Saturday, May 29, 2010

Fishing Update for May 29th, 2010

South Fork

Flows from Palisades Dam have stabilized at approximately 9,500 cfs and the fishing continues to get better by the day. The upper reach in Swan Valley is fishing well with double nymph rigs (Prince Nymphs in sizes 12-14, red Copper Johns in sizes 12-16, and San Juan Worms) in large riffles and seams along eddy pools. Light streamers - either tan or white - are working along banks and structure. Stacked Blondes (size 6-8), tan articulated Zoo Cougars (size 2-4), and white Bow River Buggers (size 4) are working best.

But it is the Canyon reach of the South Fork that has been fishing best of all. There have been solid hatches of BWOs and caddis. Gray Parawulffs (size 16), Ausable Wulffs (size 16) and peacock Elk Hair Caddis (size 12-14) are matching these bugs on the surface and producing decent sized cutthroat and browns up to 16 inches. The streamer fishing, however, is incredible in the Canyon right now. White streamers - Clouser Minnows (size 6), Doll Hair Thunder Minnows (size 4-6), and trimmed down articulated Sex Dungeons - are producing in skinny water flats, along banks, and along structure. We have been fishing these with floating lines and intermediate sink tips. Big browns and cutthroats up to 20 inches are slamming into these baitfish imitations throughout the day. There is almost no consistency in terms of activity with the type of retrieve.

The South Fork is THE place to be at the moment.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone is OPEN!!! Guides and anglers on the Firehole report water conditions to be decent but flows did rise a bit on opening day. Blue-winged olives were on the water as were a smattering of caddis despite cool temps and wet weather. Browns and rainbows are taking dead drifted Prince Nymphs and Zug Bugs and olive Copper Johns (all in sizes 16-18) in riffles and along undercut banks. Trout are also taking olive or yellow soft hackles swung through the tail end of riffles.


Ice is off about 30 percent of Lewis Lake and the fishing here was very good on Opening Day, although the put in is still really hard to deal with (lots of ice still in this area). Points, flats and melting ice edges are fishing well with olive or gray Mohair Leeches (size 8), blue-over white or gray-over-white Clousers (size 4-6), and gray Bow River Buggers. Sink tips in the range between Type 3 and Type 8 are getting these flies into the feeding zone and picking up brown trout and lake trout from 16 to 20 inches. These fish have a healthy girth to them and appear to have wintered well. We expect more good things to come from Lewis Lake in the coming weeks as the ice begins to melt and serious accessability by boat becomes more likely..

Snake River

The Snake cleared up significantly with the recent cool weather in the area, but with the warmer temps and drier weather it is now into runoff and should be for several weeks. Don’t expect much to happen until late, except for the tailwater section from Jackson Lake Dam down to Pacific Creek, of course. Flows from Jackson Lake Dam are scheduled to go up on June 6th and that section should start fishing well when it hits 2,500 cfs. We will report on that section as soon as we get a boat on it.


Green and New Fork rivers

Both rivers are relatively low but are in runoff and off color with about three feet of visibility. Under these conditions it is fishing well with nymphs and streamers. Red or black Copper Johns (size 12), Bloody Marys (size 12-14), red or olive San Juan Worms, olive Bow River Buggers (size 2-4), olive or black Beldar Buggers (size 4), and black Krystal Buggers have been the best producing flies when fished along submerged structure.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

The New River Ambassador for the Snake - Jay Pistano!

Jay Pistano has been named as the ambassador for the Snake River. He will be at Wilson Bridge three to four days a week this summer assisting with issues of congestion, user conflicts, and educating the public about aquatic invasive species, etc. Hopefully he can do for the Wilson Boat Launch what he has done for Teton Pass as the ambassador there. Say hi to Jay when you see him there and offer him your support. Boy do we need this at Wilson Bridge. Congrats Jay!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Whats in store for the Columbia-Snake in the new Fed Salmon Plan?

