Salmon River Middle Fork Articles

Middle Fork Memories

We love to re-live the special times our guests have enjoyed on the Middle Fork. We recently received an email from George Orbanek, recalling his float with us last summer.

“I am a Western Colorado newspaper publisher whose avocational passion is fly fishing. I've been very blessed in my life to be fortunate enough to fish many of the American West's storied fisheries as well as being able to visit some of the more well-known saltwater fishing lodges in places like Belize, the Bahamas and Mexico's southern Yucatan Peninsula.

What follows are some of the rivers upon which I have engaged the services of western river outfitters or one-day drift boat guides: In Montana, the Kootenai River, the Clark Fork River, the Bighorn River and the Madison River; In Wyoming, the Snake River and Upper Green River; In Idaho, the South Fork of the Snake and the Middle Fork of the Salmon; In Utah, the Green River; and in Colorado, the Roaring Fork River, the Colorado River and the Gunnison River. What made our week with you and everyone else associated with Solitude River Trips so extraordinary is this -- no commercial river operator I’ve used over the years combines such a love and passion for their home waters and immediate working environment with a passion for tending to every want and need of their fishing clients. And I'm not blowing smoke at you. I mean it. You guys were that good. And conjuring up a way to retrieve my reel bag with my SUV keys in it after I left it sitting on a bank 20 miles upriver on Day 2 gives an entirely new meaning of "going the extra mile" for one's clients.

The Middle Fork of the Salmon is a western fishery like no other -- literally. I will remain amazed to my dying day how adept you and your crew were in navigating your fishing clients through mind-concentrating Class III and Class IV rapids in classic, wooden, Rogue River drifts boats. Never saw anything like it before in all my years on many different rivers and likely will never experience anything else like it again. The fact that the Middle Fork is also home to one of the most dry-fly hungry native cutthroat trout populations in the entire Rocky Mountain West almost seems secondary to the power and the beauty of the river and the grandeur of the canyon itself.

Emily, Rebecca and I are your garden-variety passionate fisherfolk compared to many of your illustrious other clients – presidents, movie stars and the like. But we'd be surprised if any of your other clients -- famous or not-so-famous -- loved our week with you and the Solitude River Trips gang more than we did.”

George, we are truly touched by your kinds words. Thanks for sharing this.