South Fork 6/8

There are many opinions right now about water flows on the South Fork. I called the Bureau of Reclamation to find out the real story. Flows on the South Fork will be dropped a few thousand CFS but you will not see flows below 19,000 cfs until after the runoff. Flows are being decreased to give a little relief to the flooding in Blackfoot and Shelley. Due to the forecast of rain, the demand for irrigation water is not high and that keeps water in the river systems. Flows on the South Fork will most likely increase once this push of runoff water from the Henry’s Fork comes through.

I asked about projections for July. No one can predict the weather but the Bureau of Reclamation was fairly confident that the river would be fishable with higher than normal flows around July 1st . They are now talking about the fact that Palisades Reservoir is still empty and they need to make plans to fill it. Higher than normal flows consist of flows between 15,000 to 18,000 cfs for July. As long as those flows stay consistent the river will be fishing well. So far this is good news we have lost some fishing in June but honestly we haven’t had good fishing in June for the last 3 seasons. We will have awesome fishing in July and August and into the fall season. Cold water is always good for insect hatches and fish.

Fishing right now is not recommended flows are extremely high and the water is muddy.