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!

It's Good Everywhere

Since my last post, I've been all over the place guiding and fishing. No matter which direction you head from Jackson, you should be able to find good fishing right now. I guided the South Fork Canyon overnight on Sunday and Monday this week with Joe Strazzeri and friends, and it was a great trip. We do our overnight through Heise Expeditions; our host Mike Quinn took very good care of us with an outstanding steak dinner on Sunday, and breakfast the next morning. The fishing over there is pretty good right now. Fish were eating large dry fly attractors on the banks, with Yellow Sally trailers behind them. The main event right now is the PMD hatch. Park yourself on any riffle by about noon, and look for the Cutthroat hitting the surface. They are eating these bugs ravenously. It won't be long before they get a little picky, I'm sure. The Snake yesterday was great; Deadman's to Moose fished solid with Sallies and large attractors. I guided today on the Green River near Pinedale. We arrived to the boat launch very early under cloudy skies. Although the water temps are getting warm, and the river is low, we had great fishing. The cloud cover really helped. We netted a half dozen fish in the 18"-20" class...all Browns. We also saw a handful of rainbows. Large chernobyls with beadhead droppers did the trick.
I also had a first on the river today: we came around a corner to find a young mountain lion taking a sip of water. He immediately jumped on the bank and ran off...sorry, no photo. As some of you may know, there is sometimes tension between guides and anglers in this region. For example, it's common knowledge that some folks on the South Fork do not like Jackson Hole guides coming over there to work. Well, many of our clients like to fish there, and I like to think we are helping their local economy. We are perfectly legal to be guiding there and only want to introduce our clients to the river. The same goes for Sublette County, Wyoming...home of the Green River. Many residents down there do not like seeing us working or playing there...not sure why. I snapped a photo today of a sign we found on one of the bridges we floated under. Pretty funny. What is interesting is that we did not see a single boat today anywhere on or near the Green other than ourselves. Here's a couple of shots of today's fish with Larry Kown and Jeff Cummings. Stay tuned for some photos in the next post from No Tell Canyon.

Getting Busy

Over the past week, the traffic around town and on the river has really surged. Despite more anglers being on the river, the Snake is holding up very well. I've been guiding mostly in Teton Park, and the dry fly fishing has been quite good. Withing the past two days, I've been starting to see some larger fish looking up. Chernobyl Ants, Yellow Sallies and Copper John droppers have all been doing a fine job. Yesterday was a very wild day on the river with local angler Dennis Butcher. We did Moose to Wilson, and spent most of the day dodging lightning, and very heavy rain. Despite this, he picked up some nice fish, including a 19" cutthroat on a large dry fly (no photo, sorry). The Buffalo Fork came up in volume overnight, but barely affected the river clarity today. The South Fork sounds like it has still been red hot, especially in the Canyon. Most of the tributaries are now ready to go...low and clear. I'm heading back to No Tell Canyon tomorrow with Stan Czarniak for a couple of days, then on to a South Fork overnight with good client Joe Strazzeri. Hopefully, I'll have some good reports coming up! Here is Denton Rea, of Odessa Texas, with our best fish of the day today.

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!

Jack Dennis Fly Fishing

For those of you reading this that don't know my history, I have been in Jackson, Wyoming for almost 15 years now, and have been working as a fly-fishing guide for Jack Dennis' Snake River Fishing Trips. Jack's guide service, aka Jack Dennis Fishing Trips, has been working out of the Jack Dennis Outdoor Shop on Broadway since the late 1960's. Since then, Jack has acquired numerous concessions permits that allow us to legally guide in Grand Teton National Park, Bridger-Teton National Forest, the BLM areas on the Green River and in Yellowstone National Park. We also have a relationship with Heise Expeditions, on the South Fork of the Snake, that allow us to legally guide in Idaho. Since the beginning, Jack has proudly offered only the highest quality guides to his clientele. Over the past winter, Jack and his former partners at the Jack Dennis Outdoor shop severed their relationship; Jack essentially pulled his premier guide service from the Broadway location to start anew in another fly shop, built from the ground up. I am pleased to announce that we are now officially open! Please visit us at 70 South King Street (across from the Sweetwater Restaurant), just off the town square. (Or call 307-734-8103). We have a great fly selection from Montana Fly Company, Umpqua, Rainy's Flies, Dan Bailey's Flies as well as patterns from local tier Phil Blumquist. We've also got gear from Abel, Thomas and Thomas, Loon, Dr. Slick, Scientific Anglers, Bailey's and RIO. It's a great new spot for us to book our trips, meet our clients and present some flies. It's a new beginning that is sure to take off. For those of you on Facebook, click on the Jack Dennis Fishing Trips badge on the right side of this page to see our store page!
As for the fishing lately...
I've been on the Snake the past few days and it has been extremely windy. The best fishing right now is definitely below South Park. The water clarity and hatch activity (stones and caddis), is much better on the lower river right now than it is in the Park. I've been quite busy lately helping Jack set up his new shop, so I don't have a first hand report from the South Fork or Green. Through the grapevine, however, I've heard that both are turning on nicely. Drakes showing up on the Green early in the day, and stones on the South Fork. More soon!

