River Fish

56 miles of The Salmon River is the longest and largest river in the lower 48 States that is completely without dams. This is the last section of "The River of no Return" before it joins the Snake River on its journey to the Columbia, and the Pacific Ocean. On this section of river our trips last for 4 days and cover 56 miles. Along the way we float through three different canyons named, Cougar, Snowhole, and Blue; hence the name, Salmon River Canyons.

On the Canyons of the Salmon River our most popular river trip is 4 days. Five days is also an option by adding on Green Canyon. The canyons are immense, dramatic and huge. Flowing grass blowing in the wind on the high mountain sides, and sheer canyon walls let you know we are in the middle of nowhere. We camp by our selves on huge beaches. At night you can gaze up between the canyon walls at the multitude of stars as they lull you to sleep. These trips begin and end in Lewiston, Idaho. There are no access points once we leave the launch site. The Salmon River joins with the Snake River and most of our last day is spent on the Snake River. Our schedule is more flexible on this trip, please call with your specific date. Transportation is provided from Lewiston to our put-in at Pine Bar, and from our take out at Hellar Bar on the Snake River.

Whitewater and Beaches

Of all the different sections of the Salmon, these canyons offer the most idyllic rafting and camping conditions. Day time temperatures are between 85 - 100 degrees, and night time temps stay in the 70's. The water is warm, and great for swimming. We camp on large pure white sand beaches. Along the way there's plenty of time for hiking, fishing, beach volleyball, or just relaxing with a good book. And of course there is the whitewater. Ranging from class II - IV, it is a great river for first timers or experienced whitewater junkies. Needless to say they are lots of fun, and perfect for paddle rafts, and inflatable kayaks. You'll run through rapids such as; Demon's Drop, Pine Bar, Bodacious Bounce, Half &Half, Snow Hole, China, Zig Zag, Slide, Sluicebox, Checkerboard, Eye of the Needle, and countless more.

Ancient and Modern History

During the trip, you'll visit several sites of historic significance. Rock paintings, called pictographs, pit house remains, used by the Nez Perce, and stories of their struggle. There are also old mining sites worked by the Chinese during the late 1800's. Through hikes, stories, and interpretation we hope you'll gain an appreciation of these historic treasures.

Wildlife

These Canyon's are also home to a variety of wildlife including whitetail and mule deer, black bear, the loveable river otter, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, a variety of birds of prey, song birds, and waterfowl. We are sure to see plenty of birds, and if we are lucky we will see some of the larger land mammals.

Fishing

We provide everything for you to catch a fish. It is almost a guarantee if you have never caught a fish we can help you. Our guides will help the kids with their tangles and baiting hooks. If you are an avid fisherperson expect to catch your fill. Smallmouth bass, catfish, steelhead, salmon, and catch and release white sturgeon. We usually practice catch and release for all fish however, if would like us to cook a big one we are happy to serve it up.

Cast and Blast

These canyon are also home to chukar partridge, and steelhead, which gives us great opportunity for cast and blast trips in the fall. Call or email for availability and information.

Salmon River Service

This is a full service trip; each day our gear boat travels ahead to set up camp, and secure the best beaches. When we arrive in camp, around 4:00 your tents are pitched, bags are up the bank, and the camp is all ready for you to settle in for the night. The guides set up and take down your tents, fill your wine glass, serve appetizers, make incredible meals, and do all the camp chores.

Trip logistics

Trips begin and end in Lewiston, Idaho. Accommodations are provided the night before the trip. We have a pre-trip meeting around 7:00 PM to hand out river bags and answer any last minute questions. Early the next morning breakfast is provided by the hotel. We will leave at about 8:00 AM and have about a 2 hour drive to the launch site. Transportation is provided round trip from Lewiston. Extra luggage and your car can be stored at the hotel in Lewiston.

Getting to Lewiston is easy. It is served by Alaska Airlines, and Delta. You can also fly into Spokane, Washington. It is just a two hour drive from Lewiston. We can help set up transportation from there. You can also rent a car in Spokane, and leave it at the Sacajawea while we are on the trip.

