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Fishing Reports

Jimmy's All Seasons Angler / Fishing Reports (Page 65)

Yellowstone Park, July 10th, 2021

With water temperatures into the low 70s (Deg. F) it is time to leave the Firehole River. Even the Madison River within is experiencing water temperatures close to the 70s in Deg. F. Good alternatives are the Lamar River drainage in the Northeast corner of the park and the Fall River drainage in the southwest corner.

Now that the Ashton-Flagg Road is open, Beula Lake can be fished and will offer some of the fastest fishing in the park. Shoreline fishing is possible from the inlet to along the east shore. Otherwise packing a flotation device to fish from results in the best fishing. Speckled dun and damsel fly life cycle patterns, small leech and scud patterns bring success when using an intermediate line. Also with this road open there are several access points to fish Fall River in the park where dry stone fly, PMD, and caddis life cycle patterns along with traditional attractor patterns bring success.

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Henry’s Fork, July 10th, 2021

Here are excerpts form Rob Van Kirk’s latest Henry’s Fork drainage water report.

Headlines:  

  • Last week brought slightly cooler temperatures and daily afternoon and evening showers, favoring the Centennial Range and Island Park area.
  • Accounting for stream gage shifts, natural flow has stabilized at 49% of average, while diversion has increased slowly to 96% of average.
  • At an average outflow of 1364 cfs over the past week, Island Park Reservoir has dropped at a rate of 1,837 ac-ft/day and is 75% full, compared with 90% on average and 71% in 2016.

Details:

Compared with conditions over most of the month of June, the past week brought somewhat cooler and wetter weather. Mean temperature was 5 degrees F above average, and the warmest day of the period—July 3—was still cooler than the warmest day we experienced in the middle of June. Afternoon and evening showers fell every day over the past week, totaling 0.19 inch for the watershed. By comparison, average weekly precipitation during early July is 0.27 inch. Showers were heaviest over the Centennial Range and Island Park, the areas that need it the most. Total precipitation for the water year to date is 76% of average. A few mountain showers aside, hot, dry weather is forecast for the foreseeable future.

The rate of natural streamflow recession has flattened out greatly over the past week. After accounting for apparent stream gage shift at Ashton, natural flow is 49% of average for the watershed: 73% of average at Island Park, 80% of average for the upper Henry’s Fork subwatershed as a whole, 44% of average in Fall River, and 24% of average in Teton River. Watershed-total natural flow since the beginning of the water year is 78% of average. Meanwhile, diversion has dropped slowly over the past few days and was 96% of average yesterday.

At the daily scale, streamflow has stabilized in the lower watershed and has even increased a little in the lower Henry’s Fork. However, short-term fluctuations have occurred over the past few days due to a trip at the Ashton power plant and changes in flow at the Marysville power plant on Fall River. The latter changes were made to accommodate a recreational streamflow requirement in the plant’s bypass reach (Marysville Canal diversion to Kirkham Bridge) that applies over the July 4 weekend.

Aquatic vegetation is growing rapidly in most reaches of the Henry’s Fork, and apparent flows at Island Park, Ashton, and St. Anthony are somewhat higher than actual flows at those locations.

Over the past week, outflow from Island Park Reservoir averaged an approximate 1364 cfs, somewhat lower than indicated by the real-time gage. The reservoir is dropping at a rate of a little over 1800 ac-ft/day and is 75% full, compared with 90% full on average and 71% full in 2016. Storage in the watershed’s three reservoirs is 85% of capacity, compared with 93% on average and 83% in 2016.

Rob Van Kirk, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist

Henry’s Fork Foundation

P.O. Box 550

Ashton, ID 83420

208-652-3567 OFFICE

208-881-3407 CELL

208-652-3568 FAX[email protected]

The river below Ashton Dam has warmed to the point that early AMs and evenings provide the best fishing success. The flow into the Flat Ranch preserve has been increased to around 80 cfs which could bring some Henry’s Lake fish into it. The normal procession of may fly emergences is ongoing from Last Chance to Pinehaven and some terrestrila insect are beginning to show and will become maajor food forms for trout as we advance into summer.. .

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Henry’s Fork, July 3rd, 2021

The river below Ashton Dam is warming to the degree that early AMs and evenings will soon offer the best fishing. Try caddis life cycle and nymph patterns presented deep.With the giant stone flies appearing in good numbers on the South Fork, boat anglers are beginning to decrease along the Warm River to Ashton section. The famed mayfly emergence continues on the Last Chance-Harriman-Riverside section with emphasis shifting to flav and brown drake life cycle patters being more effective. Many fly fishers remain, boating and wading, to enjoy resulting activity.,

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Small Streams, July 3rd, 2021

Drought conditions are beginning to impact most of our small streams. In fact, the Nature Conservancy has closed fishing on its Silver Creek property. Along with the low water conditions in the Big Wood River, this action is sure to increase fishing pressure on the Big Lost River drainage especially in the Copper Basin where Sun Valley-Hailey area anglers will seek better fishing.

