Flow out of Mackay Dam is at 200 cfs making for safe wading in the river below. Morning trico spinner activity with fish responding makes for good action. The later in the day follow-up is with hopper patterns trail by either an ant pattern or a bead head nymph.
Not much change here except that severe thundershower can slow fishing, especially on streams flowing through erosion prone banks. The Snake River and the Lamar River are susceptible to this problem which can put down fishing until after water clears. So its a good idea to check weather forecasts when we are in a monsoon mode. For now AM trico spinner falls make for good fishing on most streams. Ant flights make for good fishing on Fall River and on Beula and Hering Lakes. Switch to terrestrial patterns including those for spruce moths for mid day and afternoon fishing. With shorter days and cooler nights coming on, look for fishing to pick up on the Firehole River. Want some action for sure but without many large trout? Try Beula or Riddle Lakes. Try Obsidian and Indian Creeks. Want to try a small stream hosting large trout? Try Boundary, Duck, Mountain Ash, or Soda Butte Creeks.
If you plan on fishing the Last Chance-Harriman reach, be sure to have ant patterns (#20-12) available as well as hopper patterns. Other than these, PMD, speckled dun, and trico spinner patterns will be sure to bring morning action. Tricos are showing during mornings on the river below Ashton Dam with some resulting action. As we cool off through this month, look for fishing on this part of the river to pick up.
Three days ago flow out of Palisades Dam was dropped to 7080 cfs. Expect more drops in flow out of Palisades Dam to come with the reservoir at 8% of useable capacity. With dropping flows, walk in-wading will have a lot more opportunities. Come visit us or get in touch for suggestions on locations to target. One Fly Contest is going on today, making for only six boats per section, including the South Fork. Six more boats is only a blip in the variation of daily South Fork boats. With recent cloudy weather a few BWOs could begin to show up in this year of uncertain hatches. Allow about two more weeks for BWOs and mahogany duns to show in significant numbers. For now look for mutant stone activity to provide some action.
Just a quick heads up for everybody, the river is now flowing at 7,550 cfs. Look for the Mutant stone fishing to improve with each of these small drops in cfs. Also today 9/4/13 the river is running very dirty from Hiese down to Menan, the tremendous rain/thunderstorms we have had lately have caused some run-off from farms in the area. The river above Hiese has not been affected and is still fishing well.