Fly Fishing Report for June 1st, 2011

Snake River

The Snake is well into runoff and will be for quite some time with a snowpack well over 230% still in the watershed. The one fishable reach is the tailwater section running from Jackson Lake Dam down to Pacific Creek. Here the water is high (5,800 cfs) but is crystal clear and dropping by the day and water temps are getting up into the low 40s by late afternoon. There is little surface action, but trout are being taken on double nymph rigs with Prince Nymphs (size 14), Lightening Bugs (size 12 to 14), and red or olive Copper Johns (size 12 to 14). The fishing on this piece of the Snake is by no means "off the charts", but there is enough activity to keep an angler happy until more water opens up.

South Fork

The South Fork is running at 23,000 cfs and is very much off color from upstream runoff above Palisades Reservoir. We don't anticipate the South Fork to be fishable until the reservoir fills enough to allow sediment to settle. This might be a couple of weeks.

Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone opened to fishing on Memorial Day weekend and it is offering some of the best action in the region. Lewis Lake still has plenty of ice on it, but the Firehole River and Crayfish Creek are almost in ideal shape right now. Olive, cream, and white Soft Hackles (size 12 to 16) are working very well when swung through riffles and along seams and undercut banks. These same waters are producing with black or olive Copper Johns (size 14 to 16), Flashback Pheasant Tails (size 14), Rainbow Warriors (size 16 to 18), And Bubbleback Pheasant Tails (size 14 to 16). Blue-winged olives are emerging around mid-day, giving the best opportunity for dry fly fishing right now with bwo imitations - BWO Comparaduns (size 16 to 18) and olive Furimsky BDEs (size 16 to 18) are particularly effective. These are some of the best streams an angler can be on right now.

Henry's Fork

With the cooler temps that came into the region last week, Henry's Fork tributaries have receded and allowed for a clearer river and some better fishing. Oro Bridge to Chester is fishing best of all. It is not in top-notch shape for this time of year but is offering fair fishing in comparison to most waters in the area. Riffles and inside turns are fishing well with red or pink San Juan Worms, Tungsten BH Prince Nymphs (size 14 to 16), and Glasshouse Caddis (size 14 to 16). The big news is that the salmon flies are beginning to pop in pockets from Chester up to Warm River. If this emergence begins to get going in earnest, the Henry's Fork could be a very good place to be.

Stream Flow and Fishing Report for May 18th, 2011

Unsettled weather has hit Snake River country with a bang! Sunny and warm for a few days, then cool with showers for a few days. All rivers in the area are in runoff. This is good news, but the peaks on each river will most likely vary until when get more consistently warm temps and sunny weather. At the very least, ice is starting to come off of the lakes. Runoff will last longer on most streams than usual with the Snow pack at over 190%. But some rivers have shorter overall runoffs than others. Here are some of our projections -

Expect the Teton River and the Henry's Fork to be in fishing shape sometime in early June. One bright spot is that Box Canyon is clear and has at least some fair fishing is being experienced.

The Green and the New Fork should be ready sometime in around the end of June and first of July.

Most believe that the South Fork below Palisades Dam will be fishing well as soon as the reservoir hits 30% capacity, which will allow sediment to settle and the discharge from the dam to run clear. The rest of the South Fork should be ready to by the last week of June hopefully.

The Snake River below Jackson Lake Dam is at 8,000 cfs and will not be ramped down until much more of a significant runoff develops. As soon as we get down to around 5,000 cfs, the stretch from Dam to Pacific will most likely start fishing (dependent on water temps). The rest of the Snake will probably not be fishing until the end of July at the earliest. But we have been wrong on this before.

We believe that the ice on Lewis Lake will be off by the end of the first week of June. The Firehole and the Madison are having fast runoffs, but the jury is out as to when it will be fishing. Opening day on May 27th.

Remember, these are only projections and things will change. Be ready for a big, but not necessarily fast, runoff. And be ready for some awesome fishing once the runoff ends.

Fishing Report and Stream Flows for May 8th, 2011

Snake River
The recent warming of temperatures have helped the fishing on the Snake to a certain degree. We are now experiencing some decent fishing on the lower reaches of the river from Deadman's Bar down to South Park Bridge. It is by no means on fire, but much better than what we had a week to two weeks ago. Side Channels and shallow riffles and seams are showing action on Lightening Bugs (size 10 to 14), olive, black, or red Copper Johns (size 10 to 14), Prince Nymphs (size 12) and Zug Bugs (size 12). Dry flies are also seeing some action in long riffles and along structure, as well as along the mouths of the numerous tributaries. Large attractors seem to be doing best - Kasey's Creature (size 8), red Rubber Legged Double Humpies (size 8), and olive or red SRA Chernobyls (size 10 to 8). Streamers are producing when fished along banks and structure, but there is very little by way of consistent action as of yet.

Flows from Jackson Lake Dam stand at 5000 cfs. Water temps on the tailwater section just below the dam are in the mid to upper 30 - a bit too chilly for the fishing to have picked up in a noticeable fashion on that reach. This may change in the coming week.

More warm weather is forecast over the next 10 days, so expect the runoff to start in earnest soon.


South Fork
Warmer weather has helped the fishing a little bit on the South Fork. Water temperatures have risen into the low 40s in the Canyon and the upper 30s to near 40 on the upper river in Swan Valley. Another factors in the uptick in fishing has been the fact that releases from Palisades Reservoir have been lowered to 14,000 cfs. The runoff has started on many of the tributaries both along the South Fork and above it in Palisades Reservoir. This has led to some discoloration on the river, but cutthroat and rainbows are still being taken on San Juan Worms, egg patterns, and large rubber leg stone fly nymphs in size 6 to 10.

Fishing should continue to get better as the river warms, but one issue to keep in mind is that the reservoir is only at 11% capacity and is down to only the original river channel in most places. This could mean that once the runoff starts upstream in Wyoming, we could see much of that sediment going straight through the dam and into the South Fork. The result could be one of the muddiest seasons on the South Fork in years.



Henry's Fork
Warmer temperatures have caused a bit of discoloration on the reach from Warm River to Ashton but much of the lower river (Ashton to Del Rio) has solid clarity and is fishing very well. The most prominent development over the past week has been initiation of the Mother's Day caddis hatch. Any section from the confluence with the South Fork upstream to Mesa Falls has a lot of caddis emerging throughout each day. This is producing a fair amount of surface action on olive or black X-Caddis (size 14 to 16) and Elk Hair Caddis (size 16). Nonetheless, it is nymphs that are working best, including Glass House Caddis (size 14 to 16), olive Copper Johns (size 14 to 16), and Z-Body Caddis (size 12 to 16). We are fishing these as double nymph rigs with Pat's Rubber Leg Stones and Crystal Creek Stone Nymphs. These big bugs are picking up fish as well, no doubt because salmon fly nymphs have been very active along much of the river.