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South Fork

Jimmy's All Seasons Angler / South Fork (Page 56)

South Fork 7-14-12

No significant change here since our 7/12 report.  Follow our fishing suggestions within it.  We are so fortunate that flows out of Palisades Dam have remained constant at an almost ideal level for fishing for so long.  This cannot last forever during this so far hot and dry growing season.  Sometime in the future there will be an flow increase that will effect fishing. We will keep our eye on the South Fork gauge just below the dam to warn when this happens.

One other thought; please consider courtesy when using boat launch facilities. If you see a “crunch” coming, maybe have some more of whatever refreshment and tell another story.  Hey; we are fly-fishers! Each of us has a backlog of stories. Who cares about believabilty whnit is all in fun!

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South Fork 7-12-12

The dry fly fishing has been very good and we don’t see any reason that the conditions will change.  There are great hatches daily of Pale Morning Duns, yellow sallies, golden stones and the big Salmon flies are well into the Swan Valley area.  At some point in the day you should some good action on the big stones as far down as Wolf. The most consistent dry action though will come from the smaller sallies, goldens and PMD’s. The flow from Palisades Dam   is 13,400 cfs and the water temp is 54 degrees.

If you get a early am start consider using streamers(Clousers, J.J. Specials, Lite Brite Buggers)and big nymphs(rubbers legs, mega prince nymphs with a small nymph dropper) before the dry fly fishing starts. It takes until late morning for the riffles to turn on. We have been having the best luck  fishing the different stages of Pale Morning Duns. If the fish start to refuse your dun imitations try a cripple, captive dun, emerger or mayfly nymph as a dropper.

 

 

 

 

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South Fork 7-10-12

Top water fishing here is improving considerably. Bring PMD and sally life cycle patterns for trying the riffles.  Cycle from nymphs to emergers and cripples to duns as the day progresses.  Fish will switch their interest through this cycle as the day progresses, so be ready to change your patterns. This kind of fishing should last for weeks to come as long as water levels, now close to ideal, stay where they are now.  If they do, you will experience the fishing for which South Fork is famed.  Overall nymph fishing is very good. Some big bugs remain in the canyon and periodically produce good fishing, and evening caddis activity brings responses from fish all along the river.   The time to be on this best of rivers is just beginning.

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South Fork 7-6

Yesterday was the day! Things finally turned on in regards to dry fly fishing on the river. We had great reports of fish up and eating the Salmon Fly and Yellow Sallies. We did have some weather yesterday and some rain which is always really good for fishing especially during the summer time. This is great news because we have been waiting for the dry fly bite to start. It’s only going to get better from here on out. SO get out there catch some fish and come share your stories with us in the shop.

Flows have stayed steady and the Salmon Flies are in the Canyon. Good Yellow Sally and PMD hatches during the afternoon.

 

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South Fork 7-5

The South Fork has Salmon flies hatching in really good numbers, the Yellow Sallies, Green Drakes and PMD’s have been hatching as well. So why are the fish really hesitant to rise and we haven’t had off the charts dry fly fishing? That’s a good question most of us figure its because of the large amount of food throughout the water column there is not a large need for the trout to eat dries off the surface. The good news is this will change and the nymphing is fantastic! Lots of fish are being caught under the surface right now. We suggest throwing a Chenobyl Ant with nymph droppers. Some of our Salmon Fly patterns are big enough to float a Rubberleg and that is a great combination! This way you will catch the fish eager to eat a dry fly and all the other ones eating nymphs. The fish are super healthy this year and they are fighting hard. The banks and the riffles are fishing good. Call the shop for up to the minute reports.

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South Fork 7-2

Well it’s July and we have Salmon Flies on the South Fork! My prediction is always July 4th at Twin Bridges but they came just a little early this year. You can also find a good hatch of Yellow Sallies, and Green Drakes hatching in the Canyon and down past Heise Bridge. As of this past weekend fish were rising to Salmon Flies and Yellow Sallies but nymphing has still been the most effective remedy for hooking fish. I would fish a salmon dry fly with a zebra midge dropper or a #14 PMD Redemption Nymph.  Focus your efforts on the riffles and the slow banks. Good luck and have fun! Call the shop for an up to the minute report.

Flows have stayed steady at 13,600cfs these flows have been steady for the past 5 days.

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South Fork 6-29-12

Stream flow on the South Fork is stable with 13,600 cfs coming out of Palisades Dam, and 14,900 cfs at Heise. Nymph fishing in the morning with a Brown Rubber Leg ( size 8 ) and a Bead Head Crystal Pheasant Tail Nymph  dropper( size 16) has been the most productive till about 12 o’clock. From about 12 o’clock, riffles have been good with a CFO Yellow Sally ( size 16 and 14 ), and Olive Hares Ear Parachute (size 12) . There is a good emergence of salmon and golden adult stones along the bank near Heise, but fish still haven’t been eating them yet but that should change any day. Along with  yellow sallies in the riffles there will be good hatches of pale morning duns and some green drakes.

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South Fork 6-27

Flows were bumped again yesterday afternoon to 13,000cfs. Again this is response to irrigation demand downstream. I don’t know how much more the water will increase but I will keep you all updated as soon as we know.

At this point I would only be fishing nymphs and streamers. The river has been raised 2,000 cfs in 2 days and that is a lot of water. Enough water to cool things down and slow any hatches that were happening and mix things up enough to have the fish a little confused. The good news is it doesn’t take long for things to settle down and the fishing to pick back up again. If we don’t have anymore increases tomorrow we will be back in action.

I had thoughts of Salmon Flies sometime this week but the increase in flows could very possibly push that back into next week. Call the shop for any and all questions or just stop by and we will be happy to help you.

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South Fork 6-26

Flows were increased last night to 12,000 cfs. The increase is due to irrigation demand and unfortunately we do not get any word when these increases will happen. Things will settle down in a day or two and the fishing will be back at it. As Jimmy mentioned yesterday lots of Yellow Sallies on the lower river and some PMD’s. I was in the canyon Sat. and we had really good success on stonefly nymphs, yellow sally nymphs, Zebra Midges and Lighting bugs. I didn’t have any fish hit the indicator so I didn’t throw any dry flies with droppers. I still found most of my fish in the gravel bars and side channels. I did however pick up a few fish on the bank which means they are starting to move out of the winter water. A beetle or ant would work this time of year if your really needed a dry fly fix.

South Fork 6-25-12

As you can imagine we are getting a lot of calls to see if the big salmon flies have started to hatch in the lower river around Ririe.  We still haven’t seen any of the big bugs but we are seeing a lot of yellow sallies and pale morning duns. The big stones should appear sometime this week.  Over the weekend we had had some good but brief action on the riffles in the afternoon. The most consistent action is still with nymphs and streamers.

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