I got out on my own today and explored a section of the Blackfoot River that I've not wade fished before. My exploration found some good water as well as some that I'll skip over next time. Starting at Belmont Creek, I fished a good half-mile of river with limited success: a start and end that involved good fish and a long middle of the day with only two dinks. Still, there's never a bad day of fishing.
Most of the day I worked various dry flies. Right off the bat I had two nice takes on a Thunder Thighs Hopper floated through a patch of foam so thick that I could barely see the fly, but I couldn't hook them. As I moved on without any other action I tried a couple different stone fly patterns--sometimes with a mayfly nymph dropper. These produced two small fish and a couple looks but no real takes. In some of the quieter water I tried an adult mayfly pattern with similar results: looks without takes. And so it went.
As I headed back to the car I stopped at the first place I'd fished. Switching to a stonefly nymph I dredged the bottom and hooked the fish shown above: a cutthroat of about 16". I suppose it's likely that this is one of the fish that took my hopper earlier. Regardless, it was a nice way to end the day.
Great writeup Mark----Thanks.
I surveyed a few of the beaches to day----Bush Pt., Lagoon Pt. and Driftwood Park.
Visited with a few of the gear guys and felt their disappointment. Fish are few and even though at certain times there seems to be a number of fish in the area, they cannot get them to bite. Heard this from fishermen from all three beaches.
I fished Possession twice last week without success. I didn't feel so bad since the gear fishermen had no better luck than I did.
I did see a few jump, but couldn't get them to bite. However, the Commando line is working well.