Day 3: Fishing the Salt River

JOURNAL ENTRY BY BOB VOYLES

“Early to bed, early to rise,

Fish like hell, and make up lies”.

This little sonnet greets everyone who uses our powder room off the front entry hall at Camp Lakemont, our square logged mountain home in North Georgia. A wooden plaque souvenir picked up at a flea market years ago it captures the spirit of the day ahead - well at least the first part😉🙄‼️

Our group of ten, divided into two groups this morning. The early group left at 6 AM to head south of Jackson about 45 miles down river along the Snake, through Hoback Junction and down to the town of Alpine. Stopping for some Starbucks at a local grocery store

at 6 AM, our group stumbled about, but gradually woke up by the time we reached our rendezvous point with the guides. The sun was peeking over the eastern mountain range named for the Salt River, our destination for the day. We broke into groups of two, and sped off in the morning light heading north and east along the Salt River valley, a beautiful agrarian setting with farmhouses, barns and occasional towns along the way. This area, originally homesteaded in the 1800’s, was now a more affordable option and bedroom community for Jackson, and also home to a large Mormon population.

The Salt River is small when compared to the Snake, with only about 1/10th the volume of water flow. Measured in cubic feet per second - “CFS”, our guide described the units as the size of a basketball, or at 500 CFS , the flow of the Salt, the equivalent of 500 basketballs passing a single point on the river at any one time. The setting for our float was beautiful. While nothing can top floating the Snake along in the front of the Tetons, this river was every bit as beautiful and challenging as any of the many rivers I’ve fished in Montana.

The order of the day was to catch the famous native Wyoming cut throat trout. And the river did not disappoint. All our groups caught fish, many being the young, aggressive cut throats, receiving their name from the very distinct stripe red markings under their mouths. The day was picture perfect, with high clouds burning off as the sun rose higher in the sky, causing us to shed layers of clothes, eventually down to Columbia-type outdoor shirts and shorts.

The actual float lasted about 7 hours, and our boat caught about 20 fish, including a beautiful 16” cutthroat trout, a 14” Brownie, who jumped out of the water on his being hooked and one whitefish, the poor neglected bottom feeding native fish who is much maligned by the guides and sports fishermen, but shares the rivers with his more favored cousins. The big fish of the day went to David Entrekin, who landed an 18” cutthroat, just about 20 minutes before they finished the float. Our other group of four fished the South Fork of the Snake traveling into Idaho, and getting a later start. Also beautiful in its scenery and setting, they enjoyed a thoroughly challenging day of fishing, returning later in the afternoon.

Back to the Salt River Group - Returning to our rendezvous point at 3 PM, our team gathered up and began the drive home stopping in downtown Jackson, to pick up some keepsake souvenirs, and to have a drink at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, one of Jackson’s famous tourist spots. Dinner and conversation around the fire ..... and a few fish stories - with maybe even a lie or two - brought us full circle on a perfect day here in beautiful Jackson Hole.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. Would I bring my friends? Absolutely. Thank you Beyond for your planning and executing this trip. Customized for our group of 9 men from two families who knew each other, BEYOND can do this for you.