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The Owyhee River is a famous Brown Trout fishery. However, I had heard that rainbows were present in the stretch below the dam. My experience fishing the Owyhee has always been excellent Brown Trout fishing. However, I had never caught a rainbow nor had any of my fishing companions.

In early March my friend Steve Anderson gave me a call and let me know he was in town. Of course we decided to hit the river.

When we arrived at the Owyhee the water was cold, and we saw very few fish rising. We knew it was going to be a tough day. We tried nymphs and dry dropper set ups, but nothing was working. We finally decided to chuck some streamers.

We located a deep hole and began slowly working streamers through it. Within a few minutes I heard Steve hollering and laughing. I ran over and helped him net his rainbow.

I mimicked his fly and more importantly his presentation speed. After a couple casts with my new set up, I was the one hollering for the net.

I was stunned. I had fished the Owyhee several times and I had never seen a rainbow. Now we had two in the net within five minutes.

The rest of the day was windy and cold, but the two rainbows made all the effort worth it.

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The Owyhee River is an Eastern Oregon gem. Give it a try if you are visiting the Boise area.