Once you reserve your space for the trip we will send you a complete packing list, travel directions, and a trip itinerary. We are also happy to help with any pre or post trip travel plans. We know the area. Come join us!

One and Two Day Trips

1 Day Whitewater Adventure

Spring Bar to Lucile Recreation Site
20 miles
Join us at Riggins, the Whitewater Capital. Ride the waves in Time Zone, Tight Squeeze, Traps Creek and Black Rock, just to name a few. If our self-bailing paddle and rowing rafts aren't exciting enough to suit your thrill level, hop into an inflatable kayak. The "pool and drop" Salmon River offers calm pools between rapids; a great time for photos or just lounging around. For lunch, no one puts on a better riverside deli lunch than HCR. We serve up plenty of deli turkey, ham, roast beef, hummus, cheeses, fresh salads, breads, fruits, vegetables, chips, and cookies. We provide waterproof containers for cameras and other items. We also arrange with a local professional photographer to take your picture at Time Zone Rapids. This one day whitewater adventure is perfect for groups, reunions, and parties, as well as adventurous individuals. Trips run almost everyday June - September, call for availability.
image provided by SR photo

2 Day Whitewater Adventure

Vinegar Creek to Lucile Recreation Site
38 miles

Add a new dimension to your whitewater adventure - like camping along the river on a beautiful sandy beach; enjoying a great steak dinner, Idaho garlic mashed potatoes, a garden salad, and Dutch oven treats, (maybe even a s'more). Camaraderie around the campfire, and falling asleep out under the open summer skies, it doesn't get much better. We raft 19 miles per day and camp near Spring Bar Campground. The first day is spent floating the more scenic upper section and the second day rafting the more challenging Riggins stretch where we run our 1-day adventures. Try your hand at the inflatable kayaks, join the crew in a paddle boat, or kick back on an oar-boat the view and the ride are spectacular. We provide all the camping equipment (tents, mattresses, and freshly laundered sleeping bags) which makes it easy for you to just show up with your clothing. We take care of the rest. This trip meets in Riggins and ends in Riggins. Trips can be started most any time; call with your specific date.

