fishing journal

August 24, 2008-
Fishing is great just about everywhere! The Snake is the best venue for JH now as we near the One Fly Event and should be excellent well into October this year. Cutty's up on terrestrials and brown stoneflies, so the fun big bugs are standard now...keeping eye's out for the first hecubas of the season. South Fork is fishing well but presentation is paramount, good technical fishing that makes you better, they're eating and still catchable. The Green is still fishing great however getting tough on the glass boats, flows are now lower than average and near impossible above Daniel, tight lines!
August 19, 2008-
Snake River Days! Lately, enjoying more consistnt fishing on the Snake here in Jackson. The flows are slowly coming down and are now nearing that special late summer flow that really gets the cutty's lookng up... at Moose,Wy I like to see it below 3200cfs, hey, its much better than drought years where flows out of the dam at Jackson Lake can be over 4500cfs. The fish are coming up throughout the day on various stonefly and hopper/terrestrial patterns... most days we are getting good numbers of med/small trout and then having ample opportunities of trout over 15"... those are often missed however! The Green is still fishing but getting rather low for floating, and the South Fork I hear is very good with terrestrials but I have not been over now in two weeks, keeping it local!
August 6, 2008-
Now at the half way point through the season and quite tired, local guides, myself included wait for the Snake in JH to really turn on. The river is gorgeous, flowing full bank to bank, running very clear and nice and cool... so, why is it so fickle in August? I really feel this is a low water fishery and unless you are versitle and able to cover water effectively (streamers, big dries) it can fish slowly, except for the dinks in the riffles. Until the flows drop and the hatches of September show it can be inconsistent and down right tough. Just a couple weeks ago fishing was epic on the SF and Green/New Fork but now as flows drop and warm on these rivers they can fish slower as well, go early and be sure to take extra care of the fish in flows over 65 degrees.
August 2, 2008-
The options are plentiful now and pressure should spread out giving the fish a needed break. The past week was very good, however did see some tougher fishing due to high winds early in the week and picky fish that needed near perfect drifts and immitations. This happens every year about this time on the South Fork and Green, but now the Snake is fishing well we will give the trout a break on those rivers. Terrestrial season is here and I'm seeing a good number of hoppers and big fat ants in the grass, the only hatches that are getting my attention are caddis and sallies, and it won't be long before we see the Western Browns on the Snake, aka,"mutant stone", or if you like latin...clissinnia.
July 26,2008-
The bounty continues! This week as good or better as the last and the outlook for the mid/late summer season looks great. I had three very good days this week on the Snake on "off the radar" sections and not a boat in sight, the Green and South Fork are still seeing the most pressure but the fishing and hatches are holding up, best of all is all the water we have and lack of HOT weather that can slow the fishing. The Snake River in JH is very close to producing consistent fishing opportunities and will be the centerpiece fishery into the fall. Seeing good hatches still on all the rivers, as these slow get the terrestrial boxes ready!
July 18,2008-
Finally! We have some excellent fishing in Western Wyoming and the options are soon to be plentiful helping to spread out pressure. This past week has been epic! I started the week with a South Fork overnight trip, on day 1 we litterally fished 1 mile of riffles above Conant and caught dozens of nice(15"-20") cutthroats, rainbows & hybrids. Day 2 we had big dry action in the canyon & droppers caught the wily browns. The Green River has been very good yet seeing too much pressure. My first day there since runoff was fantastic with the Grey Drake spinners in the am and then tan & red ants along the banks in the afternoon. Lastly, the New Fork is a special place that I hope everyone experiences yet I hope to never see it crowded; I had a very memorable day this week on the upper section with good client Skip Hildebrand, his comment was "our fish averaged as good as a day in Alaska".
July 12,2008-
Our dry fly season is upon us and is hot on the South Fork mid-day to late afternoon. The big stoneflies are moving through with their normal inconsistent fishing but the PMD's and sallies are stealing the show from Irwin to Heise. Lately, I have seen slower morning action absolutely POP near noon in the riffles turning a slow day into Cutthroat Gold! Reports from the Green are sounding better and the Snake may be fishable before August!
July 6, 2008-
The weather is turning hot and so is the fishing! The South Fork is the place to be over the next couple weeks as the stonefly hatches move up the river. The fish have been taking a variety of nymphs and are now looking up and we are seeing good-excellent dry fly fishing in the afternoons...these are the days that you can get good action all day and boat 40-60 fish. Looks like the Green may be ready over the next 10 days, I personally would like to see it drop below 1800cfs before I got real excited.
June 28, 2008-
Summer is here and runoff has peaked(Snake River hit 22,000cfs, highest in a decade) and begins a slow drop on area rivers and tribs. My fishing lately has been excellent but only on the South Fork and local lakes. The SF is fishing very good with wet flies offering action all day, many days lately we have boated 30-40 fish, half trout and half whitefish. The dry fly fishing is soon to POP! I expect to see big bug hatches within the next 10 days on the lower canyon. Lewis and Jenny Lakes are fishing off the charts with deep lines and leeches and sight fishing for cruising trout in the shallows is very good!
June 18, 2008-
The last week has ushered in some fantastic weather and finally we are seeing hints of summer. Slowly we are seeing the snowpack shrink as the rivers swell and peak runoff approaches soon. The fishing is good in a few areas but nothing to brag about. I feel the South Fork is the best river option at this time and we are catching nice trout on a variety of wet fly patterns, the typical spring stonefly stuff. My personal favorite now are the lakes...some are on FIRE with leech streamers and even ants! The Firehole River is getting alot of pressure and the fish are tough through the middle day periods, I bet the late evening is good there...check it out!
June 10, 2008-
Has anyone seen summer? Cold nights have dropped flows on some local rivers and fishing is decent if you can handle the wind and snow/rain mix, next week looks to be much warmer and I expect to see some serious flow increases throughout the region, the snow in the high country is nearly 200% of normal, we all wished for a drought buster, well here we are! Lakes are my best option personally right now, but the South Fork is fishing well with wets and is our best river option at the time. The Firehole River has seen alot of snow and rain lately and is swollen to a discouraging flow....boy, is the fall going to be great!
June 6, 2008-
This past week I have seen alittle of everything...good fishing & bad fishing...good weather & really bad weather, I am hoping to see the South Fork drop to a reasonable fishing flow soon to offer another option and I really hope to see runoff kick in better or we may not see good fishing on the Snake until well into August. Today on the Firehole we litterally got spanked by high winds followed by a significant snow storm, the baetis managed to show for about an hour or so and made our day.
May 28,2008-
The valley is greening up and the rivers are blown! Already saw a spike near 18,000 in the canyon, it will peak again! I had tough conditions again in S.C...wind and murky water does not make for good fly fishing and I refuse to drown bait all day, so therefore I caught very little in the salt this spring...looking forward to baja this fall! Lakes are best now and I hear the Firehole is fishing well.
May 15, 2008-
Watching runoff ramp upward on most rivers in the region, now we wait! Tailwaters are the best bet for the next 6-8 weeks as well as the lakes once they ice off! I did manage to get epic streamer fishing on a local river after cold nights brought water levels down, you never know about May! I'm heading south to chase some redfish and cobia, see you in June on the Firehole River and Jenny and Jackson Lake.