South Fork
The South Fork remains the place to be - big trout coming up to dries on riffles, seam and eddy lines, and along banks and structure. Releases from Palisades Reservoir are at approximately 10,000 cfs, which is almost perfect for this time of year. The upper portion of the river in Swam Valley is now fishing as solidly on dries as the rest of the South Fork. The hot time periods are from approximately 11 am until early evening (6 am or so).
The primary bugs we are seeing on the water is similar to what we typically see in August - PMDs in riffles and seams, and grasshoppers and other terrestrials (beetles, ants, etc.) along banks and structure. Perkins' PM Muskrat (size 12 to 14); Pink Sulfur Emergers (size 14 to 18), Pheasant Tail Emergers (size 14), Quigley Cripples (size 12 to 14), Thorax PMDs (size 12 to 14), PMD Sparkle Duns (12 to 16), and pink Sparkle Duns (size 12 to 16) have been working very well in riffles and along seams. We are at times fishing a tandem dry rig consisting of an adult pattern as the lead and a cripple or emerger as the trailer.
On the banks and along structure terrestrials and large attractors are bringing big cutthroats and cutthroat to the surface. Grand Hoppers (size 6 to 10), olive or yellow Popper Hoppers (size 6 to 10), Dave's Hoppers (size 8), Circus Peanuts (size 8 to 10), South Fork Chernobyls (size 8 to 10), and Will's Winged Chernobyls (size 8 to 10) in olive, gold, and black have been out performing most other flies when targeted at this water. But nothing is bringing the big fish up like a purple Snake River Water Walker size 6 to 8). This pattern has been responsible for at least four cutthroat and browns over 20 inches on the upper South Fork over the last week. Yes, we are giving these all flies movement with twitches and skitters, but trout are taking them with dead drifts as well.
Nymphing is obviously working well, but a double rig is overkill at this point of the season. We have been using a simple dropper with the large dry flies, particularly in the morning and into late afternoon.
Snake River
Dry fly fishing is the name of the game on the Snake at the moment. You can get into hefty numbers on almost any section of the river that you fish, but most of the size is being found on the upper portion of the river above Moose Bridge. The best action is coming from approximately 10:30 am to 5 pm. Water temperatures are climbing significantly throughout the day and are hitting 65 degrees by early evening. This should change, however, as the forecast over the coming weeks call for overnight lows to be in the low to mid-40s, an improvement over what we have experienced over the past month or so.
PMDS, yellow sallies, caddis, and grasshoppers are emerging intermittently throughout the day, allowing anglers to have success on a wide variety of patterns. Tara Xs (size 8 to 10), Circus Peanuts (size 10), gold, purple, or salmon Snake River Water Walkers (size 6 to 12), Will's Red Ant (size 10), olive Popper Hoppers (size 8 to 10), rust Ausable Wulffs (size 12), olive X-Caddis (size 12), peacock or tan Elk Hair Caddis (size 10 to 12), Quigley Cripples (size 12 to 16), yellow Stimulators (size 10 to 12), and Pheasant Tail Emergers (size 12 to 16).
There have been some unconfirmed reports of mutant stoneflies (Claassenia sabuloa) in the canyon section of the river. This is a sure sign that our wonderful fall fishing is approaching fast.
Salt River
The Salt River has been offering some surprisingly good dry fly fishing despite water flows dropping below 500 cfs and warming water temps. What is most surprising is that the surface action has been occurring during longer periods of time each day than one would expect, from approximately 9:30 am to 3:00 pm. The most prevalent hatches have been infrequen PMDs, tan tricos, and micro-caddis. Grasshoppers and flying ants are also about. Cutthroat and brown trout are coming to the surface primarily for smaller attractors and terrestrial imitations - Circus Peanuts (size 10 to 12), tan over red Will's Winged Chernobyl (size 10 to 12), Jimmy-Zs (size 12) and olive or tan Parachute Hoppers (size 10). But trout are also coming up for mayfly and caddis imitations, particularly tan and black Elk Hair Caddis (size 16 to 18), Quigley Cripples (size 12 to 16), Minimal Mayflies (size 12 to 16), and Parachute Adams (size 14 to 18).
Nymphing is producing as well throughout the day. We have been fishing nymphs as part of a dropper system with the most productive nymphs being Rainbow Warriors (size 16 to 18), Lightening Bugs (size 16), Flashback Pheasant Tails (size 12 to 14), and red or black Copper Johns (size 16 to 18). We are fishing these with 18 to 24 inches of leader from the surface fly to the dropper.
Flat Creek
Some big cutthroat have been taken on Flat Creek over the past week. A few have cleared 24 inches. Of course, the fishing is getting tougher as August gets longer and these fish get more acquainted to the anglers stomping around on the banks, but it is still worthwhile to get out there and sight-cast to these big, wonderful cutties. Grasshopper are becoming more frequent, but it is really callibaetis, tricos, infrequen PMDs, and caddis that the fish are focusing on most. Pink Sulfur emergers (size 14 to 16), unweighted Pheasant Tail Nymphs (size 16 to 18), gold-ribbed Hare's Ear Nymphs (size 16), and Air-Flo Cahills (size 12 to 14) are fishing best along undercut banks and at the head of deep riffles. But small attractors are working as well, primarily South Fork Chernobyls (size 10 to 12) and black over peacock Will's Winged Chernobyls (size 12).
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