Author: Jimmy

South Fork 07-15-10

The big stoneflies are in the upper canyon near Conant. The fishing is very good and should stay that way for quite awhile. Palisades Reservoir is still at 96% capacity which will keep the water cool for most of the Summer. Cool water means steady hatches of Pale Morning Duns long after the stones are gone.

While most anglers have switched to dries some of the bigger fish have been caught on a rubber leg/golden stone combination. This goes for all stretches of the river. If you start early (6 am) before the hatches start consider a big streamer on a sink tip line. River flow is 12,500 cfs and steady.

Hey guys over the weekend some guys lost some equipment on the South Fork.  A black Ross reel attached to a Sage Sp, along with a Winston Boron and green colored Galvan reel. If anyone has any information, please call us at the shop and we will return it to its owner. If you haven’t heard or seen anything, keep your eyes peeled for the before mentioned items.

South fork 07-12-10

The hatch continues to move up the river a few miles each day. There are a good number of the big stones flying around Wolf  downstream to Heise.  The big bugs will eventually move all the way through the canyon and through Swan Valley. This is the latest we have seen the hatch start. It is  normally around Wolf on the 4th of July and has progressed up through Swan Valley by the 15th. This year we may be fishing big stones 10-12 days from now in Swan Valley.

As the previous have mentioned there are a lot of Yellow Sallies and goldens from mid canyon downstream. By late morning there are PMD’s in the riffles. The upper canyon and Swan Valley are still slow with dries but rubber legs and golden stone nymphs have been doing well.

South Fork 7-8-10

The fishing has really improved over the last two days. There are a lot of yellow sallies and golden stones from Cottonwood down. We had a report of the big stones flying near Twin Bridges this afternoon.

If you float through the canyon fish nymphs on the drop offs and color  changes. The dry fishing isn’t productive until you get to Cotttonwood or a little lower. The dry action should improve in this stretch as the water warms over the next few days.

The river flow is 12,500 cfs and has been steady for the past two days and there are no changes planned for several days. 12,500 is the normal summer flow at this time of year.

South Fork 7/6/2010

The river has dropped to 13,500 cfs and will be lowered another 1,000  cfs tonight to 12,500.  12,500 is the normal summer flow and the river should hold at or near this level for quite awhile. A lot of Yellow Sallies and Golden Stones are out from Wolf downriver.  A few big bugs have been seen, but no real numbers yet. Nymph fishing in the canyon with a size 4 rubberleg or Golden Stone nymph has been really good. Overall nymph fishing on the river has been very good.

South Fork 7-2-10

As of last night there were no bug stones on the lower river below Byington.  There are a few small yellow sallies flying around so we should see some big bugs and the rest of the hatches start any day now. In the meantime the best fishing has been with a rubber leg nymph with a san juan worm or golden stone nymph dropper.

The flow is 15,800 at Irwin and 9,000 at Lorenzo. The river has a slight green tint which is normal for this time of year. A word of caution about the river below Byington. The high flows remodeled the river so there are many new brush piles and obstacles to watch for. The North Twin Bridge has two strong back eddies. One on each side of the bridge directly below the bridge.

The stonefly hatch is always fun to predict. Its not unusual to see a light hatch in the lower river and then see it suddenly appear in the lower canyon around July 4th. That may be the case this year. We’ll keep posting updates in the meantime.

South Fork 6-7-10

In order to make room in Palisades Reservoir for run off the South Fork was increased today from 7,900 to 11,000 cfs. There will be another increase tomorrow of an additional 3,000 for a total of 14,000 cfs. Needless to say the Henry’s Fork above the mouth of Fall River would be a good option until the weekend. It would also be a good opportunity to try one of the many still waters in Eastern Idaho.   By the weekend things will have settled down on the South Fork and we will be able to start fishing streamers and nymphs again.

south fork 4-27-10

We screwed up and the road to Cottonwood is not open. It will not open until the Palisades Ranger District, which actually manages the road to Cottonwood, officially opens it for summer travel. This date varies from year to year depending on snow, weather and road condition. When the road does open the Palisades District will announce it through the media and their web site. If you have any questions you can contact them at 523-1412.

We apologize for publishing incorrect information and now have a thorough understanding of how the road is managed and by whom. When the road does open we will post it on the fishing report.

South Fork 9-16-09

The flow dropped 500 cfs to 7600 last night. As soon as we find out what the winter flow is going to be and at what increments the the Bureau of Reclamation will drop the flow we’ll let you know.

The fishing has been best early in the mornings(daylight till noon) with streamers and chernobyls. In the afternoons we have done best with a smaller size Dave’s Hopper (size 8 and 10). Sometimes we trail a small ant or beetle about 2 feet behind the hopper.

More Blue Wing Olive mayflies are starting to appear as well as Mahogany Duns.

South Fork 9-10-2009

There was a drop in the flow last night from 8700 down to 8100 cfs. We will  continue to see these drops  throughout the Fall. How long it takes the fish to adjust is fun topic to discuss. Sometimes it doesn’t  bother the fish at all and after some drops it may take a day for the fish  to adjust. The hopper fishing was good yesterday between 9 am and 1 pm. It slowed down in the afternnoon and nymphs fished along the seams and drop offs produced better than the big dries.