The Snake Is Ready

I've been guiding on the Snake the past five days, and I must say that the fishing has exceeded my expectations. Once the runoff has subsided and the river clears, the action can often take some time to really spark. There's been no delay this year. The dry fly action this week was stellar. Although I only saw a few bigger fish, the action on smaller fish was non-stop. Chernobyl Ants and Wulff Attractors brought most of the fish to the surface. The couple days that I ran Deadman's to Moose saw a very thick Yellow Sally hatch in the afternoons; fish were eagerly taking Sally imitations in the riffles. Copper John droppers under the bigger dries also brought many fish to the net. The flows are good too...2,840 cfs at Moose as of today. By the end of next week, we should see even lower flows with bigger fish looking up. Rendezvous bowl is now clear of snow, and the water clarity is almost perfect. For those of you floating between Deadman's Bar and Wilson, be prepared for many new channels and snags. The high runoff in June has really changed the shape of the river in this area. There are many new, interesting looking channels and gravel bars. There's also many new log jams and obstacles to add a little challenge to the rowing. Keep your head up! Reports from the South Fork Canyon have been very good...large and small stones are turning many nice fish, with perfect water levels (12,500 cfs near Irwin). Here's Rene Ciarametaro with a chunky Snake River Finespotted Cutthroat Trout. Nice fish Rene!