Jeep® Sporting Destinations

Little Wood River, Idaho

(excerpted from Flywater Interactive)

"The Little Wood really is a hopper river supreme. One long-time angler on the Little Wood tells of taking a 26-inch brown on a hopper."

Idaho's Little Wood River is an outstanding river for brown trout.

The stretch of Little Wood River with which we will be concerned runs between the town of Richfield and the confluence of Silver Creek. This is a very interesting desert trout stream, which receives its water principally -- exclusively in dry years -- from famed Silver Creek.

Access to the river is ample but not always evident. Some of the access roads into the river from Highway 26/93 can be a little rough and four-wheel drive is advisable. However, Preacher Bridge, Bear Track Williams and Pagari Bride all offer reasonable benign access to the Little Wood.

One caution: the possibility of encountering a desert rattler is real here. Keep your eyes open, watch where you step and, most importantly, never reach blindly up to the bank to help yourself out of the river. Although desert temperatures invite wet wading, neoprene is a very effective barrier between your leg and a snake.

The lava bottom here makes for the surest footing we've ever seen in a trout stream. You won't need cleats in the Little Wood. The river couples riffles and runs with long deep pools. The Little Wood averages 40 feet in width and can be crossed easily everywhere except the pools. Vegetation lines the banks, painting a surprising green stripe through the desert landscape. Good lies are abundant and evident.

While the Little Wood holds a good rainbow population, the trophy here is the large brown trout. The Little Wood has some deep pools -- excellent holding water for the larger browns. A healthy number of forage fish in the Little Wood prove important in the trout's diet.

This river is a fine place to break out your streamers to entice the big fish lying in the deeper holes. Scott Schnebly (of Lost River Outfitters, Ketchum) ties a streamer known as the Philo Beto. It is a proven taker of big browns on the Little Wood. Standard streamer patterns would also be effective. Nocturnal fishing is a good bet if you are after one of the really big browns. Failing that, look for a cloudy, drizzly day. Darkness brings these big boys closer to the surface.

The Little Wood really is a hopper river supreme. One long-time angler on the Little Wood tells of taking a 26-inch brown on a hopper. Jack Hemingway, who has fished the river for decades and knows it intimately, loves to fish hoppers on hot, windy days. (He also swears by Solunar Tables for the Little Wood.)

Dave's Hopper is excellent here, as is the Madam-X. Another good pick is the old Muddler Minnow -- try a black muddler. This can be fished dry as a hopper or under water as a streamer. Concentrate on shadowed, undercut banks. Also try skip-casting your fly up under the overhanging willows, a risky cast with a possibility of large rewards.

If you catch a day when the trout are rising to hoppers, you're in for a time you won't soon forget. Along with your hoppers be sure to carry some caddis. A small white caddis is quite common in the summer. The fish key on it from time to time.

Before all of this hopper action begins, the Little Wood boasts a salmonfly hatch. Depending on water temperature, this can be as early as March, but May is a more likely bet. The large black stonefly nymph is worth a try on any day of the season. Try these fellows through the slow deep water.

A caddis pupa dropper wouldn't be a mistake with the stonefly nymph. For the small bug lover, the Little Wood offers a good population of Baetis in the cooler months of spring and fall. The fall also brings the large October caddis.

A fisherman came back to town from the Little Wood one day. When asked how he did, he replied, "Ok. I caught 150 trout. Unfortunately 146 of them were under 3 inches." It's true that the Little Wood is king river of the dinks.

They'll drive you nuts. Take a good supply of Gink along. Try to fish something with some real floating power because your fly will get slimed time and time again by the hoard of voracious 3-inchers.

The Little Wood is very fly-fishing friendly. Two long stretches known as Bear Track Williams collectively were donated to the state by Jack Hemingway with the proviso that this area be maintained as catch and release/fly fishing only water. Bear Track Williams boasts some great lies and nary a spinning rod will you see -- if you do run into one, you might let him know he's lost.

The Little Wood offers a delightful change from what one normally expects to see in a trout stream. This desert river is a great day trip if you are visiting the Sun Valley area and want to ditch the crowds at Silver Creek for awhile.

The Little Wood River is one of 50 rivers covered in the CD-ROM Flywater Interactive. In addition to the River Profiles on each of those 50 rivers, you will find maps, photographs, hatch information, fly charts, support services, regulations and more. The Flywater Interactive CD-ROM sells for $59.95 and can be ordered by telephoning 800-692-6292. Two coffee table books, Watermark and Flywater by Grant McClintock and Mike Crockett, are also available. Or visit Flywater Interactive at www.flywater.com.

Copyright © 1996 Flywater Publishing. All rights reserved.

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