Idaho again... But less results this time

[JestersHK]

Had an unexpected trip come up for work last week.  I was supposed to spend 4 days down on taneycomo but ended up running a crew out to Idaho to our mine and refinery to get them fixed up... 

I drove home straight from SDC, then onto a plane to salt lake City, then a 3 hour drive up into Idaho to the middle of nowhere and where the plant and mine sit in Soda Springs Idaho.

Brandon my fishing buddy and coworker came along for the ride and we hoped to maybe get some fishing time in and get him his first Idaho trout.

Instead we were greeted with working 7am till 10pm as things were really fubar, and we had some schedules we had to follow with the 24/7 shift crews.  

So we did manage 2 days where we got out for a few hours on the black foot River.  The first morning was 16 degrees when we made it to the first hole at daybreak.  It was cold until the sun came up. The ice coming down River made fishing pretty tough.  I did catch a small chunk of ice, but the fly line would freeze up every 3 casts or so.  No fish after a few hours and we had to head to the plant...

The next time we got to fish we went a bit further up River. Was great until we hit the canyon and it was driving on ice and snow pack in the rental lol.  We didn't go any further up the pass... We worked our way back down pressed for time and eventually called it quits.  I maybe had one bite on a wooly bugger the whole trip... No fish this time but man it is beautiful out there.

On our way back to car we got stopped by a conservation agent.  He was much nicer once he found out we were from Missouri and not California as our rental plates led him to believe lol.  Last week they had -16 degree for the low and he said that pretty much shut down all fishing for us.  I didn't bring waders and prolly should have.  A jig rod setup for a few areas would of been nice too, but it was a short notice trip and I knew we'd be buried in work.  All in all just took in the scenery though and got a little bit of outdoor time for us too.

Maybe next time I'll plan better and get to go earlier in the year.  Hard to turn down trips out west though.  Really is one of the last frontiers out there.

[Johnsfolly]

Looks like a great spot to be in the late spring/early summer. Glad that you had some outdoor scenery and activity even if it was a bit cold .

[Quillback]

I agree, the west is a neat place.  Even on days the fishing is tough, you're usually in some great scenery.  

[Ham]

Proud of you for trying. The fishing was Great ; the catching was terrible. 

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

I didnt know potatoes had to be mined.  Lol.  

[JestersHK]

1 hour ago, Daryk Campbell Sr said:

I didnt know potatoes had to be mined.  Lol.  

HAHA I wish it was potatoes!  My eyes, nose, and lungs are just getting back to normal from being out in the plant... Not sure how those guys do it day in and day out.  Nasty environment for sure.  I did get to do a ride along one night and pour out some lava on slag mountain.  Was the highlight of my trip...