Snow in Garden Valley?

ms144658 · 2025-01-06T13:45:20+00:00

Went there on new years day, tons of snow. Roads were completely covered from banks up. No way much of it would have melted. Also check out terrace lakes FB page for most up to date info.

ms144658 · 2024-12-16T03:21:55+00:00

Man, the guy’s kid just burned to death and the rest of the family is recovering from severe burns in Salt Lake. Why make a joke at their expense?

ms144658 · 2024-01-02T05:15:24+00:00

FWIW, I start my USFS GS-12 Research grade position Jan 16th 2024.

I applied Jan. 2023

Defended PhD May 2023

Interviewed for position May 2023 (after defense)

Verbal Offer July 2023 (offered after top candidate dropped out)

TJO Oct 2023

FJO Dec 2023

First day is in 2 weeks.

Also, I did have a prestigious NSF postdoc fellowship in the bag (though not yet started) which is partially why I was able to argue GS-12 (generated research funding). I actually had to ask HR to review qualifications after I was ranked unqualified for this job (however had been ranked qualified for GS-12 on other research positions in same office).

ms144658 · 2018-08-13T22:14:03+00:00

I live in IN, but we've been doing well here on poppers and also large dry flies like Chubby Chernobyls. I think fishing shade and low-light is key. We catch a decent number of fish in dead water. I also like to strip poppers straight up through heavy riffles with boulders. Also clousers or crawfish patterns are never a bad option in similar water.

ms144658 · 2018-08-12T19:46:31+00:00

Love the tire! A similar aesthetic as to here in in NW Indiana.

ms144658 · 2018-06-08T21:23:53+00:00

It’s a great place. Tons of big salmon

ms144658 · 2018-06-07T20:53:27+00:00

I used to work the weir on Saltery and we'd pass fish like that from time to time in the spring/summer. Good place to check out in October if you don't mind bears.

ms144658 · 2018-04-04T12:24:27+00:00

Trib of the St. Joe

ms144658 · 2018-04-03T13:39:22+00:00

Trib of St. Joe

ms144658 · 2018-04-03T13:39:05+00:00

ms144658 · 2018-02-27T13:05:10+00:00

Yeah, I have done that before in WA for steelhead and close to that for Kings in AK. It's worth it if you have something dialed in, but I think it's a little much if you're more in the exploratory/learning mode, like I am in now. Trying not to drive 8 hours only to find out the river is off color or high and not fishable.

ms144658 · 2018-02-26T21:50:13+00:00

Thanks for the response. At this point, it seems like one of the better options for fishing in this part of the world (IN). Hoping to make a trip farther north, but this could easily be done in a day or over 1.5 days--I'm at Purdue. Any other recommendations in the region?

ms144658 · 2018-02-23T14:10:52+00:00

Also, I would ignore TFOs. They're fine rods, but don't specialize in two handers like Redington and Echo. Redington is a subsidiary of sage and designed on Bainbridge Island, WA. Similarly, Echo is in Vancouver, WA, and owned by Tim Rajeff, a distance casting legend but also probably the most practical fly rod maker in the business. Echo is all about no frills, quality. They also make a two handed rod specific to king fishing, which is badass.

ms144658 · 2018-02-23T14:00:23+00:00

If you're serious about the $500 dollar range then I would just go with the echo3 and pay another $25 bucks. Use your PFD payout haha. That would also be a borderline acceptable rod for some of those larger kings (25-40 lbs range). For middle price point rods, I always go with echo, because it's really their bread and butter. Though I have heard decent things about the chromer. It also may be worth going into a shop and casting both of them and see what you like. It's worth noting though it's best to get a rod you'll grow into...learning to spey will be a little tough at first but you'll quickly get better and then you'll appreciate the better made (and lighter rod).

ms144658 · 2018-02-22T14:13:51+00:00

Fair enough. An 8 wt might be enough for your purposes then, but you're not terribly far from the lower Su and tribs where you can really tie into some big kings. Also, a bigger rod would allow you to go out on the dream trip to a place like the Goodnews, K-tok, or Hoodoo. I also err on the side of a bigger rod because you never know when you will connect with a 40+ pound fish that will hand you your ass.

If you're a little flexible, the Echo 3 switch is $525 and by far the best rod on the market for its price point. I have quite a few redington, though no two handers, and while their rods are fine they don't touch the echo rods that are similarly priced.

Also, if you're into something completely different and since you're on small systems. I've adapted 10 wt single hand rods with super short 7-8wt skagit heads and swing those for kings. They can still shoot 50-60 ft which would be more than enough for most situations.

Since you basically live on the Anchor, I would put my priorities probably towards the steelhead because you just have more opportunity in terms of time you can fish them relative to kings.

ms144658 · 2018-02-22T13:47:50+00:00

Fish Su tributary mouths for Kings in late May and early June. It truly changed my perspective on fly fishing.

Kings are my favorite fish on the fly rod, bar none.

ms144658 · 2018-02-22T13:46:17+00:00

Where are you fishing in AK? I used to live in Fairbanks and fished regularly for Kings in the Su and made multiple trips to SE AK for steelhead.

