Still Limited Options

I cannot remember the last time we started the month of July around here with so few fishing options. Our huge snowpack combined with such a cold, wet June has given us a slow start to July. The Snake and its tributaries are still high and dirty. The South Fork of the Snake in Idaho is running very high...23,600 cfs. That is an unheard of flow for this time of year, if you look at its history. Palisades Reservoir is at capacity, and they are having to match outflows with inflows. Between the Snake, the Salt River, the Greys River and all of the Palisades tributaries, there is a lot of water still coming in. We are normally coming into prime time for the South Fork right now...not sure what the next week will hold. The Green is still high, but finally starting to drop. I guided there on Sunday with a few other guides and had very tough fishing. The water was fast and murky. Amazingly, we picked up a handful of Brown Trout on stonefly nymphs. Realistically, I think the Green will be at least another week away from better fishing. The Firehole River and Lewis Lake in Yellowstone are fishing well still, however, there is so much road construction in Southern Yellowstone, that it could take you 3 hours to get there from Jackson. Not great news for fishing guides. Now the good news: fishing will be phenomenal later this summer and fall...you can count on it! Here is Joseph Matuk with a nice Green River Brown from Sunday, netted in tough conditions. Nice job Joseph. More soon!

No Tell Canyon

Most anglers out there would admit to having at least one special spot, one great fishing hole, one secret little paradise that they can turn to now and then for some reliable, unspoiled fishing...a place that virtually no one knows about. That's what I call "No Tell Canyon". When I stopped by the fly shop late on Tuesday to pick up some drake patterns, one of the new guys working in the shop asked where I could possibly be going. After all, everything is high and muddy right now...there's no dry fly fishing, right? Where would there be drakes pouring off? Somewhere in Idaho...or was it Wyoming? Fortunately, I was able to spend the day Wednesday with This Is Fly editor Brian Hodges in No Tell Canyon, casting dry flies to 5 pound Brown Trout. Very memorable, and a beautiful day to float. I hope you all have at least one No Tell Canyon to visit now and then. Until then, we're still dealing with a high Snake, Green and South Fork. Things should be looking up in the next couple of weeks.

Tough On The South Fork

After a number of great days in the South Fork Canyon, it finally got tough this week. The powers- that- be in Idaho decided to bring the river up over 18,000 cfs on Wednesday. That was an increase of about 8,000 cfs. It has virtually brought the fishing to a halt. Not only is the water very high, it is stirring up debris and silt, further complicating things. I guided a newlywed couple on the upper South Fork on Wednesday, as they were bumping up the water flow. Despite the conditions, we picked up a few fish here and there. Julia and Jim had never fished out of a driftboat before, and their first experience with me was certainly a challenging one. They did great keeping their stonefly nymphs in the zone all day. We decide to skip the Canyon the next day, and headed for the Firehole. It's still fishing OK there, provided it is not too bright. Hopefully these high South Fork flows are not going to last too long, but no one has heard much yet. All of the reservoirs in the Snake River system are full, or near full, which is why they are moving the water; there is still some snow left to come down, and with the cooler weather these past two weeks, the runoff has stalled a little. Hopefully we'll see some hotter weather soon. Here is Jim Childress with a chubby brown we nailed on Wednesday. Nice fish Jim!

South Fork Canyon

My last post on Friday was after a tough day on the lower South Fork with Tom Smith. We fished streamers hard all day, with little luck. I took Tom down the Canyon section on Saturday and had a great day. We nymphed the entire day with fantastic results...many Brown, Rainbow and Cutthroat on stonefly nymphs in a variety of water. I guided again down the South Fork Canyon today with Fred Thranhardt and Charlie Howorth, a couple of great guys I take each year. The fishing was phenomenal. From the first cast, to the last, we had tons of action on stonefly nymphs in riffles, flats and many of the faster banks. Although Fred netted the biggest fish of the day, a 21" Brown trout, Charlie won the contest on numbers. He caught an obscene amount of fish, all from the back seat of the driftboat. He was like a Hoover vacuum today! Lots of fun! The river has been holding steady at 10,700 cfs for quite a while now, but I heard late today that it will be going up to at least 16,000 cfs on Thursday. So much for the good fishing in the Canyon. In my opinion, anything over about 14,000 cfs is very hard to fish on this river. Here are a couple of Charlie's fish from today. More soon!