Ri-Drake-Ulous

I guided today on the Canyon section of the South Fork with Kazou Seta, a client from Tokyo I take every few years. As an avid fly fisherman, it's a treat for him to visit the Western States to pursue some trout fishing. There's a few spots on the North island of Japan that offer some angling to stocked trout, but nothing like Wyoming or Idaho has to offer. We had been emailing for the past couple of weeks about where to fish; the obvious choices for early July were the Green or the South Fork. Although the Green is now down to 1,100 cfs at Warren Bridge, we opted to chase the Salmonflies on the South Fork. Over the past few days, I had been hearing reports of the big bugs on the lower section, but could not get confirmation. We decided to do the Canyon (since he had never done it, and wanted to see the scenery), so we got on early and motored down. I prefer staying well above the hatch just in case it moves quickly. The water is still very cold over there...49 degrees this morning. We picked up fish on large Stonefly nymphs all morning, but did not see a single adult Stonefly anywhere. After a quick lunch, the hatch hit...but not the Salmonflies. The thickest Green Drake hatch I have ever seen on the South Fork began pouring off. We had about 3 hours of stellar dry fly fishing. We did not see any really big fish...17" was the best, but the sheer numbers of Rainbow, Brown and Cutthroat we caught was amazing. As the water warms over the next few days, I'm sure the Stoneflies will show up...until then, enjoy the drakes! The Snake is getting close. The snowfield in Rendezvous bowl is almost completely gone. Old-timers use this rule as an indicator letting the valley know when the Snake is ready to fish. When all of the snow is gone, it's fishin' time. The river looked as clear as I've seen it in awhile as I crossed it tonight in Wilson. Stay tuned.

Salmonflies?

It's the end of June, and everyone I've been talking to is getting anxious. We're all ready to fish dry flies. Granted, there's been some very good dry fly fishing lately on Lewis Lake and the Firehole River. Now we're ready to throw some big dries from the driftboat. The South Fork of the Snake has been holding steady at about 16,000 cfs for the past week; no sign yet of the big bugs, but it should be any day. For now, it's still nymphing well. The temperatures around here have been very hot for a few days now, so this should help that tailwater to finally heat up. A little warmer water should get the Salmonflies moving. The Snake and Green Rivers are both still running high and dirty (6,800 cfs and 2,000 cfs respectively). It's going to be at least a week on the Green, and probably two weeks on the Snake before we see better dry fly conditions. I did guide yesterday from Jackson Lake Dam to Pacific Creek on the Snake (above the dirtiest water), and had decent fishing. The water is still a little high, with a green tint. Although the Yellow Sally hatch was thick, there were only a few fish around looking up. I'm headed back up there on Friday, so hopefully I'll have a better report. For those readers that don't know...Jack Dennis' guide service (Jack Dennis Fishing Trips), is no longer operating out of the Jack Dennis Sports store on the town square in Jackson. We've moved around the corner to 70 South King Street (across from the Sweetwater Restaurant). We are receiving inventory as we speak, and should be open for business soon! I'll have more details soon...

Yellowstone Lake

The rivers around Western Wyoming and Eastern Idaho are beginning to stabilize after many weeks of rain and snow. The warmer temperatures lately have helped many of the local rivers reach their runoff peaks. Although it is still muddy, the Snake at Moose is running around 6,000 cfs. We should see better fishing conditions in a few weeks on the Snake. The Green has been a bit of a roller coaster; it's been fluctuating between 1,200 and 2,000 cfs over the past week, with varying degrees of clarity. I spent the weekend with the family camping above Warren Bridge, and we fished it both days. Although it is still high, and has limited visibility, the streamer fishing was surprisingly good. The South Fork had come down as low as 12,500 cfs over the past few days, and was brought back up again today to 14,600 cfs. I'm not sure if the Bureau of Reclamation even knows where to leave it right now, as Palisades is nearly full. If they can level it off where it is now, the dry fly fishing should really pop soon, particularly on the lower river. It's been a late start all over the region. Cool temps and high water have stalled the Salmonfly hatch on the Big Hole and the Madison Rivers. This should change this week with better weather.
Stan Czarniak and I spent Friday on Yellowstone Lake, near West Thumb. The streamer fishing was fantastic. In recent years, the numbers of fish that fly-rodders have been tying into has gone down. The fishing the other day sure felt better. We saw over a dozen fish in the net, including a 5-pounder.
Although it was not a fifty-fish day reminiscent of ten years ago, it was a heck of a lot better than the fishing I've had in the past few years. Hopefully these beautiful Cutthroat are making their comeback here. Headed to the Firehole tomorrow with some clients. More soon!

