Redband trout are a special form of Rainbow that are native to a couple of drainages in the western United States. This subspecies is native to the western United States and is found in two drainages – the Columbia Basin and the Great Basin. The Columbia Basin covers most of Montana, Washington, and some of Idaho while the Great Basin drains Southwest Oregon, California, and Nevada. The search for Redband was part of the first book Trout Adventures North America and required some searching to find the right river. What I found was a river in Nevada that I will never forget. This river caught my attention because it was the only river that had Redband and Bull Trout. I wanted to catch both. I decided to fish Nevada and Eastern California in one trip and spend several days moving from river to river.
I was in for a surprise. The unique river I chose for Redband was the Jarbidge River located in the Jarbidge Canyon in north central Nevada. There are two ways to get into the canyon and the small village of Jarbidge that is about in the middle of the canyon. I chose the west entrance because it was the one in Nevada and was closest to where I was staying in Winnemucca. When I got to the entrance to the canyon there was a sign that said “Road Closed Due to Snow”.
There was another entrance to the canyon, but it was a much longer drive. I would have to go into Idaho and come down from the north. I spent the rest of that day looking for other rivers to fish. I did manage to catch several Rainbow, but they weren’t Redband and I was on a quest for Redband. I got up early the next morning and for a couple of additional hours to get to the Idaho entrance. The road was good until I hit National Forest and it became the gravel I was accustomed to driving. I turned south down the canyon and found a beautiful river. As I drove down the river one thing became obvious. The river was always about thirty feet below the road. It was straight down, but it was going to be a good climb no matter where I decided to fish. The river was fast and not large but was going to be difficult to wade. Go down the steep bank was easy. I didn’t think about how I was going to get back up. My mind was fixed on catching Redband.
The water looked good, and I tied on a dry fly even though I saw nothing rising. I was banking on energetic trout. I didn’t have to wait long and got a hard strike on my second cast. I spent the rest of the day driving up and down the canyon looking at different sections of the river and trying dries and nymphs in as many parts of the river as possible. I caught many, many Redband that day and finished with an hour of fishing the headwaters for Bull Trout. I was able to catch one small Bull about dark and it was the end to a perfect day.
