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April 2014

Henry’s Fork 4-29-14

Now is a good time to visit the lower Henry’s Fork. Flows are slightly less than normal, and look for water temps climb to the mid 40s in deg. F by late afternoon.  A good caddis emergence is ongoing and peaking in the afternoon. BWOs are also emerging during the PM hours, especially if weather returns to what it was last weekend. Then there are the ever present midges. March browns should become significant any day.  Don’t put away those streamer patterns just yet; save them for evening presentations.

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Today at Jimmy’s 4-23-14

We have another awesome book signing coming up on Thursday the 24th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Al Ritt will be in signing copies of his new book 25 Most Versatile Flies. This is a great book and another great opportunity to get your copy personalized! Come on down and check it out.

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Small Streams 4-22-14

We just learned that the way to Blackfoot River Reservoir via the Bone road is now open. This opens up a quicker way from the upper valley to enjoy carp and trout fishing in the reservoir and trout in the river immediately below. Right now the river below the reservoir is at its early season best (around 100 cfs). It will remain this way until irrigation demands significantly increase flow out of the reservoir. We will watch flows and report here when they increase to the point of impacting fly fishing in a negative manner.

We fished the river several miles below the dam yesterday afternoon going by way of the Wolverine Road and on a few miles up the Blackfoot River Road to a stretch of public land.  Water was clear and around 54 deg. F. at late afternoon. A blanket caddis emergence was on-going, with fish, mostly whitefish and juvenile cutthroat, rising to pupa in the upper water column and egg-laying adults.  A few larger cutthroat responded to bead head peacock leeches (#10). All fish landed appeared to have been feeding and with full stomachs most likely because of the abundant available caddisflies.

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South Fork 4-17-14

The flow is up to 10,021 cfs from Palisades dam. Some of the tributaries are starting to rise with the beginning of spring runoff giving the water its customary green spring look. Continue using a rubber leg/glow bug combination for the rainbows. Streamers cast on a full sink or sink tip line will be a good technique in these water conditions.

The great feeder canal is still shut down for maintainance so the flow down to Lorenzo is high.

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Stillwaters 4-10-14

To our knowledge, all of the reservoirs south of Idaho Falls are ice free and fish-able. The ice seemed to leave most reservoirs early this year so this should be a great year to get more early season fishing in. We don’t have a lot of reports coming in from the various reservoirs yet, but that should change quickly. We will continue to post updates as things change/improve so check back often.

Chesterfield, Daniels, Springfield Reservoirs– with rising water levels and all the wind lately, water clarity seems to vary at these reservoirs day to day. They are all fishing okay, but it may be best to focus on methods that will let you cover a lot of water. Wind-drifting with a full sinking line is a great way to cover water and find fish this time of year! Concentrate on darker leech patterns like a black/olive crystal bugger in a size 8, purple showgirl size 6, and a black or dark olive mohair leech in size 6. Concentrate on the west end of reservoirs which will be warmer than the east side and try fishing a few different depths until you find fish. Fish are scattered this time of year so covering water is the key to success. The one exception here would be Springfield where its probably still a better bet to concentrate on fishing under an indicator with midge larvae patterns (holo worm size #10, Summer Duck pupa size #12,14 and a black sally in size #12,14 would be my first choices). Larvae patterns and pupa will also fish well on Chesterfield and Daniels if you are on some fish. Things are sure to pick up as the weather continues to warm and stabilize. This can be a very hit or miss time of year but its still better than the ice fishing going on at area reservoirs the past few months!

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South Fork 4-8-14

The flow increased today to 4331cfs from 3400 cfs. There will be additional increases of 900 cfs each day through Saturday. Generally increases slow the fishing but on some occasions the increases don’t bother the fish. If you are looking for the tagged rainbows these flow increases cause them to start moving onto the redds. Use egg patterns dropped below a weighted san juan worm or rubber legs for the rainbows. There are usually browns and cutthroats hanging around the redds too.

We have included some photos of the diversion above byington that was modified earlier this year. At lower flows there were some power boats that hit rocks at the diversion but the river is high enough now that there shouldn’t be problem for either power and non motorized boats.

04-06-14 winter spring byington diversion 03404-06-14 winter spring byington diversion 03604-06-14 winter spring byington diversion 038

 

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South Fork 4-4-14

The flow is now at 3,428 cfs at Irwin. With these increases it might take a day for the small amount of moss and debris that is dislodged to drift downstream.  The overall  water clarity will stay good until much higher flows come later in the Spring.

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