Browns on the Lower Snake

Everybody's heard of the famous Snake River.

Fishermen come from across the country to float and fish the scenic river and many a beautiful brown trout has rewarded those who took the time.

Not many have heard of the almost famous Snake Creek near Heber City Utah.

Only the readers of this blog know my fascination with a small stretch of water between the fence on the upper end bordering the now-closed Midway Hatchery and the fence on the lower end below the Heber Creeper railroad trestle that prevents access further downstream. This short, shallow, weedy, piece of water has provided me many hours of fun fishing and even a few nice fish.

This trip was exceptional.

I started off fishing the pool at the upper end. I had a few hits but caught nothing which was unusual. I decided to wander down to the spot below the trestle where I usually catch rainbows.

I kept well back from the bank and picked up a few small browns (10-12") like this one that fell for the light yellow Roostertail.



As the sun slipped behind the mountains and I was beginning to think that was it for the day, I cast a 1/8oz white Roostertail upstream along the bank and was I surprised when I hooked this 21" 2.5lb brown!


This fish was resting in no more than 8" of water and when he decided to hit the RT there was no going back.

Big Boy!



Back You Go



This was similar to the big brown I caught earlier this year in the Boise River.


I decided to go back upstream and cross over so I could fish the opposite bank.

I used the same stealth technique to approach only close enough to get my cast over the bank and was rewarded once again with this 18" 1.5lb beauty.

"Confidence Bait" at work



I continued my quest up the bank, crawling up 20 feet or so and casting tight to the bank with the white 1/8oz RT. Nearly every cast yielded a nice fish.

Here is a 17" brown that was as colorful as any in the Green River.

Butter yellow markings



This 16 incher put up a great fight.


Another pretty 16" brown



These fish were all colorful and healthy.



The last fish of the day was almost chocolate brown. I caught it almost under the trestle in some fast water and had to use my headlight to see to remove the hook.

It was almost full dark when I finally gave up and headed back to the hotel. I had landed about a dozen fish in all with half of them between 15-21". Not bad for a small creek in the middle of a cow pasture! I didn't catch one rainbow nor did I see any fish rising for flies. What a difference a few weeks makes.

I suspect that the higher flows caused by recent rains and runoff may have moved the fish downstream.