Where would you go trout fishing?

[BrookTroutLover]

Late July or early August. You have 10 days and funds to travel. Where do you go? Rockies, Canada, Europe? Help me plan my 50th.

 

[krayfish2]

Bow River in Calgary.

 

[DaveS]

I would think a lover of Brook Trout would go to Labrador. No?

 

[PennKev]

Kamchatka

 

[troutbert]

Southern Colorado

 

[mjkraw]

South Island New Zealand

 

[STONEMAN]

For my 50th, my wonderful wife booked me and my son a trip and guide to Henry's Fork-- a little more reasonable than some of those places suggested. Wherever you end up, enjoy!

 

[troutbert]

Salmon River float trip in Idaho.

Cutthroat trout fishing in some of the most beautiful scenery in the US.

 

[ryguyfi]

PennKev wrote:
Kamchatka

I second this choice!

Easily the top of my list right now.

 

[RCFetter]

I'd hit two or three top places in the West.

 

[Fishidiot]

Yeah, I think for late summer trout the Rocky Mountain West would be a good bet: lots of options for both floating and wading and it's hopper time.

Labrador would be fun for brookies and there might still be some big pike in the lakes that would eat a fly, although August would be late for pike.

Alaska would be easy to do and a good choice as well.

 

[PatrickC]

Early August is a nice time to go to Alaska if you have never been there. All of the different salmon are in play and rainbows, Arctic char, and grayling are right behind all of the spawning salmon.

If you have the money you will never top Labrador or Kamchatka, but they are super pricey trips.

 

[Chaz]

Labrador or Alaska. If you plan to stay in N.A. Otherwise Atlantic Salmon fishing in Russia.

 

[Troy]

troutbert wrote:
Salmon River float trip in Idaho.

Cutthroat trout fishing in some of the most beautiful scenery in the US.

I went to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River this past July. There are only two access points to the whole river. The beginning and the end. The river is 110 miles long. You need a permit to float the river and they manage permits through a lottery system. Outfitters get a bunch of permits so that is probably the way to go not only for permit availability, but also for safety reasons. Unless I was an expert rafter and had some familiarity with the river, there is no way in hell I would float it myself. It is a week long trip.

We didn't float it. We just fished and camped at the access point near Stanley, ID. This is the beginning of the river. The river is located in the Frank Church Wilderness which is the largest roadless wilderness in the lower 48. The Sawtooth Mountains are right there too and they are the narliest mountains I have ever seen and I have seen a lot of the Rocky Mountains. They call them the Sawtooth Mountains for a reason. The jagged peaks are just awesome.

As far as the fishing, it is ALL catch and release. It has a salmon and steelhead run. It is also loaded with Westslope Cutts. There is a trail that you can follow down the river. We hiked it about ten miles. We caught a lot of Cutts and a lot of Steelhead Smolt. It is just a really cool place in the middle of the wilderness. The only drawback is all the rafters, but that is about the only people you will see. We fished it for two days and saw two other anglers the first day. The second day we didn't see anyone. I highly recommend it. Not only for the fishing, but the scenery is breathtaking.

Troutbert,
I think this is what river you were referring too. The Salmon River is most known for the Salmon and Steelhead run. There are cutts in it and they stock it near the town of Stanley. It is mostly along a road. The fishing and scenery is better on the Middle Fork. The Salmon is still beautiful and I'm sure the fishing is good, but I recommend the Middle Fork.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

For your 50th trout - I wouldn't make such a big deal out of it.

Now for your Birthday - I think Alaska, Idaho, Montana or even Maine would be real nice.

 

[fisherboy3]

No one has said Ireland surprisingly. Most of the streams are spring creeks loaded with scuds, worms.... oh and big wild brown trout. Beautiful scenery, awesome people, great beer(of course), and good fishing. Not far from Dublin are some really good streams.-Kev

 

[RLeep2]

Actually, if this winter is any indication of what the spring and summer are going to be like and if you are really into nice brook trout (by PA standards anyway), I'd give some consideration to the NW corner of Michigan's Lower Peninsula where you could jump around sampling a bunch of nice systems like the Boardman, the Platte, etc. and then head across the bridge to the UP and go up and fish the Fox and then work west and fish the upper portions of a couple of the branches of the Escanaba as well as the Iron River and SB of the Paint and as many others as you have time for. You could have a really nice trip for considerably less than a quarter of what it would cost you to go to Labrador or Ireland. Beautiful country, nice people, good food and lots of decent sized fish.

The only catch would be that you'd need a slightly cooler than normal summer to hit the best of it and you'd have to do a bit of stream choice research to be sure you're fishing places with good spring input. Its kind of a patchwork up there in this regard. But even with this in mind, there are a pile of good places and the pressure is pretty modest (again by PA standards).

This is what I'd do and bank the money I saved. Then again, I'm cheap and don't really care that much about trendy destinations...

 

[BrookieChaser]

PennKev wrote:
Kamchatka

This.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

mjkraw wrote:
South Island New Zealand

Thats winter in New Zealand. Lots of closed fishing areas.Plus it's WINTER.
Gaspe Peninsula, salter Brookies, Atlantics, and some rainbows. More choices in Alaska. GG

 

[geebee]

Finnish Lapland for char n grayling.