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"Steelhead Fly Fishing Nez Perce Country: Snake River Tributaries" by Dan Landeen

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#1 ·
"Steelhead Fly Fishing Nez Perce Country: Snake River Tributaries" by Dan Landeen

pb; 112 pages. 2006; Frank Amato Publications.

By an accident of geography, two major tributaries of the Snake River converge about 25 miles apart, one, the Clearwater, flowing across the narrow width of Idaho, the Grande Ronde descending from Oregon across the s.e. corner of Washington. Starting in the 1940's, a small number of fly fishermen discovered the angling potentials of these streams, and the Snake River between them. A rich local history of outstanding sport gradually grew and deepened.

Dan Landeen researched and interviewed dozens of these pioneers, and presents their hard-won and enviable experiences here. These genuine experts came to widely divergent conclusions as to flies, fly tackle, and presentations. But the truth is in here, somewhere.

Illustrated with copious color photography. The flies shown here almost never match the tying recipes, an editing shortcoming of this and many other books. Most of the flies are crudely tied, and frequently show signs of hard use. These flies may not be "Hooks, Feathers and Floss"-quality, but they have tons of mojo.
 
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#2 ·
Those of the younger generation upon reading this book may have no idea what we have all LOST! Not that long ago these steelhead pioneers experienced fishing that is long lost. READ this book, to gain a perspective on what was, and yet could be again with enlightened management, and perhaps some missing dams on the Snake river!
 
#3 · (Edited)
seems like a tradgedy to me. The North Fork...Dworshak dam...and the Ahsakha hatchery... lived in Lewiston some 25 years ago and fished the area a bit. Caught a few steelhead but not many, at that point the selway, locksa and K creek were more interesting to me. There was a flyshop on the upper side of Lewiston, Twin rivers anglers I think, run by Joe Norton (he had a Ducati...not a Norton), anyone remember that shop or know where Joe is?

When the Columbia is warm I get shots at those B run fish on my home water...I'm glad I have cold water! I'm sorry Dworshak exists.
 
#4 ·
I have lived in the region for the last two years, and fished there for the last 4-5 years. I found the book, entertaining, but pretty blown up as far as the numbers were concerned.
I see no "tragedy" whatsoever...
That book has some numbers that i found very unbelievable-
 
#5 · (Edited)
Sorry

fishmhard --- Sorry you didn't fish it earlier than five years ago! Perhaps if you had you would understand the numbers better and wouldn't posted what you did.

It would have been good for you to have been there and actually fished it earlier than you have and met some of the folks in the book and understood the history better than you do presently.

Rphelps
 
#7 ·
fishmhard --- Sorry you didn't fish it earlier than five years ago! Perhaps if you had you would understand the numbers better and wouldn't posted what you did.

It would have been good for you to have been there and actually fished it earlier than you have and met some of the folks in the book and understood the history better than you do presently.

Rphelps
You are correct actually, it's a huge tragedy, and there is no reason for anyone to recreate in this area any longer , I couldn't agree more, I stand corrected, felps is as always, spot on-:)
 
#8 ·
Rolf,

Twin River Angler was the shop.

Fishmhard,

It is an EPIC TRAGEDY killing off the biggest run of wild double digit sized summer steelhead in the world. Stop being myopic. It is the biggest hogwash dam in the entire system. I am not saying the river isn't still worth fishing. Or that it isn't a great river. But it isn't even a fraction of a millionth of an inch of what it was when it was a wild river with wild steelhead.

William
 
#9 ·
Remove all hatchery fish and it would be interesting to see what people think of the current state of the of the Clearwater. Also the perspective of the biologist that worked on Clearwater for years believes the B run fish no longer exist. Truly a tragedy.
 
#11 ·
inland-
That's your opinion looking at it strictly from the wild steel head point of view, looks like the myopic view is in your corner to me . When you look at the whole picture, there are some other benefits to the area from the dam, that's the point i was making - Obviously most, if not all here wont see it that way here . I'll define tragedy the way I choose , the loss of innocent human life fits my definition better , not a dam being put in -
 
#12 ·
it is about the fish

fishmhard--

This forum is all about spey casting and fishing, especially for steelhead so what is your point other than being critical again! Maybe if we could understand what you mean in this last post if would help. What do you mean about loss of "human life" and what does that have to do with the dam and the book that started this review?

Rphelps
 
#13 ·
Title of Thread

The title of the thread is under the section, "Book Review". By definition, it is a critical appraisal, hence one's opinion. This site is about spey casting/fishing . So why the pissing contest? Can't opinions be stated in such a way that it is not an attack?
 
#14 ·
Back to the book

I have read this book several times and have always found it informative as to some of the history of fly fishing the area and the fish being pursued.

