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Streamers Tag

Jimmy's All Seasons Angler / Posts tagged "Streamers"

South Fork 7/5

Flows on the South Fork have been bumped up to 17,00cfs out of Irwin. Flows into the reservoir have been fluctuating up and down with the warm weather. Its going to be about 6 days before the reservoir is full, so I talked to the Bureau of Reclamation today and they told me that the Flows out of Palisades will be increased to 19,000 cfs. Will the flows be increased more? Who knows, I hope not, but most likely it will happen. I wish I could give you better news for the flows on the river but I don’t have any to share.

Fishing on the river is all nymphing. I have had reports of Salmon Flies, golden stones and Yellow Sallies on the lower section of the South Fork. However these reports have not had any luck catching fish on the dry fly. Nymphing is producing the most amount of fish on the fly. With the water being increased you will want to fish deeper with your nymphing rig. I would have at least 10 feet between the indicator and your first fly. Also be sure to fish with some weight so you can get those flies down to the bottom quickly.

South Fork 6/23

I was driving through Hoback and Swan Valley last night so I got to put an eyeball on the river. The Snake river above the reservoir is muddy. The lake is starting to settle out and there is about 2-3 feet of visibility at the Dam. The South Fork looks somewhat clear coming out of the Dam with possibly a 12-18 inches of visibility, until Palisades Creek. At the Spring Creek Bridge the water is off color but you could fish with a large stonefly nymph, bright streamers and glo bugs. It appears that the runoff in starting to back off and the water from the tributaries should be clearing off in the next week or two. Once the tributaries clear up the river will become a aqua green color it will have a few feet of visibility and will start fishing really well. Dirty water will actually produce more fish on the fly with the water this color. Very similar to an overcast day, the fish will feel more protected which means they will eat more aggressively.

If I was going fishing today on the South Fork I would set up a nymph rod with a big bright streamer/leech type of pattern and a rubberleg as a dropper. I would also have a streamer rod set up with a sink tip and a big meaty fly. I would fish the upper section, Dam to Spring Creek.

Henry’s Fork 6/17

Flows on the lower river have dropped again and Warm River to Ashton section is fishable again. Don’t forget about Ora to Chester stretch. Golden Stones, Salmon Flies and Caddis. No sign of Pale Morning Duns or Drakes yet. Stay posted and we will keep you updated as soon as we confirm they are hatching. The Stoneflies have moved all the way up to Box Canyon. The cooler weather and rain has prevented them from flying around but they are there and crawling. The best time to catch dry fly action on the stones in the Box is towards the late afternoon and evening.

South Fork 6/17

Things have changed once again on the South Fork as far as flows are concerned. Due to the higher than expected amount of runoff the BLM has decided to increase the flows coming out the Dam to keep a larger buffer in the reservoir to catch water. The run off has come down faster than they expected this week. I am actually happy to see them do this because it would really suck to have water at 15,000 cfs in the middle of July with hatches and good fishing than have the river bumped over 20,000 cfs cause the lake is full and they need to match outflow with in flow.

The upper river is actually fishing with Rubberlegs and San Juan Worms. Look for fish in the usual places like gravel bars, slow banks, and banks with structure. As the water temps warm up the fish will also move into the holes below the gravel bars and the nymphing will really get good. Don’t let the color of the water discourage you from fishing the South Fork. These fish have to eat. Larger brighter flies will help when it come to catching fish in these water conditions. Try a white zonker below a strike indicator, glo bugs and rubberlegs will be the ticket as well.

Henry’s Fork 6/14

The water is back up again on the lower Henry’s Fork from Warm River down. Due to a large amount of rain yesterday in the Ashton and Island Park area the Fall river and Robinson Creek are bringing muddy water into the system. Once the water drops again the fish will be looking up for the big Stoneflies and Caddis. The stonefly hatch has moved up to the Riverside campground area. Hiking into Hatchery Ford and below the Riverside campground will offer some very good secluded fishing. Stonefly nymphs and a bead head dropper or a Stonefly dry with a  bead head dropper should be very effective. Nymphing in the Box Canyon is still highly effective right now and I expect the stoneflies to be hatching any day now. If you need a up to the minute report call or stop by the shop.

Henry’s Fork 6/8

You can find Stoneflies from Chester Dam all the way up to the Lower Mesa Falls. Timing is the key for catching this hatch. If you are getting refusals on a Salmon fly, change up to a smaller golder stone. Caddis and Pale Morning Duns should start hatching any day now.

Looks like the main push of the runoff is here. The Fall River at Chester is reaching flows over 7,000cfs making the river below Chester basically in flood stage. Warm River and Robinson Creek have blown out as well. There is good hiking and wade fishing around Mesa Falls and Riverside campground. Rubberlegs, Caddis Pupa, Rollin Stones and CFO Hummer Stones should produce fish.

Henry’s Fork 4/6

We some good news! Access into the Chester Dam is now open. We had reported earlier that it had been closed for construction and it has now been reopened. Floating Warm River to Ashton is still not accessible because of the huge snow drift blocking the Ashton boat ramp.You still can not float the Box Canyon but the wade fishing has been outstanding.

The fishing has been steady and we are seeing more and more Blue Wing Olives hatching and fish eating them. Nymph fishing has been producing fish as well. Stonefly nymphs and bead head nymphs are the name of the game. San Juan Worms and glo bugs have also been good selections for catching fish below an indicator. The streamer fishing has been picking up as well. It will not be long and we should have Caddis, and Skwallas hatching on the river as well.