11 Mile Canyon ~ With Andy, Moose, Chinooks, And Trout 23May24

Andy & I headed out to 11 Mile Canyon for a nice but windy tail on the home tailwater. We parked at the last bridge and before starting we encountered 3 moose heading toward us ~ I've never seen moose here. Flows are down a smidge to 105cfs. We caught a number of fish and willows. I caught only cutbows, but Andy landed some browns too. We first hit the last bridge after passing 40 cars in the canyon. We were pretty early arriving at 9am but there were others with the same idea. Midges worked decently in the morning but we were skipping a number of good spots already occupied. NP, as intrepid fishermen do, we found fish between the occupied holes. The wind kept the hatch down significantly but mayflies were seen ~11am or noon and worked at that time. The bite was not on today but we caught plenty, most on the red-brown midges. It was a blast despite the wind.

I mentioned to Andy we might be buzzed and sure enough, a half doz Chinooks flew the canyon with one guy weaving low right over our heads... awesome. We had lunch ~1pm and then trundled up to the dam area ~ where the fish were obvious but the catching was not. After a smidge we headed down to the tunnels area for a run. Even this area was impacted with fishermen but we caught fish and bided our time before heading out ~4pm.

 

Of course we regaled at Red Leg before separating. Thanks for coming out Andy!