It is not a perfect book, but I think it does a very good job of laying out the history, surroundings, and the folks involved early on up to the present.

Good read!

Rphelps
 
#15 ·
The book is a nice read showing some perspective of a little history of the area. There is a still a lot of recreation and 'sport' to be had in the region, although like everything in life it does not resemble what it once was. While Dworshak isn't a tragedy in human terms, needlessly eradicating this particular race of fish is still wrong. Thankfully they didn't build another dam at Lenore as was planned. Allowing for a few crumbs to remain.
 
#16 ·
What is the reason specified (if any) that Dworshak didn't have a fish ladder included? IIRC, the lower Snake River dams didn't get fish ladders because the experts believed that catching and trucking the fish around the dams would be better. (I'm not seeking an argument about the efficacy of ladders/trucking/etc. but rather what was the reason for no ladder for the Dworshak dam - or was it also a trucking experiment that didn't work?).
 
#19 ·
Yes it's to tall as in it will cost to much money to figure out something that actually does the job.

We can put people on the moon, we can destroy small countries with a couple bombs, we can do all sorts of cool technical crap but we can't get those fish around an inert chuck of concrete.

I never saw the North Fork before that damn dam but Mrs RedShed saw it plenty as a child spending every summer in the woods nearby and what we have now is not even table scraps.

A close friend calls Dworshak dam a "Steelhead Death Barrier". A very fitting name.
 
#20 ·
What good is Dworshak really? Provides a large lake upstream for those who can appreciate it. Does it produce alot of needed power as the PNW sets aside windmill power during high water? As Inland stated, it cut-off the largest (size wise) summer steelhead run in the PNW. If I still lived in Lewiston I'd be a real ass as to why it exists.
 
#22 ·
I've taken these two excerpts from my friend Will Godfrey's great book "The Season of the Steelhead".
 

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#23 ·
What we lost with the construction of Dworshak will never be replaced. I often fish some of the tribs to the nf Clearwater near where I live, and there still are remnant populations of wild Rainbow trout there. It hurts me to know that we have lost something so magical. The Clearwater will never recover without the removal of Dworshak Dam. I love that people have the chance to visit here and enjoy what this region has to offer, but people need to understand what we lost. How amazing would it be to see a free flowing Clearwater river! I would love to float the nf and meet the mainstem Clearwater at Ashaka. It breaks my heart to drop down into Freeman Creek State park. You crest the canyon rim and start to decend tward the Nf Clearwater only to be interupted by a flat water impoundment. I could go on and on, but I dont think anyone wants to here my philosofical rants about how we need flowing water and wild places.

Poppy,

I will see you at the Idaho falls show. Travel safe

Kyle
 
#25 ·
Crying Shame

I lived in Orofino many years and fished with some of those old timers that are in that book. I never saw the river as it was but I listened to the stories of those who fished it. I grew to have strong feelings about that river, there's a pull on your insides that will not let go. I believe that I was told they caught some 30lb fish up that North Fork so when you extinguish a run of fish like that it's not only wrong but I feel like it's more a crime against nature. Now I'm not sure there ever was a fish like that in the Clearwater ( maybe someone here knows for sure ) but I have seen pics of some serious brutes. One thing I can tell you is that without people like Keith Stonebreaker and a few others you wouldn't have near what you have now. I don't know Keith well but I do know of his efforts for the fish. The rest of us just *****ed about it. So the next time some politician tries to sell you a bottle of snake oil and you feel like some Nazi is telling you to get on the train I hope the hair on the back of your neck goes up.

Last time I talked to Joe Norton he was in New Hampshire.

Sorry, I'm off my box now. I met Poppy this winter " The Dude Rocks "
 
#26 ·
Poppy,

I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Will Godfrey this past weekend at the Washington State Fly Fishing Fair where I was doing demo tying (as was Godfrey). We swapped some steelhead stories and I gave him one of my NIGHT DANCER SHRIMPs, which he liked and I'm pretty sure he will be tying and fishing this coming fall. I agree with you, William, and others that Dvorshak being built was a travesty.

Then again, I think the building of Grand Coulee Dam on the Upper Columbia was even more of a tragedy since it wiped out the summer steelhead, coho, chinook, and sockeye in not only in a 100+ miles of the Columbia, it wiped them out of numerous rivers and streams that flow into the Columbia above the dam. Heck, there used to be summer steelhead, coho, chinook, and sockeye in Montana's Kootenai river and its tributaries. These are all gone since Grand Coulee Dam was built for exactly the same reason the NF Clearwater are gone, the dam is too high and the lake pool behind the dam backs up the water for too many miles, which reduces the current to near nothing and prevents anadromous fish from being able to make it to the salt quickly enough to make even trucking them around useless.
 
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