Fishing in Church: A Fish Report

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Fly Guy Dave
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Fishing in Church: A Fish Report

Post by Fly Guy Dave »

The title of this post is deceptive, it should actually read “Fishing in THE Church,” as in the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho. Since I am of humble means and I am a hard-core DIY kind of guy, I have never hired a guide, a wrangler for a string of mules to carry my gear, or a rafting company to float me down a river so I can fish. If I want to explore a big wilderness area, I do it the old fashioned way: I hike in. I did a similar trip about three years ago into the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana, so I decided to take a look at the second largest wilderness area lower 48 and do some exploring of the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho.

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Welcome to our church!

The hike was pretty straightforward, but rather hot, since a lot of the shading vegetation was, shall we say, “well done.”

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Nice views of the stream almost the whole time

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The fishing was good, not great, but I was able to catch plenty of these:

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Juvenile Steelhead

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West Slope Cutt

And a few of these:

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Rocky Mountain Bonefish

Not to mention some of these:

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Juvenile Chinook Salmon

There were some other tributaries of the many forks of the Salmon River that I fished as well, one of which is pictured here

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There was a very small town way out there in the sticks, which actually did have its own gas station. I wonder if they had full service?

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After a couple of weeks, I moseyed my way back to California via Oregon, so I could stop and visit some family. On my way back home, I stopped and caught a few salmonid species unique to our state.

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Goose Lake Redband

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Warner Lakes Redband

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Sheepheaven Redband

It was a good trip, plenty of fishing, relaxing and communing with nature, but it’s nice to sleep in my own bed and eat much better food for my meals. I’m also starting to think about where I’m going to go next year…we’ll see.
"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." --The Dude (Jeff Lebowski)

Some pics of native salmonids: http://flyguydave.wordpress.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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austex
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Re: Fishing in Church: A Fish Report

Post by austex »

Very nice. I was there in 2016. The road into there goes on forever it seems and there are a few forks in the road that go there and there again. We spent 2 days there and came up with a skunk... Glad your success was just that a success. Heard Moose bugling that was about it. Oh yeah the forest svc had a convention up there with about 20 rather large tents, a helicopter tender and a full mess canteen to feed them all and porta potties! Very pretty and isolated place. Would love to fly in and fish it for a few...Tight lines, thanks for sharing.
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jeremiahkim
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Re: Fishing in Church: A Fish Report

Post by jeremiahkim »

Delightful sampling of some beautiful fish. How long were you in the area for? Dayhikes or backpacking?
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Fly Guy Dave
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Re: Fishing in Church: A Fish Report

Post by Fly Guy Dave »

jeremiahkim wrote:How long were you in the area for? Dayhikes or backpacking?
I was out there for about a week and a half and I did a lot of dayhiking. It was OK, but I can think of more scenic places that have better fishing that I would go back to.
"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." --The Dude (Jeff Lebowski)

Some pics of native salmonids: http://flyguydave.wordpress.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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