From 09/12/2025
I woke up in the Tom’s RV and we went to breakfast at the local fly shop in Pecabo. It was delicious. This was the first time I rode in the Pinzgauer he towed with his RV all the way from his ranch in Ennis, MT. What a treat!
Ditch
We started out drive and drove by Silver Creek. What an amazing fishery and beautiful scenery. I stopped and took pictures. I was a tourist and it was nice to drive and watch the sandhill cranes, deer, and eagles and other birds of prey sore over us as we drove West to the South Fork of the Boise River for the Tenkara Camp Out.
To make this story short, we ended up taking a dirt road that was less traveled and I ended up putting the truck in 4wd most of the way. Up and down the Sawtooth National Forest mountains, I ended up turning it back into 2wd when it started to settle out flat. I was going at a not so fast pace since I wanted to watch the stream meander with the road as I was driving.
As I came up and over a little hill, I was creeping down this turning hill and took the corner too loose. The shoulder had about 5’ of unpacked and soft dirt that took the truck right into a ditch. Tom wasn’t far behind me and had a winch on his 1973 Pinzgauer. Lucky me! It was the first time he used it, but it was what did the trick to get my truck pulled over a huge rock that was behind my driver side tire. It didnt take long and I was back on the road with fender damage.
Of course, the Baumgartner Campground for the Idaho Tenkara Camp Out was only a few miles away. I drove and heard a noise when I was turning the wheel, but didn’t think too much of it. Little did I know that my tire light was about to come on as I pulled in campground. I was driving on the rim! The truck had a full spare so Tom then changed my tired with me…For the first time. More on that later.
Tenkara Friends
I ended up meeting a few people whose names I have already forgotten but here are a few I remember. Brian, who lent me his jack to change the tire, I exchanged flies with and I got to admire his tamo net making skills. Goko Tenkara from Washington and had a nice little fireside chat with at the campsite. I met several others from all over the US and even Jim (I think) who drove all the way from Pennsylvania and I learned is from my area in the Poconos. How cool!
Brent Auger of Dragontail Tenkara and Matt Sment of Tenkara Angler was also there. I missed Tom Davis since he wasn’t able to make it, but next time I am in the area I will try and hang out with him as well. It is always good to see friends from the tenkara world and hang out around a campfire.
Fishing
Even with the ditch and flat tire, Tom and I were able to fish on the South Fork of the Boise River which ran just behind out campsite. I caught rainbows and mountain white fish. This was one of my target species for this trip! They have tiny mouths and I caught them on my kebari or tailtucker nymphs deep in runs as they were mostly sitting on the bottom. They were not rising too much. The fish that were rising for my kebari were the rainbows.
I even got to see Kokanee in the river hanging out with the other fish. Seeing these fish actually taught me where fish would be. They are brightly colored red for the spawn and you could even see them holding in what seemed like a faster run of water which I wouldn’t normally fish. This allowed me to break the river down and read the river easier that I can.
My Tenkara Journey 