6 day kayak fishing trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho

If you could only float one river in your entire life, the Middle Fork of the Salmon in Idaho would be a good choice.  It has 100 miles of stupendous roadless scenery, many fun Class III-IV rapids, and six hot springs.  And pretty good fishing, if the water is clear.

From August 21-26, Art Gidel and I kayaked and fished the Middle Fork.  The fishing was pretty good.  We pulled over every time we came to a good spot, caught one or two fish, and then stuck our rods into our PFDs and paddled on down to the next spot.  We mostly caught cutthroats and a lot of small but feisty steelhead smolts, with a few rainbows and rainbow-cutthroat hybrids.  We also each caught one mountain whitefish, which was a bit of a surprise because we weren’t fishing for them.

The first day the weather was great and the water was pretty clear.  The second and third days it was cool and drizzly, but we didn’t receive enough rain to reduce the water quality.  At the end of the third day, however, we passed Loon Creek, which was sending a plume of cloudy water into the river.  I didn’t think the water was particularly cloudy the fourth day, but the fish disagreed.  We only caught one fish all day.  The evening of the fourth day a rainstorm with strong winds blew through.  The fifth day the water was brown and muddy, and we didn’t even try fishing until we reached Big Creek, a major tributary which was running clear and had good fishing.  We hiked up the creek for about a mile while fishing.  The water was clearer the sixth day, but not clear enough for the picky Middle Fork fish, and we again had lousy fishing.





Fishing in the rain.



A typical cutthroat.



Fishing in Big Creek.





It was a low water trip.  By the middle of August, the river levels have reached their low for the year.  However, the river is still a lot of fun, with a lot of maneuvering.  Sections of the river which are only standing waves at high water have many fun little rapids.  In the first 25 miles we only saw a USFS work party, because at low water most raft groups fly into the Indian Creek air strip.  Below Indian Creek we saw some raft groups, but far fewer groups than you typically see at higher water levels.

The rapids were rocky and technical in the upper river, and we bonked or slid over a lot of rocks. 







Velvet Falls, which has a large hole at higher levels which dumps a lot of rafts.



Art checking out the temperature of Trail Flat hot springs, which is the first of the six major hot springs.





Our first camp at Sheepeater Hot Spring.



Relaxing in the hot spring.



Our second camp at Marble Creek after a cool and drizzly day.



Packing up under our tarp in the morning, at the beginning of another drizzly day.



Warming up in Sunflower Hot Spring, which is a series of pools perched on a rock outcropping above the river.



A rainy lunch stop the third day.



Our third camp below Loon Creek, which was mucking up the water quality.



Hospital Bar Hot spring, which is the last of the major hot springs.





TappanFalls.











Our fourth camp.  That evening a fierce wind storm blew through, followed by rain.



The mouth of Wilson Creek on the fifth day.









Below Big Creek, the canyon is called  the “Impassible Canyon,” because the many continuous cliffs have discouraged the construction of any trails along the river.





Looking downstream from Elk Bar.





Lining up to run Redside Rapid, which is a big rapid at high water.



Scouting Weber Rapid, which is another big rapid at high water.  Note the high water line.





Our fifth camp.



House Rock Rapid.  At high water, only the tip of this rock sticks out of the water.





Approaching the confluence with the Main Salmon River.



Our take-out at Cache Bar on the Main Salmon.

Nice report, Pete. We did that trip with a raft tour maybe 5 or 6 years ago. The water was higher in July but my wife did 75 miles of it in a "duckie". That was our intro to kayaks. I got lots of cutthroat trout with light spinning gear. It was a great trip and I remember a lot of those views. Thanks.

Beautiful! Looks like an epic trip :]

Great report, thanks! Looks like an awesome place

I look forward to your trip reports more and more each time. Really stunning beauty and amazing trip. I'm not a river rapids guy at all, but you're making me white-water-curious. Looks like you can get to some water that doesn't see much pressure - that's my kind of fishing. You've got to be in the top tier of "days spent kayak fishing" this summer!