Another Salmon Fishing Trip

Our Salmon fishing trip up on the Salmon River.

We left home on the day of June 23rd 2009 on a fishing trip in or nearby Challis, Idaho on the Salmon River in the heart of the Sawtooth Mountains. My younger brother ( Kris) his wife (Becky) and their daughter (Shayna) also went with us. My other brother (Kevin) and his wife (Tonya) also come up to be with us later in the week. It was a 41/2 hour drive to where we would find a campground to stay, just outside of the city limits of Challis, Idaho. It was just before dark when we got our camp set up at the campground. We got up the next morning and after breakfast, my brother and I went out to try our luck at catching a big fellow. We found that the river was unseasonably high., the water was also very cold, and so the Salmon were not running that far up stream yet.So we pretty well fished the day away anyway. With a break in the middle of the day to go to town and get some goods we needed.So we spent some time shopping in town at the few places that there are. Challis is just a small town so there are not many places to shop.Then it was back to camp,and more fishing, then a relaxing quiet dinner. My youngest daughter (Lindsey) and her husband (Chase) we call him Bobby came and spent some time with us The next day we all three guys went fishing for a while,still not even a bite(except of course for mosquitoes). So then we all loaded up and went to Yankee Fork to try our luck at some gold panning. There is an old gold mining town there called Custer. We took a tour of the town and bought a gold pan from the gift shop there. Well what do think that we did next? Right we went down to the small creek and started to try panning. Of course you new that we would have to try right? Not much luck there either. So then it was back to camp. The route back to camp was 80 miles of some very scenic driving. So back at camp we decided to see if the Salmon had gotten there yet, still no luck. Then the next day still no luck. But we are die hard and kept trying, with no luck at all. The next day my other daughter came from Washington. Michelle, her husband, Shaun, and their two boys Masen, and Gabriel. So that evening Michelle, Shaun, Masen, Gabriel, Lindsey, Bobby Leisa and Myself went to some hot pools, up in the Sawtooth's. It was a 3 mile hike to get there, but everyone had fun in the pools we never got back to the car till midnight. Then the next day the fishing was still poor, so we decided to go back up to Yankee Fork with the family. Masen wanted to try his luck at panning, and luck would have it there was some forest service people that have a panning education set up. They gave Masen a pan full of dirt and began to teach him how to pan, he found 5 small nuggets of gold in then and it was his to keep. This was great except that every thing that glittered now must be gold, and he would want to pan it. Then it was back to camp with still no luck fishing. So finally we had to leave and go home. But two weeks later we went up to Stanley, Idaho just below the Sawtooth Hatchery. Now the water was lower and warmer, so the Salmon were running, up stream to spawn. Lindsey caught one that was 32 inches long, but after the 900 mile swim up stream it only weighed 8 pounds, we stayed in a tent that night in a campground near Stanley, and fished for two days. There was 7 of us there and I was the only one that did not even hook one Salmon. But then I had just as much fun as the rest, because I enjoy just being able to be out somewhere like that, out in the wild, out with nature. I really don't care if I do not catch a fish as long as I get to go. So out of all of this, Lindsey was the only one to land one of these enormous, and spectacular fish. It is hard to believe that they swim all of 900 miles to get to the ocean in three months then stay for 3 years and swim all the way back to their birth place upstream to spawn and then that is the end of their journey of life. We went to the Sawtooth hatchery, and toured through it, and there we learned about this great journey, of the Chinook Salmon and all that they endure through life. Only about 1/10Th of them will survive to make it back here to spawn, the rest will either be eaten by other predators, or just die along the way. So to sum it all up we had a great time up on the Salmon river trip. I can't wait to do it again, it is so refreshing to be out in nature. While there I was all alone fishing, and seen a cow Moose swim the river, a bull Elk came within 50 yards of me to drink from the river, he came out onto a rock cropping to look around and sniff the air for any danger before going down to the river to get a drink. The Deer would feed only feet away from me, a Beaver swimming peacefully up and down the river taking winter food to his hole, the birds all in song, there is no greater feeling in all the world. It was so peace full to see and do all that we did, there was no rush to be here or there, no traffic to fight with . Just me and all of Gods wonders. I thank God for being able to enjoy all of the magnificent wonders that he made. For to me to be out with nature just sit and watch the beauty of the rushing river, the squirrels gathering all the food for the following winter, the magnificent ghost of the Forrest (the bull Elk) and all of the other wild things doing their daily task to prepare themselves for winter is so relaxing to me to no way that I can describe. It is like being in a fantasy where I am just a part of a world that doesn't even exist. Then when I am back at camp being with the people who matter the most to me, where I have no concept of what the boss has to say, or any of the other things that we put up with in our every day lives. If only I could just stay here for all times, and never have to go back home. This may not be for all, but I am sure that there is something that you would rather be doing than just getting up to go to work, and coming home at night tired and going to bed, knowing that, that is all you have to look forward to in life. So I am looking forward to my next adventure, and the day that I can just walk away from all of this, the every day job of just being your typical Milkman, and just do what I love to do today and every day.