The Perfect Storm

As many of you may know, the Snake River does not typically produce very prolific insect hatches in August. The weather is usually hot, clear and dry which is not very favorable to thick bug activity. A running joke between my guiding buddy Chris Stump and I goes something like this: "Hey Mark", says Chris at the takeout, "did you see that PMD near the Miracle Bank today at about 1:30?". Such is the case most days during late July and August. Once in awhile, we get lucky. The perfect storm of conditions takes place to change all of this. When the correct combination of temperature, light and moisture come together at the end of August or early September, the Snake can produce a blanket hatch. It happened today. I had my best day of the summer guiding on the Snake today under these conditions. We awoke today to thick cloud cover and light rain. The temps never got out of the low 50's on the water. No one was on the river...it was deserted.
My good friend and client Denny Cobb, of Virginia Beach, VA, and I put on today at Moose with high expectations, and they were all met. Fish were all over attractors right from the beginning, and by late morning, a thick hatch of Mahoganies and Drakes were pouring off everywhere. The hatch lasted all the way to the Wilson Bridge this evening. The river literally came uncorked; fish were feeding everywhere. Days like this on the Snake can be rare; it fished more like the South Fork, with eager Cutthroat rising to the occasion. The rest of the week looks like it will be warming with plentiful sun...oh well. Keep an eye on the Weather Channel; the next cold front could be your day. Here's a shot of Denny with a nice fish from today. The weather around here started changing on Saturday. I spent most of the day with the kids watching the rain fall, while Rachael spent the day floating the canyon section of the Snake on a ladies outing. Here's a nice shot of her with a great fish. More soon!

The Demanding Snake

For those readers familiar with the Snake River below Jackson Lake Dam, you know just how demanding a river it is to row. Floating on most of the stretches around here involves navigating your boat through significant elevation loss and numerous large log jams consisting of downed Cottonwood trees. Drifting this river, whether done from a driftboat, raft or canoe, requires not only good rowing skills, but a heightened awareness of your surroundings. Just earlier this season, two local anglers dumped their boats in log jams between Moose and Wilson. Both parties fortunately escaped without serious injury. Even though the river is running very low in volume right now (1,600 cfs at Moose), the danger is still there. While guiding today, my clients and I witnessed a canoe flip over on Deadman's to Moose, and its two older occupants get tossed in the river. We pulled our flies in, and I immediately rowed over to help. We got the couple to the bank and helped them out. I asked if they had floated this section before, and they said "No...why?". "Well", I said, "this section sees the most accidents of any section on this river. It loses a lot of elevation between Deadman's and Moose, and there are a ton of strainers. You have not even hit the maze yet, where most of the dangers are". They quickly asked, "What are strainers?". "Really", I thought to myself. I told the couple that if they had dumped their canoe into a strainer, they could have drowned. It turns out they never even saw or read the warnings at the Deadman's put-in. Pay attention people! On a lighter note, here is a great photo of my buddy John Holland with an absolute monster caught on the upper Smith River in Montana, near the Bar Z ranch. They're hitting hoppers right now hard. To learn more about this incredible fishery, visit Brian Hodges travel site at http:, //www.doublehaultravel.com click on the Bar Z Riverside Ranch.

Tougher River

The fishing on the Snake got a little harder this past week. Hot temperatures and very clear skies for most of the week kept many of the fish lockjawed around my boat. The brief cloudcover that I saw on Thursday morning sparked the river for a few hours, which was great news for my buddy Peter Chung who was in my boat. It further reinforced my theories on bright conditions and good fishing on the Snake this time of year; bright days can be tough and overcast skies are best! The river continues to drop, and the fish are becoming even more concentrated. We're approaching 1,600 cfs at Moose. The Art Association Art Fair is going on this weekend in Jackson at Miller Park. I took the girls down for a few hours today to check it out. There were a number of vendors exhibiting some great fly-fishing related art, including my friend Larry Stephenson. Larry resides in Wichita, Kansas, and puts out some very colorful and fun fishing related prints. I'll be fishing with him this week, so look for a photo soon. Click on his link off of my link list below to learn more about him. I spent the day yesterday in the Wind River Canyon on my annual trip to visit Darren Calhoun near Thermopolis, Wyoming. I headed over in style with Tom Smith on board his Cheyenne Piper, and had a great day. The temps in Thermopolis hit almost 100 degrees yesterday. Despite this, the fishing was solid, with many nice fish caught in fast water. Getting wet through the whitewater was sure a bonus. Click on Darren's link below, as well, to learn more about the unique product he offers on the Wind River. Here are a few shots from yesterday. Tom Smith with a fish on; a typical Wind River Brown; the view from the cockpit coming home last night near a local wildfire. More soon...

August Half Over?

