South Fork 4-8-14

The flow increased today to 4331cfs from 3400 cfs. There will be additional increases of 900 cfs each day through Saturday. Generally increases slow the fishing but on some occasions the increases don’t bother the fish. If you are looking for the tagged rainbows these flow increases cause them to start moving onto the redds. Use egg patterns dropped below a weighted san juan worm or rubber legs for the rainbows. There are usually browns and cutthroats hanging around the redds too.

We have included some photos of the diversion above byington that was modified earlier this year. At lower flows there were some power boats that hit rocks at the diversion but the river is high enough now that there shouldn’t be problem for either power and non motorized boats.

South Fork 4-4-14

The flow is now at 3,428 cfs at Irwin. With these increases it might take a day for the small amount of moss and debris that is dislodged to drift downstream.  The overall  water clarity will stay good until much higher flows come later in the Spring.

South Fork 3-28-14

Just a quick note about the flows. The Post Register had an article in Thursday’s paper quoting the Bureau of Reclamation about flows on the South Fork. The Bureau said that the flows were increased several times this week with the last increase coming this morning. Today’s increase brings the river to 2130 cfs which is still a low level. Wading is still very easy.

The water will be very clear again in a day or so and the fishing should continue to be good. Just keep using the same patterns mentioned in the earlier posts.

South Fork 3-26-14

The flow on the south fork has increased some this week. It has risen from 900 cfs to 1512 cfs. The increases could slow the fishing for a day but overall the water conditions should be good for a couple of more weeks.

We have had some very good fishing with a pair of tungsten midges in the deep slow pools. On most days there is a good hatch of midges and we have been using a Harrop’s gray Fluttering midge on the top. In the slow deep pools use a full sinking line with a streamer of your choice.

All of the ramps are open with the exception of Cottonwood/Fullmer which is closed until the access road above the closed sign is officially opened next month sometime by the Forest Service.  The water levels at the ramps are good except at Spring Creek where you have to winch your boat a short distance over the gravel at the end of the ramp.

South Fork 6-13-13

The flows on the south fork have stabilized at 12,800cfs at Paslisades Dam and 14,000 at Heise. This should be the flow for much of the summer. Run off has peaked according the Bureau of Reclamation and Palisades Reservoir will not fill this year which points to an early stonefly hatch. Traditionally the hatch starts the last week of June but I’m sure we’ll see it start earlier. We floated from Byington to  Lorenzo yesterday and had very good fishing with a pair of Bennett’s brown rubber legs. The fish were holding below the drop offs and troughs in the riffles. We did not see any stone adults but we saw a hand full of yellow sallies and green drakes. Some of the fish had bulging bellies from eating stone nymphs.

We’ll keep you updated on the status and progress of the hatch. Meanwhile the fishing with nymphs and streamers should be very good. The river is the perfect “south fork green” color for this time of year.