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.
No comments:
Post a Comment