Early Fall?

All of the mornings this week were very cool, with lows below 40 degrees all over the valley. Are we in for an early fall? I actually kind of hope not, since summer started so late this year. I do think that it helped the fishing a little bit on the Snake this week. The dry fly fishing has been easier on slightly smaller attractors in slower water the past few days. There are definitely fish on the faster banks, but don't ignore the subtle spots and "off" water. Getting out of the boat and working side channels is also very productive right now. I fished on Thursday with great friends Michael and Elizabeth Traverso of Healdsburg, California. If you are ever in Santa Rosa, California, don't miss Traverso's Market, a superb Italian market and wine shop. We had a fantastic day from Moose to Wilson. Here is Elizabeth with a nice 16" Snake River Cutthroat.

English Rods

Fishing remains consistent on the Snake in Teton Park, with decent action on top all day long. The fish are still looking at a variety of hoppers and attractors in a variety of water. There is not much natural insect activity, which is typical for August. The river is still feeling relatively big right now, with flows at 3440 cfs at Moose. There is certainly still an advantage right now to fishing out of a driftboat. Wade anglers will have more difficulty finding water, and are probably better off trying Flat Creek, the Gros Ventre or Hoback rivers. I guided a father and son team from England who comes to visit each year, and they fish very well. It's nice having a couple of good rods in your boat. Here is Daniel Reeve with an 18" Cutthroat fifteen minutes into our float. Nice fish!

Flat Creek

I've been guiding on the Snake the past couple of days on Teton Park stretches and the fishing has been marginal. My clients were decent anglers and a lot of fun to be with, but the fishing just never popped. We caught numerous fish both days, but finding any larger fish was difficult. The weather this week has been warm and very bright, with zero cloud cover. A weather change would do the river good. This past weekend, I took a break off the oars and headed out to Flat Creek on the National Elk Refuge to test my dry fly skills. There's plenty of water left in the river and a tremendous amount of grasshoppers all over the refuge. I fished right through the middle of the day, which can sometimes be slow, but I found a great bank-feeder right as I started fishing. Flat Creek fishes like a typical spring creek (although it is not one, technically). Long, delicate, upstream casts are required only after crawling on your knees to spot your fish. The fish I found on Sunday was a gift. My first cast to him with a small hopper was eaten, but my hook set was junk...I totally missed him. After that, he wouldn't look at the hopper anymore. I continued with small mayfly patterns and actually stung the fish, not once, but twice! After missing him once, stinging him twice, I decided to rest him awhile. After about twenty minutes, he was back up feeding and I grabbed him on a mahogany dun. Sometimes, even on Flat Creek, you can get more than one chance.

Cloud Cover!

Earlier in the week, I guided part-time Jackson resident Charlie Howorth on the Snake, and we had an OK day. He decided to book me again for Friday on the South Fork in hopes of maybe finding some bigger fish, since the canyon section is still seeing some good action in the riffles on PMD's. I checked the weather on Thursday night, and decided to head to the Green instead, since there was a forecast for unsettled weather. By August, we have typically had many days in a row of bright sun, warm temps, and very few clouds. If you are lucky enough to get on the Green early in the morning in August on the first day of some new cloud cover, you could have great fishing, as any weather change this time of year can really get the browns moving. We nailed it! We were on the water by 8 am under very thick clouds and a sprinkle of rain. Almost immediately, there were large fish up on big attractors. We had great fishing until about 1 pm, when the clouds finally broke and the sun popped. Interestingly, there is a notion among the guides this time of year on the Green that you really need to be the first boat down on your section, since the river is running very low (like about 550 cfs). I bumped into another guide who works for one of our competitors at 6 am at the supermarket, and was not happy to hear that I was heading to the same section that he was. He raced down towards Pinedale, passing me in the Hoback Canyon, and put on the river ahead of me. Guess what? We caught very nice fish all day long right behind him...thanks for stirring them up! Here is Charlie with a 21" brown just below the put in...great day Charlie!

Teton Park Fishing Better

I've been guiding on the Snake all week and the river is fishing well overall, with each section fishing a little different than the other. The canyon sections below South Park have actually slowed a little on dry flies...I think that the higher water volume and the amount of boat pressure down there has taken some toll. Dam to Pacific Creek is fishing great, with lots of bugs...caddis and some early tricos are keeping fish looking up. Don't expect larger fish up there, but the chance to catch some numbers of fish is good. From Pacific Creek all the way to Wilson, the river is still rolling along at a nice clip, so accuracy with big flies is mandatory. I don't think that the larger fish have found their summer lies just yet...we're finding them all over the place still. Some in deep water, some in riffles and some on slow flats. Not as many fish yet in the log jams and structure that we usually see on the Snake. The tributaries are still keeping the river somewhat high for this time of year...the longer the river stays a little higher, the better the fall fishing should be. At Moose, it's flowing at 3900 cfs. I guided Jackson Hole One Fly extraordinaire Tom Smith today, with his friend Mark LeBaron from Moose to Wilson. They fished well, attacking the river with large chernobyl ants in all sorts of water. Here is Mark with an 18" Cutty that fell for a chernobyl, just below Moose.

