Friends on the River

A good portion of my guiding clientele these days comes from local sources. I have a number of friends and acquaintances that hire me for themselves, or for their own friends and family that are visiting Jackson Hole. I always look forward to these bookings, they tend to be very fun. I had the chance to guide a handful of friends over the last week or so, and the fishing was great. Great fishing is always a treat, but it is particularly nice when I get to take locals. The Snake and South Fork are in great shape right now. Early fall weather has arrived; clear skies, warm temps and changing colors are making a feast for the eyes on the water right now. Big game is also starting to move near the river. The icing on the cake is that the fish are aggressively looking for flies. Although the nights are getting colder, I've still been finding eager fish on dries in the mornings, particularly on the Snake. The Snake at Moose is hovering at a low 1,400 cfs. Nice fish are still showing up in the main river channel. The South Fork has been turning on later in the day; hoppers and Caddisflies are working well over there. The next couple of weeks looks busy, and then it starts to slow down for me...time to fish! I've got a few great trips planned, more soon on that. I've added a new link on my list below to check out...visit Montana Angler Fly Fishing if you are planning any kind of angling adventure to Big Sky country. Here's a few photo highlights from last week. A nice group of Elk crossing the river in Teton Park; my buddy George Putnam displaying one of many nice fish he caught on his birthday with me; lastly, Al Renneisen with one of the more colorful Snake River Cutties I've seen awhile.

25th Annual Jackson Hole One Fly

I just finished two days of guiding in the 2010 Jackson Hole One Fly event. This was the 25th One Fly Event held to raise money for stream improvement projects on the Snake and South Fork Rivers. Coming into the event late last week, the weather was truly foul; cold temperatures, rain and sleet lasted through Friday night. The skies cleared for the weekend, with bright blue conditions and few clouds. While Saturday stayed a little cooler, Sunday warmed up to the low 70's. Forty teams of four anglers per team float two days, and can only use one fly per day. I fished Deadman's to Moose on the Snake both days. All four of my anglers kept their fly, and had a variety of scores. We fished a couple of small Mayfly attractors, a large Stonefly attractor, and a small Chernobyl ant. By far, the best fly in my boat over the weekend was the Small brown Chernobyl Ant thrown by none other than journalist Tom Brokaw. He fished well, and was a pleasure to guide. Great fishing, along with some fantastic conversation made the day yesterday fly by. The winning team in the event this year was the Worldcast Anglers crew. I've not heard what fly one the event yet with the most points, but local angler Mike Dawes helped carry these guys to victory. The largest fish in the net came off of the South Fork...a 23.5 inch Brown that fell for a Stonefly nymph at the hands of guide Ed Emory. In addition to Tom Brokaw, a couple of other legends fished the event this year. Actor Tom Skerritt, as well as local angler Liz McCabe (at 99 years old) also participated. (Nice job Liz!!) I'm off the river today, letting the fish rest a bit before giving it a shot tomorrow. The leaves are starting to change rapidly, and the thrill of Fall fishing is just about here. Enjoy a few pictures from my day yesterday with Mr. Brokaw.

Wild Weather Again

Over the past few days, I've seen a very mixed bag of fishing results on the Snake River. Monday and Tuesday brought us some beautiful early fall weather, with bright sun, calm winds and pleasant temperatures. Both days also saw lackluster fishing. I had good anglers from Deadman's to Moose each of those days, and we saw a lot of smaller fish on a variety of dry flies, with just a few larger fish acting very shy. I awoke Wednesday to some good cloud cover and fairly warm temps; I headed to Moose to put in and run the 14 mile stretch to Wilson with San Francisco resident Tom Steele. We hammered them. He fished a Parachute Hare's Ear from Moose all the way down to Wilson, and we found nice fish all over the place. Even though there was not much of a hatch, the fish were eagerly looking up. I think they were looking for the Drake hatch, and our fly did the trick. I decided to try it again today. Again, we awoke to good cloud cover, and slightly cooler temps. We put on at Moose and found a few fish, but before we knew it, the skies opened up with rain and sleet. The thermometer dropped to the low 40's and we began to freeze. The wind began gusting toward the 30 mile an hour mark. One storm after another rolled in on us, and my clients opted to row out to Wilson and head home. We cherry-picked a few holes on the way down, and found a couple of fish on small dries. I think if we had stuck with it, the fishing would have produced again. At one point, the clouds lifted a bit, and we could see that some significant snow had fallen above about 8,000 feet. It's pouring rain tonight, and it's still quite cold. We'll see what tomorrow brings. This weekend is the 25th annual Jackson Hole One Fly event. Forty teams will compete on the Snake and South Fork this weekend with one fly per angler, per day. Good luck! I'll have more on this after the weekend. Here's a couple of pictures of my buddy Larry Stephenson, who I guided last week. We had a great day looking for Cutties on dries. After visiting me here, he headed up to Oregon chasing Deschutes River Steelhead. Here's a picture he sent me from his trip...what a fish!! Check out Larry's link off of my list below to see his great artwork. More soon.

A Bittersweet Week

I just wrapped up one of the most consistent weeks of guiding this summer, with fantastic fishing on both the Snake and the South Fork. The cold weather, cloud cover and moisture we saw this week jump-started many of the fish into early fall mode. Drakes, Mahoganies, Hecubas and Hoppers all worked well for the anglers in my boat. Even once the skies cleared, and the hatches cooled down, the fish were still looking up for the Hoppers. There were also plenty of Caddisflies in the mornings, particularly on the South Fork. The tragic news of the accident that took the life of local fishing guide Rob Merrill put a serious damper on the mood on the water, and reminded us of the realities of life and some of the risks in fly-fishing. Rob worked for the Jack Dennis Fly Shop for a lengthy period, in between guiding stints on the South Fork, Henry's Fork and in Russia. Rob was guiding Wednesday on the Upper South Fork, when one of his oars became tangled with his anglers fishing line. While attempting to loosen the line, the boat drifted into a willow and overturned. While both clients made it to shore safely, Rob did not. It was a cold day, and he had waders on. Not sure yet if this played a role in his drowning, but it's likely. One moment, three people were enjoying some great evening fishing, the next moment, an instant tragedy. My thoughts are with Rob and his family right now. While guiding on that same section of the South Fork on Friday, both of my clients (who knew Rob from the Driggs fly shop where he was currently working), and myself were thinking of him all day. The river is obviously very demanding, and even letting down your guard for a moment can have dire consequences. Although the fishing was very good for us that day, it didn't seem as fun...Rob lost his life doing what he loved: trying to put a couple of people onto some fish. I'm sure Rob will be missed on the river. Check out a new link on my link list below. Click on "Troutbugs" to view the blog of Montana angler Joshua Bergen and also don't miss his website. Good stuff. Here's a nice shot of Charlie Howorth from the South Fork with a typical Cutthroat...plump and colorful. Also, a shot sent to me from Dan Beistel from our day on the Snake last week. Nice fish guys!

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!

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.