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.