Blast Of Winter

A serious weather change last week brought significant snow to Western Wyoming, all the way down to the valley floor. The mountains picked up as much as a foot of snow in some areas, with a couple of inches sticking around Jackson and the river bottom for Thursday and Friday. I had a trip booked for this past Thursday with some folks visiting from Northern California. I talked them into going thinking that the weather would not be all that bad. It ended up being one of the wildest days of guiding I have ever had. We decided to fish Astoria to West Table in the Snake River Canyon. As we launched the boat, heavy rain turned to heavy, blinding snow with serious winds ripping up river. With a full thermos, Coleman space heater and down jackets on, we surged forward. It was likely the coldest day I have ever had clients out on the water. Despite the rugged conditions, we were able to periodically sight fish to risers feeding on a light hatch of Mahoganies and Baetis. I would love to share some photos from the day, but I just could not deal with the camera in those conditions. I guided a last minute trip yesterday over on the South Fork, floating from Conant to Byington. The Canyon flows are now below 6,000 cfs, making for quite a long float. Fishing was fantastic. Although we did not see a fish over 16", the sheer amount of fish we found feeding on the thick mayfly hatch was unbelievable. A soup of Baetis and Mahoganies covered the entire river for most of the day. Definitely one of those days I would have preferred to have the rod in my hand and not the oars! The Snake River is now finally stabilized at 602 cfs below Jackson Lake Dam...perfect winter flows. Get out there soon, it should be red hot right now!
Not much else to report here. Time to start the serious gear organization for our November 5th departure to New Zealand. My good buddy Scott Smith and I will be spending 22 days on the South Island in search of Brown Gold. We've never been before and are ready for some adventure. We've had this trip on the books since last January, and now are in the final planning stages. I got an email a few nights ago from my buddy John Holland. He came across this picture from the Henry's Fork a few years ago that he just found. It was a day we spent fishing together below the Warm River in early May. It's a shot of the thickest Caddisfly hatch that I have ever witnessed. We were in complete awe...I've never seen anything like it since. Make sure to click on the photo to enlarge it and really appreciate the amount of bugs.