I've been reading about and talking about the Snake River for most of my life. My Dad took me on a trip to western Wyoming back in my pre-teen phase. We arrived at a campground after dark. The next morning I woke to the sight of a wide, fast, amazing river. It was the Snake. The section of river downstream from Jackson. The beautiful river struck fear into my heart. It was the biggest river I'd ever seen. I was even more amazed and filled with terror as I watched a few waves of rafters glide past.

The South Fork is a 40 mile stretch of tail water starting at the Palisades dam. Last year my Fishing buddy, Mikey Taylor, called to tell me that he had a friend who offered to take him on a three day fishing trip to the South Fork. There was room for one more and would I like to go along. Then his friend John, a member of the Idaho National Guard, was deployed to Iraq as part of the current conflict.

Well, John is back in Idaho and ready to resume life where he left it. So a couple of Sundays ago we all met in Pocatello to start a trout fishing expedition. John has a big raft and likes to float rivers. He knows that Mikey enjoys fishing. It seemed like a match made in heaven. Late Sunday evening we arrived along the banks of the South Fork and I got a first look at this river.

Wow! This is a big, wide, intimidating expanse of river. Mikey and I drove out to an access point with the hopes of getting a fly on the water and perhaps getting an early jump on catching trout. The first thought to cross my mind was to not fall in. Being swept away and never seen again has to be a distinct possibility. I estimated that my furthest cast would cover about a tenth of the distance to the far bank. And it would be impossible to make that cast with all of the overgrowth.

In the first few minutes we watch a couple of fish jump just a few feet off our bank. That got my mind off of the terror of the river and onto catching fish. We rigged up and attempted to get a few drifts up the bank. Nothing was biting and we gave up after 30 minutes of trying. That night I had dreams of big fish and even bigger water.

We launched early on Monday morning. The plan was to float 12 to 15 miles of river each day. Drifting along on the river was relaxing and much less intimidating that standing on the bank. It was possible to get a great drift and we asked John to keep us about 30 feet off the bank. We also assumed that the best fishing would be along the deep cut banks.

That first day was slow. Neither Mikey or I got a bite all day long. I was in the back of the boat and didn't even see a fish. Not one. We lost track of time and our position on the river. It moves fast, even without any white water. We missed the first day takeout. By the time we found another place to stop we were at our intended Tuesday stopping point.

We were discouraged on Tuesday morning. The fishing started off a bit half-hearted. Mikey tied on a grasshopper, light brown, about size 8. We continued to concentrate on the deep cut banks. Nothing happened for the first half hour. John kept trying to console us. He'd say things like, "I've brought a lot of good fishermen here and they've only ever caught a couple of small ones." I guess that was supposed to make us feel better.

There are a lot of grassy banks along the South Fork. Most often, the river is shallow in those areas. Mikey decided to fish one of these shallow, grassy banks early on Tuesday. And, BOOM! A hit. And another. He wasn't ready for the strikes and didn't react fast enough on the first few. But he was getting regular action and it wasn't long before he hooked up. The first fish was a 18 inch Cutbow. Nice fish. John asked if we could keep it and of course we did. From that moment on Mikey had a fun day of fishing.

I asked what he was using and then insisted on him giving one to me. We both had good action for the rest of the morning. Mikey turned John into a believer. And we sent him home with three nice cutbows. We reached the takeout by 1:00 PM on our second day of fishing. John was tired of rowing and all of us decided it was best to get back home.

I'm glad I got the opportunity to fish the South Fork. We've started to understand that river and it will only take another few dozen runs to really get it. Fortunately, I was fishing with Mikey. He figured out what to use on Monday night. We went for a walk along the river and he noticed some small, brown hoppers in the weeds. That's what gave him the idea to use small hopper flies on Tuesday. Mikey is the best fisherman I've ever known. He is a purist. He purely loves to catch fish. And he teaches me something every time we go fishing together.............
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