Day 6: The Bull Trout and Westslope Cutthroat

From 09/14/2025

I forgot to talk about my truck’s battery dying. Remember how I said the dash lights didn’t turn off? Well, I realized earlier in the day yesterday when I went to start it to use my Starlink to check in with Rachael that the truck would not start. I turned the key and the engine did nothing, so Tom gave me a jump. The car started right away in the morning, so I am happy about that. I was able to get to driving at around 0645 for my 2 hour trip to Boise.

I had spoken to Alex about meeting up with him to fish since Tom was to head back around 0700 to get back to his ranch. We were to meet about an hour between the camp and Boise since Alex was driving towards Boise later that day and I was to be driving West to get to Ketchum for my guided trip the next day.

I ended up making it back by by noon and Alex was still at camp! It was perfect timing as he was walking off the river. We ended up fishing further up on the river we stayed on. I had spotted this spot on the few times we drove back and forth and it ended up being 5-10 minutes West of camp.

The Fish

The fishing on the river where we fished for a few hours really tightened up and there were plenty of rocks and holes to be fished.

Alex got started fishing first and caught about four rainbows and mountain white fish while I watched and rigged up. I was still deciding on what fly to use. I ended up going with the same setup I was using most of the time at camp which was a neutral colored kebari above a tailtucker.

I worked the water several yards above Alex and was catching wild rainbows. Alex ended up catching a bull trout! I had heard there were bull trout in this river, but with all the rainbows and mountain white fish I guess they are just out numbered.

I ended up getting bored swinging the beadhead and catching so I put on a Jonathan Antunez Cutcliffe fly. While working it in the runs, I was turned around hitting a hole that I caught rainbows out of and got into a fish that absolutely nailed the fly as I stayed put in a riffle with it on a downstream presentation. This is what I thought was a cutthroat/rainbow trout hybrid. I was corrected as the fly shop in Ketchum had experienced guides from that area and they said there are definitely westslope native to the area and I caught one that was very much of the cutthroat variety. He suggested I send the picture and coordinates to the fish and game of the area and I will.

That was not the only surprise catch of this run. I continued to catch rainbows and got to the giant hole that had people swimming in it earlier. These guys were also spin fishing, but were scared off by the rain I guess. It sprinkled maybe for 10 minutes off and on. Their loss because once I got to the upper end of the water fall that fell into the huge angelic looking hole, I saw a flash and grab of my fly. I was back to using a weighted tailtucker with a kebari about 1-2 feet above it. I worked the hole upstream and caught 2 fish, but it was when I drifted it downstream and gave it some swing and pulses that a fish came from underneath and behind me. This downstream presentation tempted a bull trout from its ambush spot!

So, it was a good choice to fish here as I caught plenty of wild rainbows, mountain white fish, a westslope cutthroat, and a bull trout. What a day!

The Drive

I ended up driving to an AirBnb in Ketchum, ID that I booked to be able to wash my clothes and take a full shower. It was about 6 minutes from Silver Creek Outfitters which I had booked for a guided trip in the morning. My guide had called me to make lunch arrangements and tell me to meet at 0800 instead of 0700 because of how cold the nights were. The drive was easy and I was thankful for the extra hour of sleep.