Middle Fork Salmon River in Idaho

[Jcolin]

Would be interested in hearing from anyone who has fished/floated it, as a friend pulled a permit for a 6 day overnight float in July. Have done some reading online about the West slope Cutthroat and Rainbows, sounds like there are some Bull trout too. Any recommendations for flies would be appreciated. Hoping there are good spots for swinging and I can bring my 12' 5 weight in addition to single hand rods. Feel free to PM if you would prefer, thanks

[Woodman]

Would be interested in hearing from anyone who has fished/floated it, as a friend pulled a permit for a 6 day overnight float in july. Have done some reading online about the westlope cutthroat and rainbows, sounds like there are some bull trout too. Any recommendations for flies would be appreciated. hoping there are good spots for swinging and i can bring my 12' 5 weight in addition to single hand rods. Feel free to PM if you would prefer, thanks

I floated it with an outfitter in September, two years ago. Cutthroats weren't picky regarding flies. Something that keeps floating is key...hopper, chubby, etc. I found a large dry fly (#8 or 10) with a smaller dry fly dropper (flying ant, purple haze, etc.) to be very effective. Don't know that I even saw any Rainbows. Nymph dropper went largely untouched. There are some big Bull trout. Throwing big streamers is the way to get them. Did get some Cutties in the evenings swinging a streamer, so worth bringing it along, but a 5 weight two hander is going to be a little heavy unless you're throwing specifically big flies (like 6") for bulls.

Depending on how high the water is on the main river, the side creeks are also very good spots to hike upstream to fish. Loon Creek, Camas Creek, Big Creek are some of the better options.

It is a great experience. Enjoy.

[John H]

I did a backpack trip on Big Creek almost 30 years ago in September. I saw an old guy who came in on a horse. He had a plastic motor oil bottle that he drank whiskey from and spit in his hand then put out his cigarettes in the spit. He had horrible back pain. I imagine he is no longer with us.

A bear tore a whole in my tent while I was fishing one day. I think he pawed at the tent and was interested in the food I had inside. I saw some Chinook spawning which seemed crazy in a mountain setting. That is a long way from the ocean. Very impressive journey they take. I did not hike all the way to the Middle Fork but I was close. I caught Cutts on dries which was okay. 15” was maybe the biggest. The west slopes really like the bushy dries.

[Idadon]

You can’t go wrong with a pocket full of yellow Humpies!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

For a two handed outfit I would take a #3 or 4 line Switch rod or light Trout Spey.

A 12' #5 line Spey rod is kind of like a #7 line single hand fly rod for power.

Other than when it is windy it is a 4 weight single hand fishery for having fun.

It is famous for a lot of small to medium size Cutthroat on good size (#10/12) bushy or foam dry flies.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

The Flying B Ranch is a historic hunting and fishing lodge in the back country on the Middle Ford of the Salmon River.

My relatives, the Sopwith family, used to belong to the Fly B Ranch in the 1970s mostly for hunting big Mule deer.


The Flying B Ranch has a quality Cutthroat trip out of the lodge.

https://flyingresortranches.com/fishing/

[JohnR]

I rowed a private trip on the Middle Fork Salmon in 2021 with an August 22 launch date. Because of the fire at the Boundary Creek put-in, and the historically low water, we flew all our gear into Indian Creek for the launch.

The fishing was nothing short of exceptional. Average size was 14 inches... my biggest was a cutty that taped out at 22-inches, caught nymphing a Prince beadhead in a fast and deep tailout.

The fish will hit anything on the surface, as evidenced by them constantly hitting Thingamabobbers for the few folks who fished indicators in the deep pools (subsurface produced all of the larger fish of the week). To test that hypothesis I put a hook on an orange Thingamabobber and immediately caught a 10-inch rainbow. Little fish = dumb... big fish = deep.

Anything big and foamy can be your go-to fly... something that rides high and can take a ton of abuse without getting waterlogged. Color didn't seem to matter at all, bring a selection. Plan to nymph a bit if you want to catch some bigger fish... Because the dry fly fishing is so easy and fun, I don't think they are used to that presentation much. Big, heavy beadhead stoneflies with any kind of dropper worked great... go big, and go deep, as that is where the bigger fish are.

7.5 foot leader is all you really need on the surface... most fish hit the fly within a couple seconds of landing, so be prepared to cast, count to three or four, then pick up and cast again. A big splash gets their attention... this is not a finesse fishery. Seems like if they have time to study the fly, even with the perfect drift, that resulted in more looks and then turn-away at last second. The water is CLEAR.

If you keep casting you can have a 100-fish day. Most experienced fisherfolk took a lot of breaks as the novelty of catching non-stop 14-16 inch fish wore off. My best day was probably 40 fish spread out across that day. If you keep at it, maybe one out of every thirty fish went a bit bigger 18-20 inches on a dry on the surface. If you go subsurface, you will catch a few less fish (they are smarted and require more of a drag free presentation), but they will be consistently bigger. Granted, there is just something cool and primal watching them rise and take a surface fly right just 10 feet from the raft.

We didn't fish any of the tributaries as they were all too low and warm. The main flow of the Middle Fork never got too warm to fish in the afternoon, but it was anomalously cool the week we were on the water (30's-40's at night, high 60's to low 70's at night). I think a few weeks earlier there was concern about the water getting a bit too warm in the afternoons.

In summary, great dry fly fishing for numbers, and surprisingly good nymphing for big fish... I'm so glad I listened to my inner gear nerd and tossed in my nymphing box.

Don't get too hung up on what rods to bring... I have them all... a 9-foot 5 wt. covered all the bases and I never felt I needed anything else. Lighter would be fine, but on windy days you will be glad to have the 5 wt. BRING EXTRA RODS... it's a whitewater trip... you will break stuff. With your launch date, you might even flip a raft and lose gear, so always rig to flip (we had one flip even with the low water due to an inexperienced oarsman).

If you are a rod junky, I suggest you bring a longer 3-4 wt. euro rod with a mono rig for use in camp.

I would not bring a two-handed rod... not needed to cover the water, much easier to break, and you have to cover A LOT of miles each day... on a private trip there simply isn't any time to stop at the fishy runs that would be great for swinging. You have to make many miles easy day and you need to have time to scout the technical rapids and tying all your gear down and wondering ow bad of a swim it will be (it won't be bad).

Finally, remember, space is limited on the rafts... good beer and whiskey weigh the same as bad beer and whisky.

John

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Excellent JohnR.......

[Woodman]

Everybody should do this trip at least once.

[PV_Premier]

You have a lot of good info here. A long nymphing rod with a sculpzilla will be as/more useful than a trout spey.