Snake River Angler Fly Fishing Report for March 18th, 2012 by Boots Allen

The warm weather that has settled on the Snake River region continues but with some cloudy days mixed in here and there. All of this has made for comfortable and consistent fishing on area waters. Blue-winged olives, chironomids, little black and little brown stoneflies, March browns, and even a few October Caddis and are evident everywhere. This is making for some of the best March dry fly fishing we have experienced in recent memory. The past week has been good on the water and the extended forecast for the coming week calls for much of the same. Here are how things have looked on the Snake River, South Fork, and the Henry's for over the past several days:

Snake River

Wading access is good and getting better from Wilson Bridge down to Elbow in the Snake River Canyon. Blue-winged olives, midges, little black stoneflies, and minute caddis are the prevalent aquatic insect on the water and dry fly action in the afternoon has been best in riffles, seams, and on flats with slow currents. Furimsky BDEs (size 18) in black or olive, Krystal Midges (size 18), Elk Hair Caddis (size 16 to 18) in black or brown, olive Comparaduns (size 16 to 18), Parachute Adams (size 14 to 18) and Booty's BWO Emerger (size 16) are productive on the surface during the afternoon hours from approximately 1 pm until just before dusk.

Nymphing has been consistent throughout the day with the best patterns being Lightening Bugs (size 14 to 18), Day-2 Midge Pupa (size size 18), Zebra Midges (size 18 to 20), Ice Cream Cone Midges (size 16 to 18), Batmen (size 14 to 16), 20-Inchers (size 10), and Copper Johns (size 14 to 18) in black, blue, or olive. These are working best when fished as part of a double nymph rig.

There have been instances when larger cutthroats are coming up for bigger attractors like Will's Winged Chernobyls (size 10) and SRA Chernobyls (size 10 to 12) in the late morning and early afternoon hours along banks and in seams. Action is sporadic, though, and it is best to combine these patterns with a dropper nymph or a small dry fished in tandem.

South Fork

The South Fork is a great place to be at the moment. Flows from Palisades Reservoir are now up to 5,300 cfs and just about every section of river is fishing well. The weather on the lower River from Heise Bridge down to Menan is warming up to 60 degrees every day and we are seeing lots of blue-winged olives, caddis, and some March browns. On the upper river in Swan Valley, air temperatures have been in the 50s most days and midges, caddis, and blue-winged olives have been active during the afternoon. Nymphing has been consistent everywhere. Scud imitations like Vladi's Woven Scud (size 12 to 14) in gray, silver Flashback Scuds (size 12 to 16) and Galloup's Mysis (size 14 to 16) are favorites at the moment, no doubt because of the plethora of mysis shrimp coming out of the reservoir. Lightening Bugs (size 12 to 16), Tungsten Fuegos (size 16) and Hickey's Auto Nymphs (size 16) are also producing.

But it is the few hours of dry fly action we are getting into each day that is making the South Fork such a good experience over the past week. Riffles on the upper reach and in the Canyon are exploding with life each day. It is possible to see a dozen or more rainbows or cutthroats coming to the surface all at once. Pheasant Tail Emergers (size 16 to 18), Quigley Cripples (size 14 to 16), Booty's BWO Emerger (size 14 to 16), and Krystal Midge Emergers (size 18) have been working best in these riffles, as well as in seam and in the re-circulating eddies that are starting to re-establish themselves with the increasing flows.

Streamers are also working well on the lower river when fished along deeper banks, structure, and through seams with moderate currents. Go with Stacked Blondes, Bow River Buggers in rust, olive, gray or black, and Silvey's Sculpins in gray, black, and olive.

Henry's Fork

There is decent fishing from Vernon Bridge down to Chester, but the action has slowed some in the past few days. But it is still giving some good fishing with nymphs such as Hickey's Auto Nymphs (size 16 to 18), Ice Cream Cone Midges (size 16 to 18), Rainbow Warriors (size 18), and Bead Body Scuds (size 16 to 18) in olive or amber. These are producing in riffles and along shallow banks and banks with moderate depths.