The FlyFish Journal Feature Story

I have a feature story in the new issue of The FlyFish Journal. I wrote the piece along with doing the photography. The story is on South Island, Kiwi guide, Scott Murray, who I had the pleasure of spending a bunch of time with last March in Murchison, New Zealand at his beautiful lodge, River Haven, that he co-owns and operates with his wife Leya.

First, the South Island blew me away and the icing on the cake was getting to spend many consecutive days on the water with Scott. He's a passionate, skilled and great guide to spend a day with (or more).

My last day with Scott was actually a day off for him and my deal with him was that he fishes, not me, and we could go to any river of his choosing. In other words, I was fortunate enough to hang with him on his day off on the water. He's got a witty sense of humor and from the time spent driving in the left lane to the time on the water and even time spent at the breakfast table with his monster load of toast, he's a guide who I truly admire and respect. He's a hard working and genuine person. 

I'll be hosting a trip back to River Haven Lodge in January of 2017 (that's two January's from now). Contact: nickpricephotography@gmail.com for info.

Mountain Standard

Below are a few images appearing on the opening web site pages for Mountain Standard, a new clothing company out of Boulder, CO.

Silver Creek Mouse Fishing

It's been a big mouse year on Silver Creek and it takes a little more than small talk to head out to Silver Creek and fish from sunset until it's so late you give in and fold. Below are a few images from a recent trip down to the creek for a late-into-the-night mouse session.

Sunset. Silver creek.

Sunset. Silver creek.

Moon Rise. Silver Creek

West Yellowstone, Montana

I was recently sent over to West Yellowstone on assignment for a couple of days. West has 7 fly shops and is centrally located near many great Western streams including the Madison River. It's a funky tourist town that has a core population of guides and outdoor professionals. Two Chinese restaurants were just cited for selling illegal wild game. Smoke from four western states filled the air like a fog bank off the coast of California with a surreal yellow light that cast its glow on the neon motel signs that have prevailed from the 60's. Before the roads were paved in the late 1970's, there was a crazy 4th of July party that spilled to the streets, and biker gangs and young guides and college kids, took to the streets and Craig Matthews, the original owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, was the sheriff in town. He told me of the time he arrested such a big dude during the 4th of July craziness he had to have another deputy stand on the big guy's wrists to get him cuffed as the cuffs were way too small for the dude's wrists. Matthews couldn't bring someone in without being cuffed... Below are just a few shots of West. 

Craig Matthews at the fly tying bench. Blue Ribbon Flies. West Yellowstone, MT.

Dude Motel

Free Heel & Wheel. Justin Spence and his daughter get in a little time on a rare guide's day off for Justin. Justin is a fly fishing guide in West and owns West Yellowstone Fly Shop. The Free Heel & Wheel sells arguably the best espresso in town and has created a relaxed community vibe where people are welcome to sit and hang out.


Silver Creek Mouse Fishing

Mouse fishing goes like a fly shop full of hyperbole and big fish easy to catch. If you're willing to just show up and stay out on the water 'till well past 2 am and deal with the darkness and quiet and tangled lines and silt and muskrat holes and a morning wondering why you stayed up until sunrise without even a sense there was a carnivorous trout within range of your awkward cast, then all of a sudden you're beyond the talk and there you are alone on a river, in the middle of the night hucking a soaking-wet and heavy fly across a great run, or so you think, and you strip it back in, using, if you're lucky, the tip of your rod, to skate the fly across a deep run where you think or hope a large brown lives; you may find some huge and carnivorous monster on the end of your line. Fish eat fish. Eat mice like mice ("Eat pig like pig," is some strange line I still remember from Joyce's Ulysses and it's utter nonsense.). Sometimes mice cross a stream or river, and with the intention to get to the other side or not, get eaten under darkness much like crepuscular ovipositing caddis get taken in your imagination while you're eating dinner with a fork and a knife.

Before true darkness sets in...

A brown trout, under headlamp supervision, is released well after midnight on Silver Creek.

Backpacking The Middle Fork of The Salmon River

I just returned from a seven day backpacking trip along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in the heart of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness with my family. The four of us walked from Boundary Creek to Indian Creek. Many of those miles were spent slowly maneuvering over fallen trees from past wildfires along the trail. While our hike was a bit more rugged and slow going than we anticipated, we had the time to carry on at a slower pace and not hurry to our eventual pick-up at Indian Creek by a back country pilot.

My two sons, Will (12) and Charlie (10), each carried considerably heavy backpacks for a week. Along the way we witnessed a massive caddis migration on the upper stretches of the Middle Fork followed by a great salmonfly emergence. One night, we watched thousands of adult salmonflies fly high above the river en masse. I was able to watch hundreds of salmonfly nymphs crawl out of the river onto rocks and shrubs and morph into adults. Unfortunately, after one great day of fishing, and after a few strong thunderstorms, the river went up and turned to mud.

A muddy river also made it far more difficult to filter drinking / cooking water. Fortunately there are many small feeder streams to the Middle Fork and we were able to use them to filter our water.

We had a great final rest day at Indian Creek and then flew out from there to Stanley.

A contemplative moment. Indian Creek. Middle Fork of The Salmon River, Idaho.

Idaho Back Country Pilot. Cessna 206. Indian Creek to Stanley.

Frank Church. Burn area from the 2000 Pistol Creek Fire.

Salmonfly

Collecting rainwater from the tarp.

Sunset

Fire Island camp.

Fire Island. On this tiny island there is a small hot spring that pumps out a small stream of steaming hot water.

Salmonfly. Pteronarcys californica

An emerging salmonfly. On this particular night, I watched hundreds of salmonfly nymphs crawl out of the river and onto rocks and shrubs to morph into adults. The image above was taken after 11 PM.

Caddis Migration.

With the Middle Fork of The Salmon blown out and muddy from strong thunderstorms, we hiked to small creeks with clear water to filter our drinking water. Charlie, pictured, walks back upstream to Dolly Lake with the goods.

Silver Creek Brown Drakes III

Brown Drakes on Silver Creek have been full on for about the last 5 nights. We hopefully have another two or three nights left. It blew very hard on the Creek yesterday and last night was met with a big lightning show around 10 pm...

Silver Creek

Silver Creek Brown Drakes II

There was a great Brown Drake Spinner Fall on Silver Creek last night and hopefully we have another really good night tonight.

Brown Drake Spinners. Silver Creek, Idaho.

Father & daughter and son in the background.

Brown Drake Spinners litter the water.

Two nights ago the Drakes didn't happen but fun was still had.