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Yellowstone National Park, July 3rd, 2021

The Ashton-Flagg Road opened to travel on Thursday, July 1st. This action makes access to the Park’s Fall River Basin lakes and streams fully available for fishing. The Basin includes nearly all the southwest corner of the park and contributes major water to the Henry’s Fork. Bechler and Fall River, Boundary, Mountain Ash and Proposition Creeks and Beula and Hering Lakes are the major waters here and each is of the highest fishing quality. No maintained roads are near any of these waters (except for the Cave Falls loop), so walking distances varying from about a mile to several miles are required to approach each. Cutthroat-Rainbow hybrid, cutthroat and in the Fall River side brook trout are the sole salmonid species. Rocky Mountain whitefish and suckers are absent likely because of downstream barrier waterfalls. All these waters are open to fishing during the Park’s general season, however because the Basin receives perhaps the most snowfall of any of its parts, the beginning of July is the most practical time to venture to its waters. What becomes available as food for trout here is much the same for all its streams and lakes. Late June and early July begins with yellow sally and PMD emergences on streams and cinnamon caddis, speckled dun and damsel flies. By mid-July brown drakes will emerge from the streams, but in this low water year the green drake emergence will be minimal.

Slough Creek in Upper Meadows

Heart River below Heart Lake

So many of the park waters are experiencing drought conditions, Thus there is potential that many could be limited with respect to fishing hours. For example, water temperature in the Firehole River now exceeds 70 degrees (Fahrenheit). Because of low snowfall during the previous winter Heart Lake has warmed such that its salmonids have mostly retreated to deep water. Heart Lake and its drainage opened to fishing on July 1st and the best strategy to fish it during these drought conditions is to travel within days to its outlet to encounter fish feeding on the giant and golden stone fly activity coming towards the lake and its immediate outlet from the canyon below. To do this a multi-day trip is required. Shoshone Lake still offers good fishing when a flotation device or a boat is used to approach submerged weed beds and a full-sink line and stout leader is used to present leech, scud, and streamer patterns. The Lamar River drainage offers improving fishing as run-off is leaving early, but getting there through park roads is time consuming. Nevertheless these waters, much of which,are road side are easily approached will offer great fishing with a progression of mayfly and stone fly hatches for weeks to come. Fall River Basin waters will offer great and tranquil fishing on all the above mentioned waters if one is willing to walk far enough to approach them..

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Southwest Montana, July 3rd, 2021

Montana is subject to drought conditions just as other western states. In fact, conditions are dangerous enough that “hoot owl” closures are in effect for several streams. Nearby Montana waters with “hoot owl” closures include the lower Beaverhead (mouth up to Laknar Bridge) and the entire Big Hole Rivers. You can observe all “hoot owl” closures and others on the Montana FWP News web site. Once there go to Closures and Restrictions, then Fishing and Water Bodies, and from there View Map.

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South Fork, July 3rd, 2021

This guy deserves his share of fish whether browns, cutts, rainbows or whitefish

Big bugs are as far upstream as Cottonwood. River flow is near historical mean and near constant at 14500 cfs ( 14700 cfs at Heise, 7800 cfs at Lorenzo) with cool, clear water. So the fishing shape is ideal. Any big floating fly will do to get fish to top water,but rubber legs and big nymph patterns will still work on the upper river. Socially, it is time to be courteous and patient as so many anglers are on the river to enjoy fish responding to the big bugs.

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South Fork, June 29th, 2021

The big bugs continue to appear on the lower river. This means big stone fly nymph and rubber leg patterns will be effective on much of the river. For top water fishing green drake, yellow sally, and PMD life cycle patterns produce best from mid-morning to around 4PM while presenting nymph patterns around riffles and drop-off continues to produce late in the day as do fish responding to caddis fly activity.

We have been receiving a lot of questions concerning summer flows in the South Fork. These center around concerns because of the current drought, the water supply, and water management.. We contacted the agency tasked with managing its water flow and storage and here is information they offered us. The current flow of around 13770 cfs will continue for the next two weeks. Afterwards in July, flow will be increased or decreased around 500 cfs depending on irrigation demands. These flows are in order to keep as much water as possible stored high in the storage system to maintain enough for later irrigation demands. It is likely that reservoir capacities will be reduced to near base levels by the end of the irrigation season.

We will pass along more information as we receive it.

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Henry’s Lake, June 26, 2021

With the lake warming up, it is time to begin fishing creek mouths and submerged springs. Springs are “where you find them.” Creek mouths such as Howard, Targhee, and Duck tend to become crowded, so the earlier the arrival, the better. Floating or sink tip lines are best depending on depth of presentation. The best patterns for doing so can be found in Bill Schiess’s informative book “Fishing Henry’s Lake.”

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