I stopped at the Snake River before leaving Idaho Falls and watched the ducks play above the falls. I wanted to take out my rod and find a fishing hole, but it was raining – not that rain has ever stopped me before. I also passed by the Big Hole River, which I haven’t fished before, but it’s on my bucket list.

Pulling into the Angler’s Roost Campground,  I landed the same beautiful campsite on the Bitterroot. Within 15 minutes of setting up camp, a storm blew in and ruined my opportunity for casting a line this evening. No worries, I’ll be on the Clark Fork all day tomorrow.

I loved the views today on the drive over including the virgas on the distant Bitterroot Mountains. I’m always surprised at how quickly Autumn befalls us. It seems like it’s 90 degrees one day and then sweater weather the next. Ain’t it all grand?

“Everyone should believe in something; I believe I’ll go fishing.”

Henry David Thoreau

+ Fishing

Δ With garbage bags

My book is off to the printer! I have not yet received the galley, so I haven’t been too vocal about this passage, but I’m really close. It’s been an adventure completing the writing with my son’s family unexpectedly living with us for the last 9 months, working with my book designer and figuring out all the other logistics in working with a printer in Hong Kong. Lots of stories there – soon to be told. In the meantime, I needed to get my nose out of the computer, and I decided to take a mini-journey retracing some of my steps from last year.

Starting in Durango on the Animas, I encountered some much-needed rain and difficult fishing conditions. I’m not feeling quite as hard core as I did last year, and so I gave in after just a few hours and instead enjoyed the comfort of the home of my friends, Linda and Carl Curtiss since our townhouse is rented until mid-October.

I dragged the Scamp out of storage and found her in pretty good condition – no need to do anything much except clean her, make the bed and stock her up. First stop was Park City, Utah. Excited about visiting the Duchesne (a new river for me) or revisiting the Strawberry, I was stopped dead in my tracks – neither were fishing well except for possibly with streamers. We had a much better chance of a caddis hatch and fishing with dries on the Provo.

I hooked back up with Jeremy Allan, guide and photographer (see Southwest Fly Fishing, Fall 2014 center spread.) We met at 7:00 a.m. on the river to try and beat the Saturday fishing crowd, which is plentiful, even in the rain. And rain it did. In fact, Salt Lake City received 2.1 inches of rain, beating a previous record. There were a few breaks in the rain where fall colors still highlighted the mountainsides.

We fished for five hours and caught a half-dozen or so browns – mostly the cookie-cutter size of 8 – 10-inches. Jeremy was flabbergasted as the day before he caught dozens of fish in the same spot. Unfortunately, due to the crowds, if you leave your spot, you’re not likely to find another good one. And that’s exactly what happened to us. Around midday, we left our spot and discovered there wasn’t another one available nearby. I was already soaked to the bone and so we returned to the truck and headed home. It still felt great to be out on the river, and it was a good day for casting practice.

Ordering information on the book to be posted on the blog shortly!