It's Dry Fly Time!

Well, it's finally here! Some of the area rivers have really turned on this week with some great dry fly action. I guided all week on the South Fork of the Snake in Idaho, both on the lower river and in the canyon section. The afternoon fishing on all of the days was very good. The riffle fishing really turned on at about 1 pm each day with great PMD action on top. The banks continued to fish better and better with larger stonefly patterns. I found the best rig to be a large PMX or Chernobyl Ant with a yellow sally trailer, fished close to some of the logs and willows. We netted many larger cutthroat this week using this setup. The more experienced anglers that I guided definitely out fished the lesser experienced this week. The fish were still looking for just the right presentation in just the right spots. Sloppy dry fly drifts were mostly ignored. The fishing on the upper river is now improving also, with the PMD action turning on as well in the riffles in the afternoon. I fished for fun today on the Green River near Pinedale and had great dry fly fishing also. The river is still a little high at about 1200 cfs, but the clarity is great, and the fish are looking up. Adult caddis fly patterns and yellow sally patterns worked well. The Snake here in Jackson has finally lost its muddy tint, and is starting to show hints of green...the light may be at the end of the tunnel! We should be able to fish the Snake within two weeks now. Here is friend Joel Handschin with a nice South Fork cutthroat taken on a streamer. More reports this week from the Green and South Fork!