The heat of summer. No hunting for another month. No trapping for another three months. Ahh, but there is some fishing...


Several waterways in Idaho have a few mud-bugs. Probably nothing like the SE states, however.


People talk about catching "eyes" all the time. They're probably not talking about carp eyes, I guess...


Always a variety caught in the middle Snake River.


Rainbows seem to be feeding pretty well in some areas. Did you ever figure they were living on shrews?

Guess I should leave my all black rooster tails in the tackle box when fishing for bows.

Thanks Jack.

Ten-four, decoy!

The snake is a western slope drainage. That 3rd photo has a bass, bluegill?, catfish, and one I can't recognise. Are those all native to the western side of the Rockies?

Nice pictures, Jack. Makes a cool feel to the heat of summer . Thank you for sharing .

If one skips the extra step and just simmers up shrews in buttah, instead of waiting til the trout eat them, will the meal taste just as good ?

Here's a few to contribute to the cool stream feeling.

A cool foggy morning...


Glacier fed


Crawdad'n

Love that first painting Sharon!

Jack, that is crazy about the shrews. Never would have guessed there'd be that many swimming around?!?

Sharon - great addition, girl!

martentrapper - I suspect that only one of those fish is actually "native". The smallmouth, the bluegill, and the channel catfish are introduced, I think. Only "native" is the "northern pikeminnow"; used to be called the squawfish (to some of us, it still is).

Interesting Gulo. Are state F&G agencies unhappy about non native species in the rivers? How have those species effected the native ones? What family of fish is the squawfish a member of?

Great photos!
Great art Sharon!
Fascinating about the rainbow full of shrews.
Caught a huge Montana rainbow that probably ate anything it wanted.
It was 26-28” and quite a surprise.
It hit on the last of the retrieve as I sped up the reel.
Took line for quite a battle.
Let it rest and recover and it gave me a splash as it swam away.

Always enjoy looking at photos. Here are a few of mine.

Teaching the boy the ropes in this hot weather


Turning these

Into these

Interesting stomach contents.....so what species of shrews ?
Does appear to be one peromyscus in the mix

Water shrews?

Had a water shrew pop out of a hole l cut in the ice for a 330. The shrew pushed through the slush in the hole took a breath or two then repeated several times. I had to look it up as I had never heard of such a thing.

New introductions are usually not welcome. Most are somewhat detrimental to native species. As far as I know no spiny rays are native west of the continental divide. Lake trout were introduced to north Idaho around 100 years ago and in Priest Lake have almost wiped out cutthroat and bull trout, the native fish. They are now studying walleye here and putting bounties on them in Lake Pend Orielle.

Nice work D.T., I haven't built any wood arrows in a long time. They look great, easy to see and find after being shot.