Wind River Canyon Update

Darren Calhoun, owner/operator of Wind River Canyon Whitewater and Fly-Fishing called me this week with a very positive update concerning the train derailment last month in the Wind River Canyon. It looks like the BNSF train derailment caused very negligible effects, if any at all. This is great news! For those of you who don't know much about this canyon, it is home to some of the finest trout fishing for Brown and Rainbow that Wyoming has to offer. Tumbling through some very rugged whitewater and rolling through the Wind River Indian Reservation, Darren's operation is the only way to truly experience this piece of water. Darren and I have both been getting many questions on how the fishing may be affected, and fortunately it looks like the minor spill, in conjunction with the very high spring flows, has had no affect on the fishery. I'm already looking forward to my annual trip. Check his link out below for details. Here's a great shot of Darren, and my wife Rachael, with a typical Wind River Canyon Brown. Stay tuned for a Yellowstone Lake update!

Huge Runoff...Firehole "On Fire"

Water levels throughout Wyoming and Eastern Idaho surged this week, as very heavy rains pounded the deep snow pack in the high peaks. Throughout the region, a very cool and wet May prevented much of the spring runoff from beginning. It really kicked into high gear this week. Heavy rains, and warmer temperatures brought the Snake River up to near record runoff levels. For those who do not know, the river volume is measured in "cfs", meaning "cubic feet per second". By drawing an imaginary line across the river, hydrologists can measure how many cubic feet of water are flowing by per second. Although we have not seen the record levels recorded from June 1997, the flows measured last week were very close.
Here are a few photos from the Snake River I snapped a few days ago. The first two at South Park Bridge, show a Snake River full of debris, looking more like chocolate milk, than river water. The third photo was taken at the Moose boat launch in Teton Park. The ramp is completely under water here. The South Park photos were taken on Wednesday, when the river was running about 22,000 cfs. For comparison, most guides would agree that after runoff, the Snake fishes best at about 2,500 cfs.
The South Fork of the Snake in Idaho, spilling out of Palisades Reservoir, was brought up to almost 22,000 cfs this weekend, in response to so much water coming out of Wyoming. I guided there last Tuesday at 14,500 cfs, and had tough fishing.
Although it is limiting our fishing options right now, the good news is that in high runoff years, the angling later in the summer can be excellent! The best bet around here right now is the Firehole River, in Yellowstone National Park. I spent the day there on Friday, and found stellar fishing; dries and nymphs were OK, but the streamer fishing was on fire. This can be the case in the spring when the river is higher.

Heavy Rains

The past few days around Western Wyoming and Eastern Idaho have brought us some very heavy rains, and warmer temperatures. The runoff has now been kicked into a much higher gear. The Buffalo Fork, Pacific Creek and the Gros Ventre River are all running at a very high level, with a chocolate milk coloring. The Snake River is running over 16,000 cfs at the bottom of the Snake River Canyon, and it is still rising. They are increasing the flows out of Jackson Lake Dam, as Jackson Lake nears capacity. The Green River is also running high and dirty at 1,860 cfs. Flood warnings were issued today also for the Henry's Fork River near Ashton, Idaho. A couple of months ago, we were worried about snowpack and water; at this point, things are looking much better. There is still a significant amount of snow left in Rendezvous Bowl at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. This is the snowfield that locals use as a gage to figure out when the Snake will be ready to fish. I'd say it will now be another 4 weeks at least before we are back on the Snake River. The best bet right now for local fishing is either on the Firehole River (which is running a little high also at almost 800 cfs), or the South Fork of the Snake. The South Fork is running at almost 9,000 cfs near Irwin, which is a great level to float. Both Palisades Creek and Pine Creek are putting in some muddy water right now, so be aware. The river is still fishable, with much of the dirty water mixing in. I guided on the Upper South Fork on Friday and had decent nymph fishing. Lightning Bugs and Red Copper Johns did fairly well. There was virtually no action on dries or streamers that we could find. Here's Memphis resident Ed Robertson with our best fish of the day...an 18" Brown trout. Nice fish Ed!