The South Fork continues to offer terrific fly fishing throughout all of the reaches from Palisades Reservoir down to Lorenzo. Flows from Palisades are currently at just under 12,000 cfs. The primary hatch activity are yellow sallies, PMDs, and a variety of caddis in the early morning and the evening. The Canyon of the South Fork and the lower South Fork down to Lorenzo remain best for dry fly fishing with big browns and cutthroats coming in on Red Butt Sallies (size 10 to 12), Quigley Cripples (size 12), Pink Sulfur Emergers (size 14 to 16), gray Comparaduns (size 12), olive X-Caddis (size 12), and black Furimsky BDEs (size 10-14). Yes, big trout are coming up for larger attractor/hopper/stone fly patterns, but not near to the degree that they are taking the smaller, more imitative patterns. Target riffles, seams, and eddy lines with the patterns mentioned above.
The upper reach of the South Fork from the Dam down to Conant Valley continues to fish well with nymphs but dry fly fishing now much more consistent, especially from Power Line Riffle down to Spring Creek Bridges. Use the patterns listed above and target the same types of holding water.
Snake River
The Snake River is crystal clear and should be this way for the rest of the season except for the days following any torrential downpours. It is safe for us to say that the entire river is fishing solid from Jackson Lake Dam down to Sheep Gulch. The best action has been from roughly 11 am to 4 pm, a time period when water temperatures are relatively ideal (running from 53 degrees to 62 degrees). The warm weather we are experiencing is driving water temps up and making the fishing difficult from late afternoon until early evening (roughly 7:30 pm).
Dry fly fishing gets better by the day with lots of juvenile fish (11 inches and under) being taken in riffles and eddies on Quigley Cripples (size 12 to 14), Parachute Adams (size 12 to 16), Snowshoe Hair Wing Duns (size 12 to 14), and Elk Hair Caddis (size 12 to 16). These patterns are also picking up larger trout up to 19 inches in riffles, but also along structure and in side channels with defined riffles features.
Large attractors, particularly red or purple Chubby Chernobyls (size 8 to 10), gold or salmon Snake River Water Walkers (size 8-12), and red or purple Will's Winged Chernobyls (size 10), are bringing in big trout along banks and structure, but these are working primarily in the morning and shutdown before noon. We are continuing to fish these larger bugs in the afternoon, but doing so as part of a tandem rig with a smaller, more imitative pattern.
Flat Creek and Blacktail Ponds
Flat Creek and Blacktail Ponds opened up on August 1st and, while certainly crowded throughout the day, both are offering very good opportunities for hooking into large cutthroat, some in the 20 to 22 inch range. Olive, black or gray X-Caddis (size 14) and olive or gray Comparaduns (size 16-18), have been the most successful patterns coming out of our shop. The is no doubt that these flies are imitating emergent caddis and infrequen PMDs which are hatching on both pieces of water throughout much of the day in at least an intermittent fashion. It is hard to suggest a good time to be on Flat Creek and Blacktail. While we are focusing much of our attention at these waters in the morning (dawn until 10 am) and the evening (6 pm to sundown), the fact is that mid-day fishing has been fairly strong as well. If the dry fly action slows down, don't be afraid to go subsurface with a Pink Sulfur Emerger (size 16 to 20) or a lightly weighted Hare's Ear Nymph (size 16-18). These flies will be less than four inches under the surface and, frankly, the subsurface takes are easy to see and just as fun as anything that happens directly on the surface.
Green and New Fork Rivers
The Green and New Fork are dropping fast and currently stand at just under 400 cfs. Both are fishing well but the windows of opportunity have narrowed to just a couple of hours in the morning (roughly 8 am to 12 pm) and the evening (roughly 6 pm to sundown). It is large attractors and mayfly imitations that are bringing larger browns to the surface - Rubber Legged Double Humpies (size 8), Will's Red Ant (size 10 to 8), gold or purple Chubby Chernobyls (size 8 to 10), Tara Xs (size 8), Parachute Adams (size 10 to 14), and gray Quad Drakes (size 10 to 14).
When the windows of dry fly fishing closes in the afternoon, grabby fish can be picked up on double nymph rigs consisting on a Pat's Rubber Leg or a Perkins' Stone Nymph trailing a Zug Bug (size 12 to 16), 20-Incher (size 16), Lightening Bug (size 12 to 14), or Flashback Pheasant Tail (size 10 to 14). This rig fished close to banks and structure are doing the trick. Riffles, however, have been quite inconsistent with this nymph rig.
Salt River
Flows on the Salt River are at approximately 450 cfs and is producing solid hatches of PMDs and caddis. It is fishing well along deep banks, seams, and at the tail end of riffles with mayfly imitations and, to a lesser degree, large attractors. The most productive patterns have been Parachute Adams (size 12-16), Quigley Cripples (size 14), Pheasant Tail Emergers (size 12 to 14), Circus Peanuts (size 10 to 12), and Will's Red Ants (size 12). The lower sections of the Salt from Jackknife down to McCoy Creek are fishing best.
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