Ri-Drake-Ulous

I guided today on the Canyon section of the South Fork with Kazou Seta, a client from Tokyo I take every few years. As an avid fly fisherman, it's a treat for him to visit the Western States to pursue some trout fishing. There's a few spots on the North island of Japan that offer some angling to stocked trout, but nothing like Wyoming or Idaho has to offer. We had been emailing for the past couple of weeks about where to fish; the obvious choices for early July were the Green or the South Fork. Although the Green is now down to 1,100 cfs at Warren Bridge, we opted to chase the Salmonflies on the South Fork. Over the past few days, I had been hearing reports of the big bugs on the lower section, but could not get confirmation. We decided to do the Canyon (since he had never done it, and wanted to see the scenery), so we got on early and motored down. I prefer staying well above the hatch just in case it moves quickly. The water is still very cold over there...49 degrees this morning. We picked up fish on large Stonefly nymphs all morning, but did not see a single adult Stonefly anywhere. After a quick lunch, the hatch hit...but not the Salmonflies. The thickest Green Drake hatch I have ever seen on the South Fork began pouring off. We had about 3 hours of stellar dry fly fishing. We did not see any really big fish...17" was the best, but the sheer numbers of Rainbow, Brown and Cutthroat we caught was amazing. As the water warms over the next few days, I'm sure the Stoneflies will show up...until then, enjoy the drakes! The Snake is getting close. The snowfield in Rendezvous bowl is almost completely gone. Old-timers use this rule as an indicator letting the valley know when the Snake is ready to fish. When all of the snow is gone, it's fishin' time. The river looked as clear as I've seen it in awhile as I crossed it tonight in Wilson. Stay tuned.