Fly Fishing the West

Vol. 31, Issue 1

July 22-27 2019

SELWAY River, LOCHSA (pronounced Lock-saw) River just west of the SELWAY-BITTERROOT WILDERNESS AREA in central Idaho 

Monday, July 22, 2019—Todd, Steve, and I travelled from Tri-Cities, Washington in the morning arriving in Lowell, Idaho (population 23). It is at the confluence of the SELWAY and LOCHSA rivers which form the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River. (The streams are wide and shallow in areas and are indeed ‘clearwater’. One can see the river bottoms clear as a bell along most stretches. (See Video below). These streams are ‘big water’ i.e., the SELWAY flow this time of year is ~1,000 ft3/sec., the LOCHSA ~700 ft3/sec. (This compares to the Lower Prover River flows out of Deer Creek Reservoir of about 450 ft3/sec. this time of year.) Neither river has upstream dams so the flows are natural snowmelt out of the surrounding Bitterroot mountains. Uniquely, the SELWAY river has occasional areas along it’s shoreline that are sandy beaches. Salmon and steelhead run up these rivers to spawn.

From where the SELWAY flows into the LOCHSA, there is a road that follows the SELWAY up 19 miles, of which 7 miles is paved. The road ends at SELWAY FALLS—a spectacular series of cascading water into deep pools. There is a campground here and a trail head where horse and backpackers can hike along the stream for another 20 miles to Moose Creek in the SELWAY-BITTERROOT WILDERNESS AREA. (One way to get into this area without hiking, or by bush plane, is to drive in from the east side of the wilderness area (a 2-hour drive from DARBY, MONTANA) to Paradise Campground. From there one can raft down the upper SELWAY River to SELWAY FALLS, a 5-day rafting trip. 

We stayed at Ryan’s Wilderness Inn at Lowell which was a nice small family-owned motel of six units with a down-home café. After dinner Steve walked across the highway to the LOCHSA River to fish. He hiked upstream about 1/4^th mile to what we named ‘Slab Rock’. At about 8:30 pm (almost dark) he caught a 15-inch and 20-inch cutthroat trout both on a size 14 elk hare caddis fly. 

Tuesday, July 23, 2019—After breakfast we drove up the SELWAY River road (all 19 miles) to SELWAY FALLS. (One can see the river from the road all the way.) We noted road mileages on a map places that looked good to fish. They turned out to be miles 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17. SELWAY FALLS itself was too rugged to hike down to to try to fish. 

We fished several places noted but found little success. Todd and Steve each caught several small cutthroat and rainbows. (See pictures below). 

Wednesday, July 24, 2019—After breakfast we drove about 50 miles along the LOCHSA RIVER (Idaho Highway 12). This is designated a NATIONAL SCENIC HIGHWAY and is part of the LEWIS and CLARK Trail. It follows the river closely all the way. We drove as far as the GEORGE  COLGATE LICKS Memorial and Loop Trail right next to the highway. We fished the LOCHSA River across from the memorial. The stream is much smaller here and we had good success catching 4-5 cutthroat trout from about 6-10 inches, on flies on top of the water. After fishing and lunch a couple who hiked the loop trail (about 1.5 miles) said they had seen a moose, so we did take the hike. [George Colgate was a cook accompanying a hunting party in the area in September of 1893. They were caught in a snow storm and lost their horses. They tried to float down the LOCHSA River in a crude raft but it fell apart. Colgate became ill and could not move with the others so they voted to leave him. The party was later rescued. His remains were found the next year near the area of the memorial. The loop trail, which we took, is a nice walk to a meadow and warm springs area where animals come to lick the sodium-rich rocks at the springs.] We fished the LOCHSA part way back down Highway 12 toward Lowell. The river had a stretch of fast water with side pools and deep, green water above and below the rapids. Caught no fish here after about an hour. We drove further back toward Lowell and fished off of a very large rock outcropping. There was cascading water above that emptied into a very deep, long pool. Steve caught an 11-inch cutthroat and a 12-inch mountain whitefish on a #3 Mepps Vibrax lure with the treble hook replaced with a single hook. (Treble hooks not allowed on either river.)  

