Kootenai River Report: 9.14.15

With the warm weather slowly winding down, I decided to take a trip up north to fish one of Idaho’s coolest running rivers. The weather was in the mid to low 70s with minimal wind up until about 3pm. The Kootenai River didn’t fail to reward this fly fisherman with an abundance of colorful rainbow trout actively rising to several dry fly patterns.

I started the day with a #6 pink Chubby Chernobyl and a #14 red beaded serendipity as my dropper. It didn’t take me long to realize that I had no need for a dropper because I was getting consistent action on top. For experimental purposes, I switched out my Chernobyl for a #12 purple stimi chew toy because I had heard that purple has been the go to color. Once I did that, I had trouble keeping my fly dry because the trout kept eating it. The stretch I had the best action on was just above the Canoe Gulch ranger station.

I highly recommend fishing this stretch because it is full of healthy trout, and it is easily accessible for any fisherman with proper wading gear. However, be aware wading on the rocks they have a very slick greenish yellow slime. I was wading a little too fast and took a tumble. Simply put, the Kootenai River is the river to fly fish for any fisherman looking to catch some trout on dry flies.