Snake Lookin' Good

The color on the Snake River over the past week has improved dramatically...the river is looking very good. The volume is still a little high, but that should not last much longer with the last of the larger tributaries dropping and clearing finally. The river is definitely fishing better below South Park, which is typical after the runoff ends. The fish are taking a variety of drys and nymphs throughout the day. Sallies, larger stoneflies, caddis dries as well as basic beadhead nymphs have been working well. The park sections are fishing OK, but don't expect as many larger fish just yet. The fishing should improve dramatically over the next week or so on the Snake from the canyon through the park. I spent the day off today on the Upper South Fork with good friends Stan Czarniak and Tyler Hardy. Fishing was pretty slow. The dry fly fishing just never turned on. Despite a good caddis hatch and a few PMD's, the fish never looked up today. The streamers were not much better. The nymphing was mixed. I think we had a record number of whitefish netted, hooked or lost in my boat today...almost forty! On top of the slow fishing, the river was very crowded. Every time we turned around, there was a driftboat, pontoon boat or jetboat on our tail or ahead of us...oh well. Here is great brown Tyler managed to wrangle up in between all of the white owls.

Browns on the Snake

I guided a single rookie angler today on the Snake from South Park to Pritchard just south of Jackson. The dry fly fishing was great all day, with lots of fish ranging from 8" up to about 15". Large attractors worked well on the banks and in the riffles. The main draw on the Snake River is the chance to catch one of the strongest strains of native fish left in the west, the Snake River Finespotted Cutthroat Trout. Once in awhile, however, we stumble across a German Brown in the river, whose population numbers less than 10% in the upper Snake. Here is Eric Olsen with one of the first fish he ever caught on a fly...a fine 20" male brown taken on an Amy's Ant. When we do see browns in the Snake, they are often much smaller than this one...this was a real treat. Enjoy the photo of Eric and myself each holding his fish. Nice fish!

On the Snake

I've spent the past couple of days on the Snake River from Pacific Creek to Deadmans, and it was pretty mixed. On Monday, I had two very good local anglers who wrangled up some nice fish, the largest being 19", on big dry flies. Today, I had a pair of rookies who netted a handful of "Trout in Training" (Fish under 10"). The wind really came up on us today, and these guys just could not get the fly close enough to where it needed to be. Almost all of the fish we found on both days were close to the banks or on large flats. The riffle fishing is just not ready yet, but any day now! The Buffalo River is still a little high, and is putting in some dirty water still. As soon as it clears, the Snake should pop. I did not come up with any good photos from the past couple of days, so enjoy a couple more German Brown trout from the Green last week!

Out of Town

The fishing on the Green this week remained very consistent with great dry fly fishing, particularly in the mornings. Although I have not fished it, the reports from the South Fork from Scott Smith have also been very good...the upper river has also really popped, with good attractor fishing and great fishing in the riffles with fish hammering PMD's. I did guide on the Snake last Monday from Pacific Creek to Deadman's Bar with a local client who wanted to test the waters. We picked up a few nice fish through the day, but overall, it was a struggle. With the water clearing every day and the Buffalo Fork continuing to drop, it really should be any day now for the Snake. The major tributaries are starting to do well also...good reports coming in from the Hoback and Gros Ventre rivers. Only one more week until Flat Creek opens on the Elk Refuge! I'm away for a few days, taking a break off the oars...back on the water Monday. More from the Snake next week!

Browns, Browns, Browns!

Well, the fishing on the Green River continues to be off the charts! The fish are still looking up virtually all day long, taking gray drakes in the mornings and larger attractors in the afternoons. I had a great day off with Josh Graffim on Sunday floating the Green. Click on the link to Teton Trout to see some photos from the day. It was some of the best dry fly fishing I have personally had in some time. I guided again today on the Green on the Seven Mile Ranch and did quite well with just one angler. Here are a couple of photos of me holding some fish caught by John McCormick on dry flies. The South Fork continues to fish well, particularly with PMD's in the afternoons. The Snake should be starting to fish any day now with the levels falling and the clarity finally improving. More soon!