Thursday, July 25, 2019— After breakfast we drove up SELWAY road to mileage marker 15, (i.e., 15 miles in from where the SELWAY river enters the LOCHSA). This, I believe, was the best place to fish. The stream cascades down through boulders and empties into a long stretch of deep, green water. Todd caught a nice 13” cutthroat on a zugbug fly trolling a weighted line with a spinning rod. He caught several others. I caught 6 mostly rainbows (the largest being about 10”). Two took a size 10 bright orange egg pattern fly. One took a size ~8 purple chubby and the others on a size 10 elk hare caddis. I also had two much bigger trout on with the elk hare caddis but both flipped the hook after about 15 seconds. One was pulling line out against my fly reel drag. 

Friday, July 26, 2019— After breakfast we travelled back up the SELWAY River road to mile 11. This was a good spot as I caught 6 small trout (up to 10” on a purple chubby and #12 elk hare caddis fishing the shallower water by the shore above a runout into a deep, green pool. I also had a large fish on with an elk hare caddis fly but I lost it after 10-15 seconds. Todd and Steve also caught several trout on parachute hoppers on top of the water. Steve missed a large trout he saw which almost took his fly.

In the evening after dinner at the motel café we went across the highway to “slab rock” and fished from 7:30 to 9 pm. Here the water is about 4 feet deep and swift. I had several good hits fishing both a black (with blue metallic ribbing) and green/brown streamers (both tied by Tyson). I euro-nymphed a size 12 elk hare caddis and missed one strike. Getting dark and hard to see my line, I put a pinch-on, bright orange strike indicator on my leader. Pulling the line up through the current the indicator got even with me (just below my feet) a very big trout tried to rip the indicator right off the line. 

Saturday, July 27, 2019— We left in the morning to travel home, stopping one more time on the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River to fish-- with no luck. Henry David Thoreau observed that, “….a man may fish his entire life before he realizes that what he is trying to catch is not fish at all”. The SELWAY and LOCHSA Rivers are amazing wonders of nature, with beautiful vistas and storied history. I don’t think we will forget our experiences of this week anytime soon.

Other Miscellaneous Information/Observations:

1. Weather and Bugs--The weather was very nice the whole week, no rain. There were no mosquitoes but there were large and small flies that were pesky, but they did not bite.
2. Fishing the Streams---Hiking down from the road to the shores of both streams was generally difficult. They are lined with large river rock (smooth, round stones near the shore) but the banks also have large, jagged, rough, white rocks with black moss on them, which, being very steep, make it difficult to both get down to the river from the road and to move up and down the stream shoreline. Hip waders (compared to chest waders with wading boots) provide little arch support and almost no ankle protection trying to navigate these rocky conditions. Hence to protect one’s feet it is recommended that booted waders be used. (Interestingly see LEWIS and CLARK’S description of the LOCHSA River area relative to this rocky terrain in Item 6 below.)
3. Wildlife---We saw many humming birds, deer (white tail, some bucks), bald eagles, a beaver, ground squirrels, and chipmunks during the week.
4. Near the upper end of the SELWAY Road there is a large log (maybe 2 ft diameter, 30 ft tall) sticking up in the middle of the river. How did it get there? (See picture below).
5. Fishing Licenses---A non-resident Idaho fishing license for 2019 was $53 for a six day license. Any lures used must be single hook, barbless.
6. LEWIS and CLARK---Regarding this part of the BITTERROOT MOUNTAINS, on September 13, 1805 Meriwether Lewis, having come over Lolo Pass and following the upper LOCHSA River on their way to the Pacific Ocean, recorded in his journal, …the road was “much worse than yesterday….. excessively bad and thickly strowed (sic) with falling timber…Steep and Stoney”. Wm. Clark recorded the next day, …. the party made but 13 miles, passing “emince (sic) Dificuelt Knobs Stones…and emencely (sic) Steep…”.  (Source: Undaunted Courage- Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West, by Stephen E. Ambrose, pages 292-293)