My nameless fishing buddy and I trekked to GR for Saturday-Monday as we heard that the summer steelies were finally in.
Wedrove across the state, and hit the river at the Schumaker's road area, just above the takeout, for few casts before dark. I saw one fish roll 10' from me at dark. We packed it up and head back to Clarkston for out hotel. We had back to Schumaker's and fished a few slots off the north road. I missed a nice fish on about my 10th cast fishing the downstream side of a midchannel bar pourover, it rolled and I missed the hookset, pulling my fly back. I struck everything for the next hour, yet caught nothing more. The fly was a #4 Flashdancer. My partner long line released a nice fish in the pocket water at the end of the north road at Schumaker's. In the afternoon, we fished the section to the stateline above the canyon, and saw nothing. Monday, we fished Schumaker's again, but started this time with the southern road, fishing a number of holes. No fish were seen, and my partner made a generous donation to the river gods with a full sinking head, when the fly line parted in a very nasty snag in deep fast water. In the afternoon we fished the end of north road again, I was no fish again, and my partner raised 3 fishing small flys on a #4 sink tip in a large pool, none were hooked. During the trip we covered just over 1000 miles, spent little money, and had a great time. The river and the surroundings are spectacular. It is fully possible to camp at the Schumaker's take out, but with 14 hour nights we decided to stay in Clarkston. We found the upper river gin clear, and at Schumaker's in was +/-5 feet of clarity. I fished a mix of patterns, Flashdancer, Mack's Canyon, Green Butt Skunk, Oso Special, Purple Peril, Signal Light, Freight Train, and a really hellish purple Egg Sucking leech with the largest dumbell available. Hell to cast, but necessary. The river hits the canyon wall in many places, making deep lateral scour pools that need to be probed for fish, and big conehead and dumbell leaches are what the locals use. Eggo is another popular pattern for this work. The river has a good bit of power for its size, and it can be waded across in many areas, but currents, algae and boulders conspire to take the best of us down. I went down twice, once on each day, and I have been wading rivers for about 25 years. Lucky it was sunny all the time we were there. Stream cleats will be in my bag for the next trip. Lewiston has a flyshop, Twin River Anglers (http://www.traflyfish.com/) that is pretty good, and quite inexpensive. They can give good information about the river, and provide the local flies. Interestingly, they recommended floating lines for this time of year, and we used sinktips almost exclusively. I will gladly do this trip again for the same results, but I would rather catch one of their fish. Rob -- Rob Blomquist Kirkland, WA