This summer has been flying by for me faster than any other that I can remember! It might have something to do with the fact that we had rain and snow well into June; being busy guiding with two young kids at home is probably adding fuel to this fire. Just this past week, we had two days that struggled to get out of the high 60's. With some breeze on the river, it really felt like fall had already arrived. I sure hope we have a long, dry fall season. Fortunately, it's warmed up a little this weekend. Temps are in the high 70's and skies are very bright. The Snake River continues to drop, with levels just above 1,700 cfs at Moose. Some of my favorite side channels are now almost too low to float. Fish are really concentrating in their holes and looking up, as the main channel continues to fish well. This is also a great time to be fishing the local tributaries. Don't miss the Gros Ventre, Hoback or the Grey's right now...they are prime. The girls and I hit the Gros Ventre and Granite Creek this weekend and it was great. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has been making a great effort this summer with their Aquatic Nuisance Species checkpoint station just north of the Airport in Teton Park. All watercraft are required to stop here on their way to any of the rivers or lakes in the parks. Their goal is not to ticket people as much as it is for education. Cleaning boats and intakes on motorized boats can help reduce the chance of bringing invasive species into our local waters; pulling in to get checked only takes a few minutes. I chatted with one of the officials there the other morning and they have already found some potential aquatic "hitchhikers" being transported from our neighbors to the south into our local waters in the past few weeks. Good work! If you are hitting local waters and have not registered your boat yet with an ANS sticker, visit the Fish and Game office on the way out of town and pick one up. Here are a few fresh pictures of summer in Jackson Hole. Me and Charlotte on Granite Creek; Sam Lightner with a great fish last Friday on the Snake; Stan Czarniak displaying a very tight line on a Yellowstone backcountry stream. More soon...

Red Hot Snake

I had another great week of guiding last week on the Snake River here in Jackson. All of my days on the river were in Teton Park, and the fishing was solid. Although the fish are starting to look more closely at the larger flies, they were feeding with reckless abandon on smaller attractors and mayflies. The river is now running at about 1,900 cfs at Moose. Historically, for this date, it has averaged about 4,000 cfs. In other words, we have a very low river right now. The fish are very concentrated in their holes, and the larger fish have comfortably moved into their prime lies. The good news is that it is giving us some pretty darn good fishing right now. The bad news, in my opinion, is that it may make for tougher fishing as we get through August into September. While the water continues to warm this month, and the fish get stuck each day, they will get tougher and tougher. The first cold snap will solve this, but it's likely a month away. If you have not fished the Snake yet, I'd get on it soon! The South Fork continues to fish well with PMD's, and if you are on the Green early, it should be good. If you have not been in the new fly shop yet (70 South King Street, Jackson), then come on in! We've really added a lot of gear in the past few weeks, including a great fly selection. Rods from Thomas and Thomas, as well as Redington have arrived, along with Abel reels. We also just got in some beautiful handcrafted, wooden fly boxes and landing nets from local builder Steve Shibuya. Hope to see you in there. I was saddened to hear last week of the passing of Irwin, Idaho fly-tyer Phil Blomquist. He passed away in an accident last week and will be missed. He tied a variety of flies for our new shop, including some Orange Crushes, Pepperoni Yuk Bugs and some fantastic Sparkle Dun PMD's. Come check them out before they are gone. We'll miss ya Phil. Here is Marc LeBaron with a nice Cutty, measuring 19", from last week that fell for a dry fly. More soon!

The Boat Parade

Traffic on the Snake was noticeably higher today...at least where I was floating in Teton Park. There were at least a dozen boats on the same stretch I was on, and I felt like I was playing a chess game with my boat all day. Trying to secure a spot in some of my favorite areas was difficult. Oh well...I guess it's August now. Fishing was decent...we saw plenty of fish to the net in the 8" to 12" class. Most of the bigger fish we saw were very shy, likely due to the bright sun and the amount of boats going by today. Many looked up, and went right back down. I've had a variety of anglers recently, covering the entire spectrum of abilities. Beginners are certainly fun to take, and sometimes easier, because they often have very low expectations. Some novices actually think that they won't even catch a fish, but they always do. The more advanced anglers can sometimes be harder; finding bigger fish is often the goal. It's fun, though, being on the oars watching a "rod" work the water. I often learn something new about how to cast or present a fly when I have a good angler in the boat. Here's my tip of the day: keep the fly on the water! The anglers that false cast incessantly, or are constantly tangled up simply don't do as well. Their flies are just not spending enough time on the water. When it's time to cast, pick up just once, and present it in one cast. Yesterday was the opener on Flat Creek through the National Elk Refuge. I worked in the shop for a few hours yesterday afternoon, and had numerous people stop by with reports of big fish being caught. Get out there soon before they get too educated! Here's a couple of shots from No Tell Canyon last weekend; Stan Czarniak and I hit the trail in Southern Montana in search of large Brown Trout and struck gold. More soon!