Western Wyoming Water Report

I wish that I was able to report more information to my readers on actual fly-fishing conditions lately...instead, this journal has temporarily turned into a "water report". With each day of cold, wet conditions that has passed this week, the snowpack figures have climbed. As of yesterday, the snowpack around Jackson Hole has climbed to a staggering 230% of average for this time of year. Since virtually nothing is melting yet in the high country, the figure keeps climbing. The Snake is still holding at almost 10,000 cfs near Moose, and the South Fork is running a very muddy 21,000 cfs near Irwin, Idaho. The Green River has been fluctuating between 700 and 1,000 cfs this week, and the Henry's Fork is also running huge. I guided on the Green last Monday near Warren Bridge, and had lackluster results. The clarity was about 2 feet, and the fishing was slow. We picked up a couple of Browns in the 17" class on nymphs. Next week looks like it is finally going to warm up and dry out. Bridger-Teton National Forest officials this week predicted that the Snake will not peak in the Snake River Canyon until the fourth week of June; this would be very late. I'm hoping we will at least get better conditions by late June on the Green or South Fork. I would imagine by next week, we will see the Snake river ramping up into the high teens around Moose.

Fishing in Yellowstone National Park opens today. Although the lakes are still under ice, the Firehole is probably fishing nicely right now. Since it's the only game in town, I would be aware of crowds. There's a forecast for snow all weekend in Yellowstone...should spark some good dry fly fishing on the river. I'd love to hear any reports from the weekend if anyone is on the Firehole; I won't make it up there until late next week.

Also, it looks like they are about to get one lane of traffic open through the Snake River Canyon at the site of the mudslide...good news for commuters. Check the WYDOT website for road conditions. Here's a picture from the Green River from this week...a typical scene lately with dark, cloudy conditions.

Canyon Still Closed

US Highway 26/89 remains closed through the Snake River Canyon since a massive mudslide hit the road on May 16th. The mudslide has finally stopped creeping across the road, and WYDOT has now hired an excavating company to begin the process of removing the debris. They have cautioned that if any instability in the slide begins again, they will need to stop removing debris until it is safe. This past week ended up being a little drier than was forecast, which probably helped the situation. If the rains return, we may see the mudslide come back to life. Check out this video below that WYDOT released...it's an incredible time lapse shot of the moving debris from last week. When it was filmed, the slide was moving about 1 foot per minute. Make sure to visit the WYDOT website for the latest.

On Thursday night, I attended the spring water meeting held by Mike Beus, the operations manager for the Bureau of Reclamation. Dozens of anglers, river runners and ranchers were in attendance to hopefully learn details of how our water will be managed this summer out of Jackson Lake. Although Mike was well prepared with tons of historical data on the river and snowpack, he fell short on predicting what our summer flows will look like on the Snake. The situation we are in most resembles the 1996, 1997 and 2010 years, with a cool, wet spring on a very large snowpack. With our regional snowpack at 200% of average, and no crystal ball available on our weather forecasting, it's just too hard to tell exactly what the runoff will look like right now. Mike Beus certainly has a tough job. He's in charge of managing flows from Jackson Lake Dam, as well as Palisades Reservoir downstream. It's a balancing act of predicting runoff levels with how much water they want to end up in the lakes at the end of the summer. Anglers, rafters, kayakers and ranchers all have different questions and needs in years like this. Hopefully, we will begin warming soon and the Snake and its tributaries will peak by mid-June.
I spent the day near Pinedale last Wednesday with Scott Smith and Ben Brennan exploring the lower New Fork River in search of a spring fishing option. With some clients showing up tomorrow to fish a few days, I am in need of somewhere to take them, and this seemed like a good option. It was tough; relentless streamer action and nymphing only netted us a couple of fish. The water was still cold, and the clarity was marginal. It was a fun outing with some good buddies...here's Ben and Mokie doing a great job keeping Scott on the goods. Not sure where we'll fish this week...

Mudslides

If anyone out there is doubting just how much snow and rain we have had this winter and spring, just check out these pictures. A massive mudslide has closed US Highway 26/89 through the Snake River Canyon south of Jackson. Huge amounts of melting snow with a heavy rainfall on top of it caused the slide at milepost 127. Early attempts to clear the slide have failed, and WYDOT officials have said that it could be many weeks before the highway reopens. As of yesterday, the mudslide was measured at 300 feet wide, 40 feet tall and 2,000 feet long. Check out this link to learn more from the Jackson Hole News. Here's an additional link to WYDOT to help keep you informed on the latest.


Rachael and I took the girls to Yellowstone National Park on Sunday for an outing up to Old Faithful. Here's a couple of photos that I took of the snowpack from the Lewis Lake boat ramp...impressive!

Finally Warming Up

As I write this report, the skies outside today are sunny and the temps are in the low 60's...finally! Tomorrow is forecast to be even warmer. With near record amounts of rain last week, and a warming trend this week, rivers in the region have surged. The Snake is approaching 8,000 cfs at Moose, the Green has spiked up over 500 cfs, and the South Fork is back above 18,000 cfs. With the Henry's Fork also huge, there are virtually no options right now in this area to wet a line. The 10-day forecast has temps cooling a bit, but with rain moving back in; this should still help get the snowmelt started. If you're lucky enough to find some private water (like Scott Smith did in this photo), you may bump into a trophy. My buddy Scott was invited over to the Legacy Ranch in Southeastern Idaho last week to fish some private stillwater. The ranch is listed for sale through Livewater Properties, a local real estate company specializing in fishing properties. I'd like to say that Scott was in the market for purchase, but he was just on an exploratory mission with a friend who works for Livewater. The fish of the day was this 11 pound, 30" Rainbow Trout. Nice one Scott! Casting to trophy fish is just what Scott needed...it was early practice for an adventure Scott and I have planned for the Fall...more on that later.


I'd say that the next thing to put on the fishing calendar would be the opening of Yellowstone National Park to fishing on Memorial Day Weekend...the Firehole should at least be fishable by then, although there will probably be more snow visible on the banks now, than in this photo. Stay tuned...

Water Everywhere

I have had a number of fishing clients and friends get in touch with me recently with concerns about their upcoming fishing trips to Wyoming this spring and summer. The worry is that when they arrive, the runoff may still be happening, and clear water may be hard to find. Well, looking at this photo (click to enlarge) would make me wonder too. The University of Wyoming Water Resource Data System has updated their water-content map. These numbers are incredible. After a very wet winter across the state, you can see that the driest area is still at 129% of normal for early May. From there, the numbers just get higher. On top of this, the weather around the Western part of the state has still been wet, and very cool...there has been virtually no runoff yet. So what does it all mean? I guess the worst case scenario is that May and early June continue to be cooler and wet (which has happened before), which means a delayed runoff. If this happens, we may not see many low, clear streams and rivers until early August. Hopefully, we will start to see a warming, drying trend which should get this snow melt started. Bureau of Reclamation officials are emptying both Jackson Lake and Palisades Reservoir on the Upper Snake River to make room. I would think that the best case at this point, is that the Green and Snake Rivers would be ready to fish by mid July, at the very earliest. In reality, we may not have the Snake and its tributaries until early August, and the Green and South Fork will be higher than normal...which is OK. In the end, it is still good news...we are certainly out of any drought scenario; fish and insect life will prosper! Visit WRDS to learn more.
This second photo is a great shot that my buddy Bobb Cannella took near the Upper Snake River a few days ago...a spring Griz looking for food. Keep your eyes open out there!