Fishing on the lower river has slowed, but a good bet for action remains trying beetles and ants. Fishing on the upper river is great with beetles and ants another great choice. Warming days means evenings and mornings can offer some of the best fishing. PMDs are smaller and a few flavs remain. PM caddis are always present. Hoppers will become important soon.
If you have not heard we have a new state record for rainbow trout. This fish from American Falls Reservoir Tuesday, 7/26, weighed just under 35 pounds and was taken on a jig in about fifteen feet of water. It was just over 41 inches in length. The weight of this fish is nearly double that of the previous state record and begs the question of how many fish in the reservoir weigh between the old and new record. Certainly there are even larger rainbows than the new record in the reservoir. Other than that, damselfly life cycle patterns are working everywhere in still waters, and speckled duns are beginning to show up. Particularly good fishing can be had at Sand Creek Ponds during afternoon hours. Again damselfly life cycle patterns with speckled duns are beginning to show there.
Fall River Basin streams remain high, but fishing with sink tip lines and weighted flies will bring results. Hatches are ongoing, but are compressed. Green drakes, PMDs, and sallys bring afternoon action. No hoppers yet, but ants and beetles are worth trying afternoons. Beware of mosquitoes especially in timber during evenings and horseflies in open areas. Beula Lake continues to provide great action. Try damselfly life cycle patterns.
Once again we suggest contacting us about which small stream to fish this time of the season. There is an almost endless choice here, and most will offer great fishing now that run-off is mostly out of the system. We have small streams where cutthroat are the dominant trout, others where browns dominate, others where brookies take over, and others where rainbows rule the roost. We even have some where you may encounter grayling. Some of these streams are riffle and run, some are meadow streams, others feature beaver ponds. So pick your species or type of water you enjoy and get in touch with us.
The flow dropped another 900 cfs to 15,500 this afternoon………….
Just wanted to give you an update on the conditions. The flow has dropped below 17,000 to 16,400 cfs. At 16,000 and below the river is within its banks and the islands are not submerged anymore. There are a lot of goldens and sallies hatching and we have had some reports of success on dries. The inflows into Palisades continue to drop steadily so conditions will continue to improve.
The fishing has been very good at Henry’s. Most fishermen are using Henry’s lake Renegades, mighty mouse, and damsel patterns. As usual some of the best fishing has been in the bays near the creek mouths. Henry’s is a water that is not easy to predict. The fisherman that know it seem to have the most consistent fishing and the rest of us suffer through the slow periods. When we get continuous good reports from Henry’s we know that the fishing is excellent.
In our efforts to continue to keep you updated on the water flows and fishing conditions for the South Fork. Inflows are dropping very fast and the flows from Palisades Dam has been dropping as well, this morning the flows were at 17,400 cfs. We expect to have these flows to continue to drop this entire week.
Dry Fly fishing is beginning to pick up in the riffles. I heard very good reports of fish eating mayflies this weekend. The riffle fishing will only get better and better as the water drops and those gravel bars get exposed. There are very good hatches of Yellow Sallies and Golden Stones on the water as well. Nymphing is still the best fishing technique for catching fish, however this should change soon as the dry fly fishing continues to improve.
Fishing during the middle of the day has slowed on the Lower Henry’s Fork. There is still good fishing during the evening hours. If you don’t mind nymphing, Warm River to Ashton is nymphing well with rubberlegs, and an assortment of beadhead nymphs. Fish are still rising to Golden Stones putting a nymph dropper below the dry fly is also a effective fishing technique. There are still good hatches of PMD and Caddis throughout the entire river system. Will not be long before the fish will be keying in on Hoppers.
The inflow into Palisades is dropping fast and the Bureau of Reclamation has reduced the outflow from Palisades to 20,400. There will be another drop today of 1000 cfs. If we continue to see the inflow drop 1000 to 1500 cfs a day it is probable the Bureau will drop flows in the South fork and we will have very fishable flows week.
If you fish in the next couple of days I would continue to use nymphs below the drops. With each decrease in the flow there will be more holding water and the riffles will start to appear. I would also would not rule out trying a dry later in the day. The hatches have been steady through this high water so with the river coming into shape we should have the good fishing we have waiting for.