American Angler

Here's an image of mine appearing as the Table of Contents spread in the current issue of American Angler.

This was a fun shot to take on Silver Creek. It's actually one of a series of shots that shows this rainbow either about to take or just after taking this balled up spider web loaded with tricos. All of the other fish in this pod either ignored or refused this web ball, except for Spidy--so named do to its proclivity for trico laced spider web.

american angler rising rainbow silver creek.jpeg

Big Wood River Winter Fishing

We just finished up with a storm that dropped nearly 20" of new snow. The snow is great for many things including just playing in it... I was able to get out on the Big Wood River for a few hours yesterday while it was coming down pretty hard.

Guide Zac Mayhew getting in a little winter-time casting on the Big Wood River, Idaho.

Foam Is Home

Here's an image taken of a rainbow pushing through a foam eddy on the Big Wood River a few days ago. Days with high temps above 32 degrees can be gems on the Big Wood in the winter. It's even possible to find rising fish... 

Winter Riser. Big Wood River, Idaho

Winter Riser. Big Wood River, Idaho

Silver Creek Brown Drakes IV

Here are a few more images from the last few evenings on Silver Creek...

Nick Anderson finds a target during a decent post 9 pm emergence.

John Huber and an after dark Brown.

Silver Creek Brown Drakes III

The Drake thing this year in addition to coming off early is creeping upstream at a snails pace. There was a small emergence and spinner fall late this morning as we had a little cloud cover. Hopefully tonight is a good as last night...

Brown Drake & Negative Space. Silver Creek, Idaho.

Brown Drake. Silver Creek, Idaho. There were not many bugs in the grass this morning but I did find a few including this one.

Silver Creek Brown Drakes

The Brown Drakes on Silver Creek started two nights ago. This is one of my favorite times of the year to be on Silver Creek. Expect to have about 5 more good nights with tonight and tomorrow night likely to have the most prolific bugs...

Bent Rod, Brown Drakes and Silver Creek.

Silver Creek, Idaho

Below is an image that I took near the end of February on Silver Creek this year. Note the lack of snow. While Picabo got some much needed rain today, Silver Creek is near an all time low for this time of year. The current flow has gone up to 85 cfs with the average for this time of year around 124 cfs. Diversions from the Big Wood River following Gannett Road are now full and the loss from those diversions will eventually make a positive difference with the flow on Silver Creek.

John Huber. Late February. Silver Creek, Idaho.

The Restoration of Silver Creek On The Double R Ranch

For those of you who have not seen this video yet, here is a great piece on the Purdy's portion of the Silver Creek restoration project. This is from the Picabo Angler You Tube Channel. Nick Purdy, in addition to operating the Picabo Livestock Company, K-K and Double R Ranch, also owns Picabo Angler in Picabo, Idaho. I am a guide for Picabo Angler.

Kilpatrick Pond Panorama

Below is a panorama--26 images in this case--of the entire Kilpatrick Pond. I took the images a couple of days ago and included both the Nature Conservancy and Purdy sections of Silver Creek. For those of you who do not know, the Kilpatrick Pond on Silver Creek has undergone a major restoration project which essentially culminated a few weeks ago with the "re-filling" of the pond. The pond was lowered to a stream level and diverted to the north while the old dam was taken out and the new dam installed. The impetus of the project was to mitigate warming water temps in the summer months by narrowing the channel and installing a dam with a bottom release in lieu of a top release. Over the summer months the water temps would gain over ten degrees from the upstream to the downstream end of the pond. A dredge was also used downstream of the Kilpatrick Bridge to pump out tons of silt and in doing so deepening the channel as well. Opening Day of fishing this year is on Saturday May, 24th.

Silver Creek Panorama.