I used a float tube or belly boat for the first time on Silver Creek and decided that on the right river it’s the perfect combination of floating and wading. When John Huber from Picabo Angler met me at 7:30 a.m. and told me to put on my waders I thought he was a little crazy – it was the August and the temperature would rise to over 90 degrees. I didn’t realize we would be floating in the water all day in the middle of the stream.
We arrived at our put-in and eased our way into the middle of this graduate level fishery with our belly boats. I think the last time I was in a float tube was on the Jersey shore as a kid. It was important to be as stealthy as possible and so we tried to move only one leg as we propelled ourselves into the middle of the river.
We were a little early for the trico spinner fall so we waited quietly in the early shadows of the morning serenaded by the various water fowl. We noticed irregular rises all around us and decided to try casting a few trico and baetis to the banks. The anticipation took my breath away and kept a smile on my face all day. As it turns out, there were no hatches on this magical morning but we continued to throw dries in the morning (switched to hoppers in the afternoon) and had a dozen or so lookers and some takers that I missed.
John warned me that catching a lot of fish on this river was not going to happen, and he was right. I am pleased that I caught a nice rainbow in the morning. In a situation like this, your cast needs to be perfect and you have to understand the rise of the fish and how and when to set the hook. I’m still a bit of a newbie in this regard, but this was such an extremely beautiful location and enchanting day, I will never forget it.
