outdoors's blog

Check out the North Fork of the Payette right now

Roger Phillips — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:40:11 -0500

It's down to 200 cfs., which is really low, and you can actually see the rocks that create those amazing rapids. Slide Rapid is one that caught my attention. When you see how the rocks are wedged in there and how it affects the water coming over it, you start to understand the hydraulics a little better.

It's an awesome river, and this is like a peek behind the curtain to see what makes it tick.

If you liked the photo contest...

Roger Phillips — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:05:55 -0500

Here are some more cool photos from the National Wildlife Refuge contest, including some from Idaho or by Idaho photographers.

It's always cool to find good nature photography, wherever it occurs. To have some Idaho stuff in only makes it better.

You can see it HERE

Waterfowl hunters encounter thick fog

Zimo — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:10:21 -0500

It's that time of the year again when fog is thick along sections of the Snake River.

We were out trying to find our duck-hunting spot Saturday and visibility was about 15 feet on the Snake River. Fog and darkness make it pretty tricky to navigate the river. Another thing adding to the mix was that the river was running high and fighting the strong current at a slow speed made things difficult.

Important piece of pavement

Zimo — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:18:46 -0400

It was only a small piece of pavement, but it made a big difference.

When the East ParkCenter Bridge was first completed and opened this fall, there was a small patch of dirt between the Boise Greenbelt and the bike path on the bridge.

Shooting range is right on target

Zimo — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:13:04 -0400

It's pretty tough to find a place to go target shooting. My wife wanted to sight in her deer rifle and I have always been used to just going out into the desert and plinking away.

Another shot at big game hunting

Roger Phillips — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:46:50 -0400

My big game hunting has been a bit abbreviated this year. My elk season consisted of one day shoe-horned between steelhead fishing and duck hunting. You can imagine how productive a one-day elk hunting season was. I did see a bull that was too far away to stalk and headed in the wrong direction. Actually seeing a bull during hunting season is rare for me, so I declared a small victory, didn't pound my bones with a long pack out, but didn't fill the freezer with steaks, either.

Snow watch (updated Wed. a.m.): Brundage and other areas get snow

Zimo — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:29:54 -0400

Brundage Mountain got about 3 inches of fresh snow from the recent storm and the resort near McCall is starting to turn white. Check out the photo provided by the resort. It's a great teaser to get everyone excited about the upcoming skiing and boarding season.

The resort needs between 18 to 24 inches in the base area and 24 to 36 on the summit to open but at least it's turning white.

Boise River could get more steelhead

Roger Phillips — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:15:01 -0400

It's not confirmed, but the planets could align this year and anglers get an additional batch of steelhead in the Boise River. Stocking is scheduled to start Thursday.

F&G usually plants about 300 steelhead during the first week of November and continues weekly stocking through Thanksgiving until there are about 1,000 fish in the river.

But this year, Idaho is seeing a large return of hatchery steelhead, and F&G is starting its stocking a week early.

Gear: Sewer pipe and fishing rods

Zimo — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:40:49 -0400

Last steelhead season I had one of my fishing reels damaged as it bounced around in the drift boat on the drive home from fishing.

Steelhead gear is expensive so this year I made a fishing rod case out of plastic sewer pipe. It worked great on the last trip. I shopped around for a store-bought case but they were either too expensive or too flimsy.

Steelhead fishing's really slow

Zimo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:57:09 -0400

It's a record-breaking year for steelhead, but where are they?

We just got done fishing four days on the Salmon River near Riggins and fishing was really slow. A Fish and Game person surveying anglers from Hammer Creek to Lucile reported surprisingly slow fishing over the weekend.