Great Week on the Green

It's been a fantastic week of guiding on the Green River! The river above and below Warren Bridge is in prime shape. The drakes are still pouring off in huge numbers in the mornings, while the afternoon has seen good yellow sally hatches. Try a size 10 or 12 parachute hare's ear behind a larger attractor, like any of the chernobyl ant varieties. The river is hovering around 1000 cfs and is still easily floated. The Snake flows out of Jackson Lake Dam have dropped to about 2400 cfs, however the Buffalo Fork is still putting in a silty 1750 cfs, keeping the river pretty high still. The color at Moose is not too bad with over a foot of visibility, but is still almost 6000 cfs there. I may take a local angler on Monday for an exploratory mission. Here are a couple of fine fish from the Green this week with Amy and Fred Thranhardt, a father and daughter team I regularly guide. Nice fish!

Drakes on the Green

This is probably one of my favorite hatches to fish all summer around here...the gray drakes. I've spent the last couple of days guiding on the Green River near Pinedale, and have seen some excellent fishing. The river is in very good shape...the levels have come down, the clarity is great and the fish are looking up. The gray drakes have been literally pouring off in the mornings, providing some fantastic dry fly fishing. Although the bugs have been tapering off after about 1 o'clock, the fish have been taking attractors quite nicely through the afternoon. I've seen a number of large brown trout in the net the past couple of days on drakes and chernobyl ants. Here is Richard Williams from Maine, with a healthy 21" brown that fell for a tan chernobyl ant. More from the Green soon!

It's Dry Fly Time!

Well, it's finally here! Some of the area rivers have really turned on this week with some great dry fly action. I guided all week on the South Fork of the Snake in Idaho, both on the lower river and in the canyon section. The afternoon fishing on all of the days was very good. The riffle fishing really turned on at about 1 pm each day with great PMD action on top. The banks continued to fish better and better with larger stonefly patterns. I found the best rig to be a large PMX or Chernobyl Ant with a yellow sally trailer, fished close to some of the logs and willows. We netted many larger cutthroat this week using this setup. The more experienced anglers that I guided definitely out fished the lesser experienced this week. The fish were still looking for just the right presentation in just the right spots. Sloppy dry fly drifts were mostly ignored. The fishing on the upper river is now improving also, with the PMD action turning on as well in the riffles in the afternoon. I fished for fun today on the Green River near Pinedale and had great dry fly fishing also. The river is still a little high at about 1200 cfs, but the clarity is great, and the fish are looking up. Adult caddis fly patterns and yellow sally patterns worked well. The Snake here in Jackson has finally lost its muddy tint, and is starting to show hints of green...the light may be at the end of the tunnel! We should be able to fish the Snake within two weeks now. Here is friend Joel Handschin with a nice South Fork cutthroat taken on a streamer. More reports this week from the Green and South Fork!

Hammering Fish in the Canyon

After a few slow days of guiding on the upper South Fork late this week, I took advantage of a day off today and floated the South Fork canyon with good friend Stan Czarniak. We put on at Conant and decided to run the motor all the way down to Cottonwood, a good hour of motoring. Since the morning was very cool, and most of the reports of any hatches were coming from the lower canyon, we thought it would be good to fish the bottom half of the float to Byington. It was a good decision. As soon as we started fishing at about 10:30 and under full cloud cover, the fishing absolutely popped. The nymphing and streamer fishing was hot right out of the gate. Kyle's beadhead sally nymph, pats stonefly nymph and the kreelex streamer knocked them dead! By about 1:00, the salmonflies began swarming, followed by gray drakes in the riffles, and the fishing really came uncorked...big fish up on dries in the riffles and on the banks. It was a very memorable day in the canyon. We moved fish all the way to Byington on a size 6 red Amy's Ant with a gray drake trailer. Fishing should be great all week as the bugs move up river. Here are a couple of photos from the day...a healthy male brown that fell for my Amy's Ant, and a very fat hen that absolutely hammered Stan's Amy's Ant. More soon!

South Fork Fishin'

I've been on the South Fork of the Snake the past three days, and will be on the river the next two at least. I guided on the lower river Monday, the canyon section on Tuesday and the upper section today. It has been a very mixed bag of fishing...all depending on where you float. The salmonflies have only been seen on the lower river thus far, so needless to say, that is where most of the traffic has been. On Monday, we only saw a handful of the big bugs, and no fish were eating them. We had good fishing with yellow sally nymphs, copper johns and adult drakes. The riffles were actually pretty good on gray drakes. The canyon section also fished well on the same nymphs, with better dryfly action on the drakes. There were also some PMDs getting eaten in the riffles. The upper section today was by far the slowest...lots of whitefish on nymphs and no dry action. I think that the water needs to warm, and the clarity needs to improve on the upper section before the fishing improves. Hopefully by this weekend, the salmonflies will come uncorked and they will begin moving up river. On each section I fished this week, my clients all raised fish on their orange strike indicators, so the fish appear to be ready for this hatch. The problem was that each time we switched to some big dries, they got ignored. Here's a photo of an adult salmonfly, next to a dry imitation. More soon!