard and the fish started stripping out line and ran me toward a nightmare of a snag. I thought the fish was gone but I put some pressure on him and by some miracle I got him into the back eddy and he came right back towards me exhausted from the runs he made.

This trip definitely gave us redemption from such a tough day of fishing a few days prior. The river seemed much more alive and willing to give up a few of its gems this day. We saw Green Drakes, stoneflies, and PMDs hatching during the afternoon but a big Green Drake dry was definitely the hot fly of the day.