and how. So now is the time to name names and that includes cricks, gear and fly patterns. Living in Selle Valley places me a roll cast away from the Pack River and Grouse Creek. Both have good access on Forest Service roads and make for ideal outings on long summer evenings. For a little bit more distance, called a double-haul in fly casting terms, Lightning Creek near Clark Fork and Boulder Creek east of Naples provide good alternatives. For sentimental reasons, I always visit Smith Creek at least once each summer. Unfortunately, the stream reach that I fished almost every evening in 1974 has been significantly altered by a hydro-electric facility. I can list more streams but the true appeal of crick fishing is to discover your own. In doing so, rarely will you encounter another person. What about fishing gear? Well, save your two-handed Spey rod for steelhead on the Clearwater. A 3-weight rod, 7 to 8 feet in length is ideal. Occasionally the snooty “Captain Orvis” comes out in me and I’ll use a bamboo rod, but more often, my 20-buck Eagle Claw Featherlight fiberglass rod, in bright yellow, works just fine. If you are new to the sport, I recommend starting out with a complete fly fishing outfit costing about $150. Fly fishing is all about matching the hatch. Even the insects’ metamorphosis from larvae, pupae to adult becomes extremely important. Fly fishers sometimes carry fly tying kits streamside in order to whip up the exact pattern required to fool a trout. Baloney! Crick fishin’ is not exactly southern Idaho’s Silver Creek where a fly pattern may be refused if its antennae doesn’t contain the right amount of fuzz. In selecting a fly pattern, I often ask myself, when did a size 14 Adams not work for crick fishing? This all-purpose dry fly looks enough like a variety of different insects to convince fish in
SUMMER 2015
F
SHES
Bill Love fly fishes “Big Rock Pool” on Grouse Creek with the help of his “fishing guide dogs.” PHOTO BY MARIANNE LOVE
SANDPOINT MAGAZINE
89