November Baetis

The images below were taken today on Silver Creek. Pretty warm at the Creek when I was there; about 44 degrees but windy. The baetis came off anyway and there were fish up on them. This particular baetis was about a size #18. For all of you wanting one more day on the Nature Conservancy section, this is the final week of the season. Everything on Silver Creek upstream of the Highway 20 Bridge will be closed starting December 1st. 

I used the Nikon Micro 105 with an extension tube for these images.  Between 12:15 and about 1:30 there were a lot of baetis.

Click on any of the images to view a larger version.

The fish were far more skittish today and did not let me get very close.  I did manage to get a couple of frames just after a take or two.

Fly Fishing Photography

Silver Creek Evening Session.  Hunter Churchill selecting the goods after dark.

 

I recently photographed a family fishing the "evening hatch" on Silver Creek.  The images in this post are from that evening.

 

 

 

 

Making it look easy.  Bent rod, smoky skies & dusk.  Silver Creek, Idaho

Nikon D3s, Nikon 14-24 f2.8 lens

Silver Creek

A Silver Creek Brown

Nikon D3s, Nikon 14-24 f2.8 lens

It's still trico time on Silver Creek and despite some pretty heavy crowds it's possible to get away a little.  The pmd spinner fall has been strong as well and the afternoon callibaetis has been getting better and better and will pick up momentum as we get into September.  LOTS of hoppers as well.

 

Rainbow

Silver Creek

A "Morrish" Hopper & A Silver Creek Brown

 

Another take...

 

Ok, for the past 2 weeks I have essentially been away from my computer.  Pros and cons with that.  I have been on the river 7 days a week though.  It is smokey and hot here.  Water levels have all dropped and it's hopper and trico time.  The bugs have been starting on Silver Crek around 7:45 AM and today there was a good pmd spinner fall in the Nature Conservancy section of Silver Creek that lasted until about 11:15 AM...  Almost no baetis where I was.  Just tricos, pmd's, damsel flies and hoppers.

 

Nikon D3s, Nikon 14-24 f2.8 lens

Silver Creek In November

 

 

Silver Creek, Idaho.  Early November

The above images were taken this morning about twenty minutes or so after the sun came up.  While setting up to take the top image from just off the road, a small agricultural truck at high speed swerved at me to within a few feet and effectively "buzzed my tower."  The two in the mini white truck caught some air as they uncontrolably left the road and somehow managed to get back on the road and vaporize in a cloud of dust and out to a field adjacent to Silver Creek...

Nikon D3S & Nikon 35 f2 lens

I am often sent articles, images videos, etc..., which for many reasons illicit all kinds of different emotions. Some, like the Wall Street Journal article I have a link to HERE, serve as controversial, thought provoking pieces.  In the WSJ article, the question, on a small section of California's Silver King Creek, is whether or not to rotenone and effectively "kill off" an entire section of the creek which would include a voluminous quantity of macro invertebrates in order to start from scratch and reintroduce the indigenous Paiute Trout.  The question I believe needs to be asked, rather than how to improve the fishery, is how to improve the watershed?

On a similar note, should you come across images, video or an article that you think is worthy of sharing, send it on to me. 

Here's a LINK to an incredible video on Tarpon fishing. 

 

Lower Big Wood River, Idaho

Lower Big Wood River Canyon & Lone Fisherman

Nikon D3S & Nikon 35 f2 lens

 

Leaves are still barely hanging on to the aspens & cottonwoods and on windy afternoons along the Big Wood River dead but brilliant leaves are carried away on a flow that's roughly 35% higher than average.  Nobody is on our local water and this is really a wonderful time of year to get a little solitude...

 

Simplicity

Nikon D3S & Nikon Micro 105 lens

Lower Big Wood River, Idaho

Lower Big Wood River.  Idaho

Nikon D3S & Nikon 35 f2 lens

Thanks go out to the Wood River Land Trust for coming up with, hopefully, a permanent and successful solution to the minimal flows on the Big Wood River below Magic reservoir.  In the past, by late October the water flow below Magic Reservoir was not enough to sustain the trout population and with the current plan on trying to maintain 15 cfs of released water (there is also a minimal amount of seepage flow as well) the approx. 3 mile section below Magic could really become an incredible fishery.  This also serves as a great example of a "win win" when it comes to Idaho's anachronistic water laws.