Snake River Angler Fly Fhsing Report for September 22nd, 2011 by Boots Allen

Snake River

Autumn is the best time of the year to fish the Snake River and this season is not disappointing area anglers. Cooler weather and intermittent thunderstorms have helped to spark important fall hatches. PMDs remain the most prominent aquatic insect on the water, but we are now seeing more caddis, hecubas, and some mahogany duns. Grasshoppers and damsel flies are also making appearances. As has been the case over the past few weeks, large attractors have been working well in the morning. Some of the most productive include Melon Bellies (size 8 to 10), Circus Peanuts (size 6 to 10), pearl belly SRA Chernobyls (size 8 to 10), and Snake River Water Walkers (size 6 to 10) in salmon, dirty gold, and purple. In the canyon reach of the river from South Park to Sheep Gulch, we have been fishing these with droppers extending 18” to 30” from the surface fly. This rigging is working well in riffles and along banks and deeply submerged structure. The best droppers have been Lightening Bugs (size 12 to 14), Batmen (size 12 to 14), and Flashback Pheasant Tails (size 10 to 14), and Zug Bugs (size 12 to 16).

In the afternoon, surface activity picks up significantly with cutthroat trout feeding in riffles, eddies, and along seam lines and banks. Tandem riggings consisting of a size 10 lead attractor followed by a smaller mayfly or caddis imitation in size 12 to 16 are producing best. Another productive tactic along flats and side channels is to fish a tandem rigging consisting of a small mayfly or caddis imitation fished as a lead fly with a smaller emerger fished as the trailer. Purple Hazes (size 10 to 14), Parachute Adams (size 10 to 16), Parachute Hares Ears (size 10 to 16), PMD Sparkle Comparaduns (size 12 to 16), Parachute CDC PMDs (size 12 to 16), Quigley Cripples (size 12 to 14), Cole's Split-Wing Cripples (size 12 to 16), Sanchez Double Vision PMDs (size 12 to 14), Booty's Mahogany Emerger (size 12), and Booty's Drake Emerger (size 10 to 12) have all been solid producers.

South Fork

Flows continue to be stable at 9,000 cfs. Fishing on the South Fork is still good but the typical mid-September inconsistency is starting to creep in on this river, something many of us thought would not occur with the late and extended runoff that we experienced earlier this year. Nonetheless, trout are being taken on every stretch of river, with the canyon reach being the most consistent. When cloudy and wet weather creeps in, the fishing improves noticeably. Lots of inermis and infrequen PMDs will be about. Intermittent hatches of caddis are also evident. Large attractors fished with deep droppers have been successful along banks, flats, and in deep eddies. Lightening Bugs (size 10 to 14) and CDC Bubbleback Pheasant Tails have been producing in this regard. The best attractors have been Kasey's Creature, Chubby Chernobyls (size 8 to 10) in gold, red, or purple, and PMXs (size 8 to 10) in red or olive.

Small mayflies are producing throughout the day along slow banks and flats. Riffle action with these flies has been spotty at best, but they do come alive on the cooler and cloudier days. Parachute Adams (size 14 to 16), Booty’s Drake Emerger (size 12), Quigley Cripples (size 12 to 14), Pink Sulfer Emergers (size 14 to 16), Pheasant Tail Emergers (size 16 to 18), and Cole's Split Winger Cripple (size 12 to 14) all fishing well, especially canyon reach and late in the day from Palisades Dam down to Irwin.

Salt River

Like other streams in the region, the Salt is fishing best on days with cloudy weather and/or a little bit of precipitation. PMDs and caddis can been found on the water throughout most parts of the day. There are still intermittent emergences of trico, especially on thoe lower reach of the river from Etna down to McCoy Creek. Large attractors like Circus Peanuts (size 10), SRA Chernobyls (size 8 to 12) in red or yellow, and Chubby Chernobyls (size 10) in purple and red are fishing well, but it is smaller, imitative patterns of dry flies that are producing best. Air-Flo Tricos (size 18 to 20), Furimsky BDEs (size 14 to 18) in olive, gray, and black, PMD Sparkle Comparaduns (size 14 to 16), Sanchez's Everything Emerger (size 14 to 16), and Harrop's CDC PMD (size 14 to 18) are producing along cutbanks and at the tails of riffles.

Snake River Angler Fly Fishing Report for September 13, 2011 by Boots Allen

Snake River

The Snake River continues to fish very well on the surface with large attractors like Melon Bellies (size 8 to 10), Tara X's (size 8 to 10), Circus Peanuts (size 8 to 10), Kasey's Creature (size 8), and Wills Red Ant (size 8 to 12) drifted or twitched along banks, structure and through fast riffles and riffle pools. Although the prominent hatch so far this September has been PMDs, we are starting to see a few hecubas about. Because of this, we are starting to see more and more cutthroat come to the surface for smaller mayfly duns and emergers. Patterns like Quigley Cripples (size 12), PMD Comparaduns (size 12 to 14), Thorax PMDs (size 12 to 16), Booty's Drake Emerger (size 12), Parachute Adams (size 12 to 16), Purple Hazes (size 12 to 16), and Parachute Hares Ears (size 10 to 12) have been successful when fished in riffles and in slow moving currents along structure and banks in side channels.

Streamers are still fishing well on either a floating line or with an intermediate or TYPE III sink tip. They have been very productive in the morning along banks in currents with fast or moderate speed. In the afternoon, however, look for deep riffles with fast currents to come alive. These are best fished with a floating line and a lightly weighted streamer like a Quad Bunny, Zoo Cougar, Angel Eye Sculpin, or Kiwi Muddler, all in light shades of rust, white or tan. They fly will only be a couple of inches below the surface, but it is a lot of fun watching big cutthroat hit streamers just a little under the surface film.

South Fork

With each passing day, the South Fork is fishing better on the surface with a variety of dry patterns. Flows are at 9,000 cfs from Palisades Reservoir, which is almost ideal for dry fly fishing.

The upper South Fork in Swan Valley is fishing best with large attractors along banks and in riffle pools. Kasey's Creature (size 8), Melon Bellies (size 8 to 10), Bean’s Orange Crush (size 8), Barrett's Stone (size 8 to 10), and Chubby Chernobyls (size 8 to 10) in red, gold, or purple have been the best performing flies.

The same big attractors that are working on the upper South Fork are working downstream in the Canyon reach. But the Canyon is also fishing solid with mayfly and caddis patterns. Quigley Cripples (size 12 to 14), Halo Emergers (size 12 to 14), Purple Hazes (size 10 to 14), Klinkhammers (size 10 to 12), and Harrop's CDC PMD (size 14 to 16) are producing on riffles and in riffle pools and in eddies and seams. These same flies have also been successful when fished on flats and on banks with moderate current speeds.

Salt River

This is a fun time of year to be on the Salt River. Lots of cutthroats and browns are rising to a variety of patterns including moderately sized attractors, caddis patterns, and mayfly imitations. Dry fly fishing has been best from approximately 11am until evening, but when there is decent cloud cover, the surface action really begins to pick up on tricos and infrequen PMDs. When this occurs, think seriously about going to more imitative patterns like Parachute Extended Body PMDs (size 14 to 16), black Furimsky BDEs (size 16 to 18), black or olive Air-Flo Tricos (size 18), and PMD Comparaduns (size 14 to 16). You can pick up a fair amount of trout no matter what you are using, but there will be better size and numbers with imitative trico and small PMD patterns.