Waylon Lewis did this write up (below) for HP in preperation for the "new" Federal Salmon Plan. For those of you who fish the Columbia-Snake System, you know how important these dicisions are to thefuture of salmon and steelhead in the Northwest.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/waylon-lewis/will-obama-save-salmon-in_b_582418.html

Friday, May 21, 2010

May 21st, 2010 Update - River Flow Projections fot 2010


The Bureau of Reclamation recently released their river flow projections for the upper Snake River. The graph shown here is for releases from Jackson Lake Dam. On approximately June 6th, releases will be ramped up from 400 cfs to 5,000 cfs. This maximum flow will be held for about one day (on June 13th approximately) and then the ramp down will begin. USBR predicts that releases will hit 3,5000 cfs on June 16th, 3,000 cfs on June 22nd, and then down to 2,800 cfs on June 29th, which Reclamation hopes to maintain until the end of the season.
These projections could mean that the tailwater reach of the Snake running from the Dam down to Palisades Creek may start to fish well by the end of the 2nd week of June. This section generally needs flows of 2,500 cfs and higher to fish well. We should be above that during the second week of June.
For the South Fork, flows peaked at around 19,000cfs last week and the ramp down for the season began shortly after that. Currently we are at approximately 13,500 cfs. The ramp down will continue at between 5 and 10 percent a day until flows hit around 8,000 cfs. It will be held at this level for the season and be raised only if there is additional irrigation demand downstream or if the reservoir fills to 100% again.
This spells good things for the South Fork. We should be in good shape for the salmon fly hatch in mid-June and, the golden stone emergence shortly thereafter, and the terrific dry fly fishing that can happen in July and early August.
Please keep in mind that these are only projections. The Bureau of Reclamation will have to make adjustment based on what happens with the weather over the next two months. Rarely do USBR projections result in exact operating plans. But it is, at least, a projection.

May 21st, 2010 Update - 1% for the Tetons!

1% for the Tetons is currently conducting a major and very important fundraising effort in the Teton area. The Campaign is called "One28" and it is attempting to raise $300,000 for 19 projects proposed by 19 local organizations. Two of my favorites - the Snake River Fund (full disclosure, I am a board member) and Friends of the Teton River - have projects that are part of this campaign. The Drive runs for 28 days - from May 8th until June 5th.

FTR is seeking $12,000 for its Teton Valley Watersmart Schools,which will provide water conservation education for students and teachers in the Teton Valley Community. In essence, the project will design and implement a water conservation curriculum for education professionals involved in local schools.

SRF is seeking $11,000 for its River Ambassador Program. The River Ambassador Program establishes a River Ambassador for the stretch of the Snake River running from Wilson to South Park. The Ambassador will promote responsible use of the river by directing traffic; reducing user conflicts; promoting a code of ethics for river users; collecting pertinent user data; providing education relating to river etiquette, aquatic invasive species, catch and release practices, appropriate wildlife viewing practices, and leave no trace principles. As many of you know, Wilson and South Park are two of the most congested river access sites on the Snake. In my opinion, an ambassador is needed simply to help reduce and mediate user conflicts. The number of incidents at these site are growing every year. The Ambassador program established a few years ago on Teton Pass (to reduce conflicts amongst snowboarders and skiers) has been very successful and serves as a template for this program.

Go to http://www.onepercentforthetetons.org/ to get more information on these projects, the fundraiser, and to make a donation. The fundraiser ends on June 5th. The two projects I highlighted are very worthwhile.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Fly Fishing Update - May 20th, 2010

Snake River

The Snake River has finally went into runoff after our recent spell of warm, sunny weather that drove valley air temperatures into the low 70s. Some cooler, wetter weather has moved in since, but the runoff is here until it is over. What fishing can be has on the Snake River is on the five mile stretch from Jackson Lake Dam down to Pacific Creek and at the mouth of the numerous spring creeks flowing into the river. Expect to see caddis (match with Elk Hair Caddis in size 14 and X-Caddis in size 12-14), blue-winged olives (match with Parachute Adams in size 16-18), and a spattering of March browns (match with Airflo Callibaetis in size 12) depending on the weather. But don't be afraid to throw streamers at the transition lines of clear and muddy water. I generally urge a darker body for this kind of water, such as a black and purple Jungle Sculpin (size 4) or a black Silvey's Leech.


South Fork

Flows from Palisades Reservoir peaked at just under 19,000cfs on May 14th and are now coming down at between 500cfs and 1000cfs a day. We currently stand at 15,000cfs, which brings the South Fork into much better shape for fishing. Expect it to drop another 1,000 to 2,000 cfs over the week, which will be even better.

The tributaries of the South Fork are in runoff and reducing the clarity of the main river a bit. But it still fishes well in these conditions with Pat' Rubber Leg Stone Nymph (size 6), Parkins' Stone Nymph (size 6-8), Lightening Bugs (size 10-12), red or black Copper Johns (size 10-12), Prince Nymphs (size 10-12) and San Juan Worms (size 12). We are fishing these as double nymph rigs with the smaller patterns suspended 8 to 12 inches below the larger stone nymph patterns. This rigging is separated by about seven feet of leader from the indicator.

