Add Robinson Creek to the list of good small waters now offering good fishing. It’s a great small stream with brookies, browns, cutts, rainbows, and a few whitefish thrown in. They take almost anything offered, but right now for specifics, caddis, sally, golden stone, and PMD life cycle patterns work. Sure, most of what you tie into will be a foot or less, but there are some real surprises here, especially in the lower reaches.
We’ve past the peak of the gray drakes on the lower river, but they remain quite numerous. Some green drakes are present, and at nearly dark, brown drakes emerge. PMDs are everywhere, and so are evening caddis. A few golden stones also remain, and flavs are coming on. We cannot be specific about what will work at a given time, so taking life cycle patterns for all these insects (and then others like midges or BWOs) is the best strategy. So the fun of fishing now is finding what they are taking during your visit.
It’s the same deal on the upper river which is finally coming around to great fishing. As with the lower river, approach it with patterns for whatever could be emerging during your visit. Also be prepared for fish to switch interest from one insect to another.
All our southeast corner reservoirs (Chesterfield, Daniels, Hawkins, Springfield, Treasureton, and Twenty-Four Mile) are worth fishing for big trout now. Damselfly nymphs are the way to get into the best action. Fish will be hanging close to the bottom to stay in cooler water now that warm weather is here for sure, so a line that gets you down to them is the way to go unless you do some midging or just plain drifting damselfly nymphs, all on a floating line.
A word of caution for the benefit of releasing fish to live another day. Water temps near the surface are warm, in many of these reservoirs around 70 Degrees F. That means the longer fish are played close to the surface, the tougher it is on them because the dissolved oxygen levels are lower than their comfort level. So if we play them quickly, and spend time to revive them their survival chances go up. It may take a while to revive them near the surface, especially the bigger ones, but it sure is worth it when the reason for our visit is to encounter them.
Flows have been increased to 23,000 cfs. They are trying to increase the buffer of the lake filling so we don’t have 30,000 cfs plus in the next week. We don’t recommend fishing until the flows decrease.
Chesterfield Reservoir-Sunday July 3, 2011
What a different year this is. The reservoir is still full, and I am finally seeing damsel nymphs in the shallows.
The fish are big, fat and strong. Either fish leeches and damsels with an intermediate or #2 sinking line in the deeper water, especially if you know where existing weed beds and structure are prevalent.
Or come in to the shallower waters (around weedbeds and dropoffs) and indicator fish in anything from 1 to 10 feet of water. Fish chironomids early and then go to your favorite damsel pattern. Fish will be cruising the edges , even where the dropoff is immediate and deep.
Also-Look for Callibaetis nymphs and drys along with adult (dry) damsels. Fish Chesterfield “Hebgen ” style with a callibaetis /damsel nymph hung from a Callibaetis or dry damsel. Look out-the fish are STRONG
TB
Flows have been increased to 19,000 cfs. We are not recommending people to fish the river, we are strongly recommending people staying off the lower river. If you must fish refer to my earlier report for fly suggestions.
If you haven’t fished the Henry’s Fork yet you are missing out on some great dry fly fishing. Don’t let the high water flows deceive you. The water has great clarity and the bugs are hatching. Wading is not as accessible as it has been in the past seasons because of the high water, but the fish are big and healthy.
Things on the Ranch continue to improve with Drakes, Green and Brown hatching. Caddis and PMD spinner falls in the evening.
Downstream from the Warm River Confluence fish have been feeding on Goldenstone’s, Caddis, Drakes, green and grey. There is also a good PMD hatch during the afternoon. The best action for fishing is in the evening hours. If you are fishing during the day stop your boat, get out and watch the water. Lots of people on the water because the South Fork is just not coming together as quickly as everyone wants. Show up to the river early or late. Beating the crowds or following behind them is a good strategy for avoiding people.
Flows on the South Fork have been bumped up to 17,00cfs out of Irwin. Flows into the reservoir have been fluctuating up and down with the warm weather. Its going to be about 6 days before the reservoir is full, so I talked to the Bureau of Reclamation today and they told me that the Flows out of Palisades will be increased to 19,000 cfs. Will the flows be increased more? Who knows, I hope not, but most likely it will happen. I wish I could give you better news for the flows on the river but I don’t have any to share.
Fishing on the river is all nymphing. I have had reports of Salmon Flies, golden stones and Yellow Sallies on the lower section of the South Fork. However these reports have not had any luck catching fish on the dry fly. Nymphing is producing the most amount of fish on the fly. With the water being increased you will want to fish deeper with your nymphing rig. I would have at least 10 feet between the indicator and your first fly. Also be sure to fish with some weight so you can get those flies down to the bottom quickly.
All streams around Yellowstone Park feature high water. That includes the Gallatin River and most of the Madison River above Ennis Lake. Big stoneflies may be active here, but big question is will trout full of annelids respond.
Damselfly activity is the name of the game on all reservoirs. Big fish are responding now at Chesterfield and Twenty-Four Mile reservoirs. Concentrate on shallow waters and around submerged vegetation. Same thing at Daniels Res. where midging remains just as effective. When it comes to damselflies, don’t overlook using dry adult patterns on the surface. Can be a lot like gulper action. Sand Creek Ponds will join the list of still water choices for non-motorized boating with fishing after July 15th.