Bass On The Fly

I had the chance yesterday to participate in the second annual Jackson Hole Bassmasters event on Ririe Reservoir, in Southeastern Idaho. It's an unlikely event situated in the heart of trout country, organized by local bassmaster Kevin Brazell. It was a blast! Seventeen teams of two fished from 8 am to 4 pm looking for the five heaviest fish they could find. An aerator in our cooler kept the fish safe and healthy until the 4 pm weigh-in. The fishing was great. We had excellent topwater action with medium sized poppers. I've always heard about the good smallmouth fishing on Ririe Reservoir, but in all the years I've lived here, I've never been. Scott Smith asked me to be his teammate and I gladly accepted. We actually placed 6Th, to my surprise. A pair of Victor, Idaho ladies took first place and the $1000.00 purse. There were some heavy fishing hitters there, including Will Dornan, Jeff Currier and Carter Andrews. I'm already looking forward to next year! As far as local trout fishing, the Firehole continues to fish well. I spent the day fishing there with good buddy Stan Czarniak on Tuesday. We did well on streamers and nymphs in the morning, and PMD's on top by mid-afternoon. The water is still fairly high, so be cautious when wading. I guided a pair of regular clients today on the lower South Fork...it was lackluster. Although the water level has come down, it is still murky. There is not a whole lot of visibility yet. The recent heavy rains (including today) are not helping. We struggled with streamers and netted a handful of smaller fish on stonefly nymphs. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks, we'll see some dryfly action begin. Here's a couple of shots of me and Will Dornan with some typical Ririe smallmouth. More soon!

Water Everywhere

After receiving above average snowfall this winter, most of the watersheds in the Intermountain West are reaping the benefits. Reservoirs are full, and the rivers are flowing big time. To top everything off, much of the region has been seeing heavy rains this past week which is the icing on the cake. Virtually all of the freestone rivers are high and muddy, and the tailwater rivers (dam release) are running very high. It's bad news for current fishing conditions, but it is like money in the bank for the summer and fall. The trout and insect life will benefit long term with these conditions. We will certainly see great fishing conditions this summer and fall, with eager, healthy trout on the hunt for food. The Snake River around Jackson is very high and muddy, and is most likely at its peak this weekend. The Green looks like it has peaked as well, with high flows. The Snake near Wilson was over 17,000 cfs yesterday, with almost 22,000 cfs entering Palisades Reservoir in Alpine. The Green is down a bit to 2300 cfs, from its peak last Wednesday of 3200 cfs. Recent drought areas from our neighbors in Montana are looking very good as well. The Big Hole River, which is part of the Missouri River headwaters, is looking great with plenty of water. Flows on the Missouri below Holter Dam last week were approaching 12,000 cfs, a level not seen in recent years. Great news...should be a great summer and fall up there! This Big Hole River brown is sure happy about it! Check out this shot of the Snake River from Wilson Bridge yesterday...over 17,000 cfs.

Thunderstorms

June has finally arrived, and with it has come some severe afternoon thunderstorms, more reminiscent of August. We are in a weather pattern right now that is giving us warm, clear mornings, and heavy downpours with lightning in the afternoons. All of this is helping our runoff continue. The Snake is at about 16,000 cfs at Moose, and quite muddy. The South Fork is slowly, but surely, turning on. I guided a trip there on Friday with some beginning anglers. We boated about a dozen fish on nymphs. The water is still green in color, with a few feet of visibility. The dry fly action should be turning on there in a couple of weeks. It's holding steady just below 13,000 cfs. Issue 17 of This Is Fly magazine just came out today...it's a great one, don't miss it! Go to http://www.thisisfly.com/. A great photo essay by Brian Hodges, a look at "gripping fish" by John Holland, and a look at some "fly doctors" are among some of the content of this issue. This photo of Chris Stump exemplifies one of the great joys I have in fly fishing...choosing just the right fly. More soon!