Author: Jimmy

South Fork 9-5-09

The flow has been the same for several days now at about 8600 cfs.  Early in the morning from daylight to late morning the golden(mutant) stone dries have been working well. Skitter the dries along gravel dropoffs and don’t over look the bottoms of the long pools where the water is speeding up it before dropping into the next riffle.  The hopper fishing has been good in the afternoons and if you find the right riffle you will find some fish up on Pale Morning Duns.

With the cloud cover and afternnon rain showers predicted for the weekend look for Blue Wing Olives and Mahogany Duns.

South Fork 9-02-09

We will be open Labor Day, Monday, September 7th, 9AM to afternoon hours to help you enjoy the South Fork and other great area waters

It had to come sometime this summer but after some of the best riffle fishing we have  had in years we have to report that the Pale Morning Dun hatches have really slowed down. Now its time to start using everything else that you can pull out the fly box.

Happiness is a cutty to release!

Use chernobyl ants and streamers early in the in the mornings on the flats. If you don’t find feeding fish later in the day try a hopper against the back with a small nymph dropper. A rubber leg/HEAVY TUNGSTEN BEADHEAD San Juan worm combo would be my next idea.  Flow out of Palisades has been stable at 8600 cfs for several days, but expect it to drop further with most of the irrigation season behind us.  This means great days are ahead for walk-in fishing during the fall season.

27″ South Fork Hybrid

Finally consider stopping  and fishing some side channels and  places that can’t be reached by boat. You might find fish that haven’t been bothered all summer.

South Fork 8-28-09

The flow dropped last night about 800 cfs down to 8400 cfs. Continue to look for good hatches of Pale Morning Duns during the day. With the bright days we are having I don’t think we’ll see the Blue Wing Olives out like we saw this past weekend in the rain.The blue wings will be more consistent later when the weather really cools off. They’ll be joined be mahogany duns.

The warmer weather should keep the evening caddis hatch going. Its starts around 7 pm. When it gets too dark to see your dry fly swing a caddis pupa, sandy mite or small renegade through the riffles.

South Fork 08-12-09

The flow has dropped another 1,000 cfs to 8,100. The riffles continue to fish well with pale morning duns once the hatch starts each day. On the upper river the banks haven’t been fishing as well in the canyon and lower river below Heise but the riffle fishing has been consistent through out the entire river. Just remember to keep changing patterns and silhouettes of the mayflies when the fish start to get picky.

On the warmer evernings there have been good caddis hatches so if you stay out late keep that in mind. In addition to fishing a dry caddis pattern a simple and effective way to fish the evening is to swing wet flies in the riffles. We like a sandy mite, small renegade or soft hackle.

Finally with the last two drops in the river the launch at Twin bridges may be getting to low to float out to the main river. Last week we had to get out twice to walk the boat through shallow riffles. It is probably best to put in at the Heise bridge or at Byington if you are going down to Lorenzo.

South Fork 08-04-09

There was another drop last night of 1000 cfs which brings the flow down to 10,200. These last three drops should cause the wingless golden stones to crawl out which makes the chernobyl fishing better. The riffles continue to fish real well. The cold water and normal summer flows are making August fishing what we hoped for earlier in the year. Remember that the hatches don’t really get going until noon or later. Consider fishing a streamer or chernobyl from daylight until the sun hits the water.

A word of caution about the lower river. There are some very tricky hydraulics right under the Lorenzo Bridge before the takeout. The best passage is down the right channel that takes off above the Blue Heron Bed and Breakfast. Its a new channel and when you look down it doesn’t look real good but its seems to be the best choice at this flow.  If you do choose to take the left channel consider running under the bridge on river left on the left side of the furthest left cement bridge pylon. (That’s alot of lefts) You then have to pull immediately back across the river to the takeout. If you still are not sure about what you want to do get out and look.  We offer these suggestions based on what we see from our own experience but keep in mind as the river flows change each day you will see new situations form so take the appropriate actions to get through safely.

South Fork 8-01-09

The flow dropped another 500 cfs to 11,200 the night before last. With each drop more gravel bars appear and the riffle fishing just gets better. The fish can real picky though so if you find your yourself in a situation where the fish comes up and bumps or swirls underneath your fly change the silhouette. If you are using a parachute pale morning dun switch to a  comparadun, thorax dun or no hackle.  If that doesn’t work move on to  a cripple dun pattern or emerger. Just keep changing until you find something that works. Its not uncommon to catch two or three fish on three different life cycle patterns in the same riffle

The fish are taking both chernobyls and hoppers better now. The best action seems to be in the morning and into the early afternoon. Some parts of the river suffer through a “dead zone” beginning around 3 pm especially on bright sunny days. Things get better again later in the evening.