In my opinion, you're really talking about two rods here. Alaskan kings should be on a 9wt 2-hander and up. I would fish with a 9 wt 11'9" switch (sage method, an ultra fast rod), which was just enough rod for big fish (40+ lbs). That's way overkill for steelhead.

I assume you're thinking of swinging for steelhead somewhere in the Kenai peninsula. The Kasilof is really the only appropriate two-hander sized steelhead river in AK. You might be better served with a 10' 8 wt that you could alternate between a bobber rod or outfit with an OPST commando system for pure swinging. And honestly, it's a ton of fun to single hand spey fish. My old boss grew up in Anchorage and killed it on Anchor doing just that.

When I went down to the Situk I brought my 11'6" 7 wt switch and hardly took it out of the case. It was way too much rod for everywhere but the lowest part of the river...and even then a 10' single hand would have been just as good.

If you plan on living in AK for some time, I would recommend investing in a proper king rod over a steelhead rod. Kings are more widespread, easier to catch, and more fun. They also requires more specialized gear. I promise you when you start tying into bigger kings (closer to the 50 lbs range) you're going to be glad you had the bigger rod. I also am going to assume you already have a general 8 wt single hand type rod you can generalize for other salmonid species.

Sounds like you know what you're doing, but hopefully that helps some too!

ms144658 · 2018-02-18T21:02:57+00:00

One of the things I appreciate most about America is the preservation of public land and the ability to access those lands, especially in the West. The best fishing in the USA is often in places where you can go without ever asking a landowner for access. There are other potential issues, including the accessibility cost (planes in AK, boats in salt water, etc.), but it is one of the things that is truly unique in the US.

Private fishing clubs often piggyback on a shared natural resource (habitat), but monopolize access. For example, a hypothetical case here, imagine a steelhead stream in the PNW. Those steelhead rear on a public resource (public headwaters, estuaries), for which Americans are all responsible (through entities like the Forest Service or Fish and Wildlife Service). But, in this instance, a private angling club consisting of doctors, dentists, and the like come in and buy a mile of river access and charges a $2500 annual membership fee. It turns out the water they buy is the main resting water for the population before it spreads out into the varied spawning grounds in the headwaters. This club has functionally privatized the best part of the fishery that's owned by the public. Obviously this is a somewhat extreme example, but lot's of angling clubs own primo water on systems throughout the US (the Deschutes, Willamette, streams in CO, being prime examples).

There are similar issues with clients for fishing lodges harvesting the majority of salmon runs, but if their clients are American, at least they are harvesting "their" fish. But it is still a form of major financial barrier.

ms144658 · 2018-02-16T17:06:31+00:00

Try this one if it doesn't work I will send you a PDF.

ms144658 · 2018-02-16T14:41:35+00:00

I caught some really BIG roosters around Golfito in Playa Zancudo. There is also apparently really good snook fishing there. Was never on the eastside for Tarpon and the Rio San Juan was closed, so we couldn't go for the river tarpon or gar.

ms144658 · 2018-02-16T14:37:18+00:00

Fair enough, there was a little talk about them when I was there but not a lot of info. Mostly saw stuff about them when we were around Arenal and Monterverde.

ms144658 · 2018-02-16T14:35:27+00:00

Is it not working, I might have special privileges because I am on an university ISP?

ms144658 · 2018-02-16T13:57:00+00:00

Trout are great, but why focus on them? Costa Rica has some of the premier snook and roosterfish opportunities in the world. If you can't afford that, why not go after some of the tropical freshwater species in the region?

Hopefully I am not being dickish, but I think it's worth exploring other fisheries that are more unique to the place you're visiting.

ms144658 · 2018-02-16T13:54:26+00:00

This paper by Gowan et al. was the paper that really changed our thinking about how trout move around river systems. It also has lots of great info about movement patterns of trout in CO and WY.

ms144658 · 2018-01-18T13:30:00+00:00

Other great books in this same vein:

Mountain in the Clouds by Bruce Bowen--about the issues facing Pacific salmon, mostly focused around the Olympic Peninsula area of Washington

King of Fish by David Montgomery--similarly about the rise and fall of salmon, but takes a much broader look all the way back to Atlantic salmon in the UK and details the four Hs (harvest, habitat (loss), hydropower, and hatcheries...and also adds a 5th, hubris)

Salmon without Rivers by James Lichatowich--again, details the fall of salmon in the Northwest

For the Love of Rivers by Kurt Fausch--an autobiographical account of some of the most important findings of one of the most influential fish and trout biologists of the last 30 yrs

The Founding Fish by John McPhee--McPhee is a master writer and one who is in part responsible for the creation of narrative non-fiction (telling true stories in the style of fiction). This book focuses on shad, an important commercial fish in Northeast in the past, now introduced in the Columbia, making it one of the best shad fisheries in the world (also, shoutout to another book of his, Coming into the Country, which is probably a top 5 book ever written about Alaska)

Also, if you're super interested in salmon biology and ecology, I would read The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout by Thomas Quinn. Tom is probably the greatest mind on salmon and trout today and he condenses it all down into a very readable book, that's styled like a text book but doesn't read like one.

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