This event which attracts so many will be held this coming weekend at the Shilo Inn here in Idaho Falls. Friday, April 25th and Saturday, April 26th are the dates. Fly tying, fly fishing, and fly casting workshops, fly tying demos, fly tying theatre, vendor booths, ladies and youth programs, destination programs and a banquet make up just part of the event. For details and schedules, go to the Expo web site: www.srcexpo.com.
Flows are still at 100 cfs. and the fishing is great! Good Blue Wing Olive hatches right now. Look for the hatch from 11-4. Cripples and emergers have been the best patterns for fooling fish. We don’t know when the water will go up on the Big Lost, however this river is accessible by wading up to 300 cfs.
Fishing is good and picking up. We had great reports of Blue Wing Olive hatches this weekend and I have been told the Mother’s Day Caddis are hatching! The Streamer action is also picking up. Right now is personally my favorite time to fish the Henry’s Fork. Nymphing is also good with stonefly nymphs and a variety of caddis, mayfly and midge nymphs.
Well everyone the time has come and the water flow has been increased. The increase from yesterday afternoon and this morning has brought the river up to 2,000 cfs. We don’t know how high they will increase the river at this point, but as soon as it levels off we will be updating this report. For the next few days I would look to go fishing on the Henry’s Fork.
To the southeast Chesterfield and Twenty-Four Mile reservoirs remain iced over. Chesterfield has some open areas close to shorelines, so any length of warm weather (and like it or not; wind) will get rid of the ice. Other reservoirs in the southeast area are now ice free.
All the boat ramps are open. Flows are still very low and short floats will still take you all day. I floated Irwin slide to Spring Creek on Monday. The fishing was good and we caught a lot of trout and whitefish on Zebra midges. We set the first Zebra midge at 4 feet from the indicator and the second Zebra midge 18 inches below that. I used a split shot about 6 inches above both flies. The best fishing was in the tailouts of riffles. Streamer action was somewhat slow but we did catch a few fish. The key to streamers is the slow strip.
The water looks great and we expect it to rise about mid April so get out right now why you can. If you have any questions call the shop or stop in.
Paul Reservoir
This one is easily driven to, but is off the beaten path. Go north on Interstate-15 from the Snake River Plain past Spencer. Just before you come to the Idaho-Montana border, turn off at the Humphrey exit. Go left under the Interstate, then right onto a gravel road. There isn’t much out here, just a ranch or two as the road makes a big arc just beneath a mountain range that marks the Idaho-Montana border, also the Continental Divide. For a while you do not see any water, just high desert, and likely begin to wonder if this is another “wild goose chase.” Then to your left a creek appears and you begin to cross small tributaries. This is Modoc Creek, and it is loaded with brookies of which a nine-incher is a braggin’ fish. Further on the road fords a few other tribs, then climbs a rise. You have come a bit over twelve miles when Lo and Behold, that rise is a dam, and Paul Reservoir is behind it. It owes its presence to the need for water in the arid valley below. Stock need it, and without the stored water, not enough hay could be grown to support them. Look around at this gentle little reservoir in a hollow. One side is sage brush covered slope, and the other is a pine forest hosting a few primitive campsites. Here is a great place to take a physically challenged person or introduce a youngster to still water fishing. From the dam launching flotation gear is easy, or one can simply fish from shore and nearby.
So what does this oval shaped reservoir, about a third of a mile long, host with respect to fish? IDF&G keeps a good population of cutthroat trout within. Some years the population is better than others. The normal aquatic insect cycle takes place here. Midges can emerge throughout the season. Dragonflies begin theirs early followed by damselflies then callibaetis which go from mid to late summer. Resident leaches and snails become easy protein for the hosted cutthroat. What about those hosted cutts, you ask? They are usually co-operative when one presents imitations of the previously mentioned food forms. So a lightweight outfit such as a four-weight seems to nicely apply here. So does a nine-foot leader of four or five X tippet. A floating line or an intermediate line is sufficient. However, I’ve never caught a cutt here over fifteen inches! That’s contrary to what an old cowboy told me one day while I was having rare, but unusual luck fishing callibaetis emerger patterns near the dam. He watched me for a while from where he was tossing a bobber and night crawler, then approached. “Looks like you’re really gittin’ into em, but them’s a bit small ( which was true!).” “See that, there point up the reservoir?, he gestured. “Got me a nineteen-incher there a week ago.” All this after no one I talked to had caught anything over fifteen inches! So I knew what was going on; he wanted my location! So just to frustrate him, I continued to present and catch fish. He walked away to a spot a quite bit closer to me than where he began. In any case not many folks fish here, and you cannot find a safer still water place for a youngster or a person with particular needs to fish. Just be ready to eat a bit of dust along that gravel road when you leave or return to Interstate-15!
Some of our reservoirs are beginning to lose ice. As we hear of any opening up, we will pass such on in this report
With flow out of Mackay Dam just a bit above 100 cfs, wading is easy. Midges are active, and a few BWOs are emerging. Not much snow is around, and the days are warming up. Looks like all aspects are together for a trip to the Big Lost. Don’t forget those small bead head nymphs or size 12-14 bead head peacock leeches! Want more info on the Big Lost River? Take a look at the 3/19/13 offering on it in our web site Articles post.
We fished Springfield Reservoir yesterday. Beautiful day, but slow fishing except when one hung a midge pupa below an indicator. The reservoir is about a foot and a half low and appears to be turning over. I don’t know whether this was really the case, but the water (53 deg. F. near the surface by mid PM) was more discolored than usual for this time of year. A few midges were flying, but no damsel nymphs visible in shallows. That’ll change!