Under the current conditions on the South Fork, we are finding the best fishing on newly submerged riffles and the upstream pieces of seams and confluence points. Streamers (black Beldar's Bugger size 4 and black or olive Bow River Buggers in size 4 or 2) are also working well in these types of holding water, but they are being outperformed by double nymph rigs.

Without question, the best fishing is being found on the upper reach of the stream in Swan Valley. In fact, the first three miles of river are clear and visilibity is good until the confluence with Palisades Creek. We are picking up very good sized rainbows and browns on this piece of the river.


Green River

The Green is flowing at approximately 500 cfs and is a bit off color with approximately three feet of visibility. It is still fishing well with nymphs around structure and at the head of long riffles. Not that Green River trout key in on specific colors, but red seems to be doing the trick particularly Bloody Mary's, red Copper Johns, and San Juan Worms (all in size 10-12). Expect this stream to rise to well over 1000 cfs over the couple of weeks, but it will most likely recede quickly and be in prime fishing shape. Nevertheless, it is fishing decent at the moment and you should take advantage of it be flows increase.

New Fork

The New Fork is one of the hold out streams that has not entered into runoff yet. It currently stands at 250 cfs and is fishing fine with streamers (olive or gray Silvey's Sculpins and J.J. Specials in sizes 2-4). The dry fly fishing has been hit or miss, but large attractors are working in riffles, along structure, and along deep banks. In particular, olive Will's Winged Chernobyl (size 8), brown and gold Snake River Water Walkers (size 8), and brown Fat Alberts (size 6-8) have been bringing up the big browns on the New Fork. You can drop a Prince Nymph (size 10) or Lightening Bug (size 10-12) of the large bugs and pick up some big fish as well.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Snake River Update for May 11th, 2010

Snake River



The cool, wet weather over the past week and a half has delayed the runoff on the Snake River and we are reaping the benefits with awesome dry fly fishing, particularly from Wilson Bridge down to East Table in the Canyon. Water temperatures have been a steady 41 to 46 degrees from mid-morning to early evening, so the activity is almost non-stop. On my trips, I haven't even be tying on nymphs or streamers. The heaviest action has been in riffles and along banks and structure. Confluence points and seams have their moments, but nothing like what we are having in the riffles and along the banks.



We are seeing the typical bugs that we generally see this time of year - BWOs, midges, capnias, skwalas, Rithrogenas (a Snake version of the March brown), and early caddis. We are matching these with Stimulators and Parachute Adams, but the best action has been on larger attractors such as Snake River Water Walkers (size 10) in olive and rust, SRA Chernobyls (size 8-10), Circus Peanuts (size 8) and Kasey's Creature (size 8). These are the flies that are doing the trick. They don't look like anything on the water, but the cutties are coming up to them consistently.



South Fork



Releases from Palisades Reservoir are at 6300 cfs and this generally means some better fishing after the trout have acclimated. This is the case in the Canyon at the moment, where the fishing is the best it has been so far this year. Its still not as good as it is going to be, but good nonetheless. Nymph fishing in the riffles has been consistent throughout the day with Lightening Bugs (size 12-16), red Copper Johns (size 14), Zug Bugs (size 14), and Lite Brite Serendipities (size 14-16). In the afternoon (from 1pm until early evening) dry flies are bringing fish to the surface on riffles and seams. Elk Hair Caddis (size 12) in olive or brown, Parachute Extended Body PMDs (size 12-16), Parkins' Spinner (size 12-16), and Halo Emergers (size 14) have been the most productive flies.



The upper South Fork in Swan Valley has been the place to be over the past month or so, but the heavy fishing pressure on the rainbow redds, along with the raising of flows from the Dam (which generally results in longer acclimation timing for trout on the upper South Fork) have slowed the fishing down a bit. I have been having better luck here with streamers - olive or rust Kiwi Muddlers (size 4), white or purple Aztec Warriors (size 4), olive or purple Jungle Sculpins (size 2-4), and natural or white Sex Dungeons (size 2). This latter fly has been on fire for me. I am swinging them through riffles, seams, and confluence points, then setting into a hard and fast strip. It is really producing well and might be my favorite streamer this year.



Snow Pack Update



The unsettled weather over the past two weeks has boosted the snow pack in the Snake River drainage to 72% of normal and in the Green River drainage to 65%. While we are still expecting a short runoff, it is going to be later than normal. I believe that the runoff on the Green and New Fork will occur by the second week of June and the Snake and Salt rivers will be in post-runoff around the forth week of June. These are just predictions, so take them with a grain of salt. a warm, dry second half of May could change everything.