Labor Day Fun in Island Park

We made our annual Labor Day trip up to beautiful Island Park, ID for some relaxation and a little fishing. We typically float Henry's Fork of the Snake River with the family, but since the weather wasn't the best, only my Brother-in-law and I made the trip. Because of the weather, we basically had the river to ourselves.



Two Top Lodge was our home for the weekend.

 We got our tubes inflated, and our fishing gear and launched around 7:30am. It took us both a few minutes to get used to maneuvering our pontoons, but soon it was second nature and we were on our way. As we floated down the river, you could almost feel the quietness of the air. Along the way we saw lots of rainbows, but I was after one specific species, and that was the kokanee salmon. We only had a half day to fish because of other plans, so I was focusing on 2 deep holes that I knew of from floating the river in years past.


getting ready to launch.



The weather helped us to have the entire river to ourselves.

 We arrived to the first hole and had it to ourselves. I fished one side and my brother-in-law fished the other. It wasn't long until he had the first fish of the day on. he played it like a pro and soon had a good sized whitefish on the bank. He landed another whitefish about and hour later and those were all the fish that were landed on the trip. I saw hundreds of kokanee, and other than having one on for about 3 seconds before he got free, I couldn't do anything to make them take anything I was presenting. It was frustrating to see them and not have them take, but neat at the same time. There were several of them that put on a great aerial show by jump completely out of the water. Perhaps next year will be my year to get one. We made it to Macks Inn where we got picked up and headed back to the cabin.


First fish of the day; a good sized whitefish.



Fish number 2 is another whitefish.

There were literally 100's of kokanee salmon in this hole.



Muskrat doing it's thing.
 

We arrived to the first hole I had in mind and had it to ourselves. I fished one side and my brother-in-law fished the other. It wasn't long until he had the first fish of the day on. he played it like a pro and soon had a good sized whitefish on the bank. He landed another whitefish about and hour later and those were all the fish that were landed on the trip. I saw hundreds of kokanee, and other than having one on for about 3 seconds before he got free, I couldn't do anything to make them take anything I was presenting. It was frustrating to see them and not have them take, but neat at the same time. There were several of them that put on a great aerial show by jump completely out of the water. Perhaps next year will be my year to get one. the other hole I wanted to fish had people their already, so we continued on our way. We made it to Macks Inn where we got picked up and headed back to the cabin. 

Fisherman in training. The fish won't have a chance!

 

My wife's first time witnessing Old Faithful.