They don’t call them “persistent” environmental poisons for nothing!
More than three decades after the manufacture of chemicals like PCBs, Mirex and a trichlorophenol-based herbicide that produced the most toxic form of dioxin as an unwanted byproduct was banned in North America, they continue to menace the waters of the Lower Niagara River and Lake Ontario.
According to the most recent guide booklets released by the New York State and Ontario governments for consuming fish caught in state and provincial waters, there are still fish in the lower Niagara and Lake Ontario the governments are advising people to limit their consumption of or not eat at all due to an accumulation of high levels of toxic chemicals in their flesh.
This remains the case despite many years of cleanup work by governments and industries on both sides that have reduced the flow of hazardous chemicals to the Niagara River by well over 50 per cent.
That’s right, despite all of the cleanup successes the governments can rightfully boast about, a person is advised not to eat a lake trout from the lower Niagara River that is over two feet long due to the presence of worrisome levels of chemicals like PCBs, Mires and Dioxin the meat of the fish. The same is true for many other larger species of fish from the lower river and the downstream waters of Lake Ontario to the St. Lawrence River.
 In other cases, both the New York and Ontario fish eating guides advise people to limit their consumption of larger fish like smallmouth bass, rainbow trout, coho salmon and other species to once a month. Children and women of child-bearing age are still being advised, after all these years, not to eat some of these fish at all.
This is a sad legacy of decades of reckless industrial waste disposal practices that took place through most of the first seven decades of the last century and are still occurring to some degree. Chemicals like Dioxin, Mirex and others that were discharged from industrial pipes and that leaked from toxic waste dumps, most of them located along the American side of the Niagara River, are slow to break down when they are released in the environment, and they are still there to haunt us.
It was a little over three decades ago, in the late 1970s that the irresponsible industrial waste practices occurring along the Niagara River finally received the widespread attention they deserved with the leakage of toxic chemicals through a neighbourhood in Niagara County, New York from a dump called Love Canal. In short order, residents on both sides of the river learned about other massive dumps in that county leaking poisons to the river – dumps with names like Hyde Park, S-Area and 102nd Street, all burial sites for tens-of-thousands of some of the most hazardous man-made substances known to modern science and all located virtually along the shore of the river or on fractured bedrock a short distance away.
By the early to mid 1980s, environmental agencies on both sides of the border had tracked the presence of these chemicals throughout Lake Ontario and hundreds of miles downstream in the St. Lawrence River where high concentrations of them had accumulated in the flesh of beluga whales.
Those findings and years of pressure from citizens in New York and Ontario finally led to the signing in 1987of a U.S/Canada “declaration of intent” to cut the flow of chemicals to the river by at least 50 per cent. There is all kinds of evidence that a great deal has been achieved since the signing of this agreement. Some monitoring by agency scientists in both countries have shown levels of chemicals down by as much as 80 to 90 per cent in the flesh of fish and the eggs of fish-eating birds like herring gulls and cormorants.
But the information in the latest New York and Ontario fish guides serve as a stark reminder that we still have a way to go in dealing with the chemicals that are still out their, cycling through water and air, embedded in the bottom sediment of our creeks, rivers and lakes, and accumulating in the flesh of fish, birds and other members of the food chain, right up to and including humans.
The fish guide warnings are also a reminder that large quantities of Dioxin and other toxic chemicals remain entombed in Love Canal, Hyde Park and other massive dumps on or near the shores of one of the world’s great rivers. These dumps have been surrounding over and capped over the past few decades with “containment systems” the engineers who built them assure us should last three or four decades before they have to be repaired or replaced.
The problem with that is the persistence of the chemicals the systems were installed to hold back. A chemist can tell you that many of these chemicals may remain dangerous for hundreds of years and that begs a few worrisome questions.
Who is going to be there in the decades ahead to make sure these containment systems remain intact enough to keep these chemicals from bleeding into our shared waters in the quantities they did 30 years ago? Will the media be doing its job as a watchdog on this one?
A year ago this June, when the International Joint Commission – the official Canada/U.S. watchdog on Great Lakes environmental issues – was in Niagara Falls, N.Y. to hear residents’ concerns about issues around the Niagara River and adjoining water bodies, there was no one from the mainstream newspapers or broadcast media there.
Let’s hope, for the sake of future generations, that the environmental issues that still need to be addressed in and around the Niagara River watershed are not forgotten.

There are many realtors that post images of fish caught out of the lake or river from where they have property listed.  The Sunfish (above left) is from a nice, but expensive lake property.  The Bass (above right) is from the Menominee River.  For exciting, fun fishing I’ll take the Menominee River over any Wisconsin lake any day.
Well before Ernest Hemingway popularized Michigan’s rivers and streams as settings and backdrops for his early short stories, Michigan was known as a trout fishing paradise.  However, there is more to Michigan than just the Big Two-Hearted River.  Other famous Michigan rivers and streams include Bear Creek, the Little Manistee River, the Pine River, the Boardman River, the Au Sable River and the Pere Marquette.  This list wouldn’t be complete without mention of the Manistee River.
Located in the western lower peninsula of northern Michigan, the Manistee River offers over two hundred thirty miles of the finest steelhead, salmon and trout fishing that can be found anywhere in the lower forty eight states.  Who better to offer insight and knowledge about the Big Manistee than someone who makes their living by offering fly fishing guide services?  Schmidt Outfitters has an excellent article about the Manistee River on their website: 



Northeast Wisconsin’s Menominee River is home to a diverse and robust fishery, including Walleye, Northern Pike and Sturgeon,  but when you’re fishing with Mike Mladenik the big attraction is Smallmouth Bass.  Here’s a recent article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Outdoors section on jsonline.com:  Menominee River Smallmouth
 
Opening day for Wisconsin fishing is traditionally the first Saturday in May, May 7th during 2011. Hook and line fishing for many species of fish on many Wisconsin waters begins the first Saturday in May. However, to better manage Wisconsin fisheries, season dates are often specific to the species of fish as well as the water body.
Here’s the link to the. Have a fun and safe time on enjoying Wisconsin’s beautiful lakes and rivers.