Main Stem Snake River 6-25-16
Best fishing here is from smallmouth bass just below American Falls Dam. Expect company! For the rest of the river, best fishing happens after irrigation season peak passes.
Author: Bruce_Staples
Still Water 6-25-16
Damselfly activity on Daniels Reservoir provides the best action on our irrigation reservoirs. Activity remains relatively slow on Chesterfield and Twenty-Four Mile Reservoirs. Springfield Reservoir is mossing up meaning that a great strategy is to fish dry damselfly patterns over channels through the weeds. Looking for an out-of-the-way still water? Consider Teardrop Lake. It’s just off the Fish Creek Road not far from the Yellowstone Park west boundary and good for flotation devices. Like so many of our reservoirs it is stocked with rainbows, and holdovers grow to good sizes. Standard stuff like small leech and scud patterns work well as do damselfly and speckled dun life cycle patterns.
Small Streams 6-25-16
Some of our small streams including South Fork tributaries and the upper Blackfoot River will not open until July 1st to protect spawning cutthroat trout. But now is a good time to try other small streams, and here is why. June of this year had much less than normal rainfall throughout the region and its remainder looks the same. We are entering the driest part of the year with most small streams already at or near base level.
There is an increasing demand for information on fishing out-of-the-way waters. We therefore stay tuned to conditions on these waters and report here what we learn. Mornings and evenings are good times to enjoy PMD activity on the Fort Hall Reservation ( be sure to have a Reservation license!) spring creeks. Currently, we can recommend trying any of Idaho’s Salt River tribs, Palisades Reservoir tribs, Warm River, Portneuf River, and Sinks drainage streams. On all these caddisfly and yellow sally life cycle and traditional dry and wet attractor patterns always work well. Mayfly life cycle patterns are more effective on some streams than on others. We can provide information on this condition. Anyway, it appears that the upcoming weeks could be a great time to fish many of our smaller streams, and we can help you make a choice!
Yellowstone Park 6-21-16
Good news for all you Beula Lake fans. The Ashton-Flagg Ranch Road is open. It’s a bit rough in places, so drive your vehicle accordingly. In the early season damselfly nymph and small leech patterns work best here. Cinnamon caddis, speckled dun, and damselfly emergences are not far away. Access to Fall River is also open at several places along the Ashton-Flagg Road. River flow is low for the time of year because April was warm enough to melt a good amount of snow at higher elevation. Dry fly fishing is good along the river with PMDs, yellow sallies, caddisflies, and some green drakes emerging. Wind blown giant and golden stoneflies will bring trout to the surface. Compare the visits to Fall River Basin with those to the Yellowstone and Madison drainages within the Park, and you will see why the Basin is such a great place to fly-fish. We can provide information for fishing Fall River Basin throughout the fishing season. It’s at your finger tips if you get in touch with us!
Still Waters 6-18-16
Daniels and Hawkins reservoirs seem to offer the best fishing of irrigation reservoirs to the southeast. Damselflies are beginning to emerge on these. Have you fished Teardrop Lake? It’s just off the upper Fish Creek Road. It hosts brook trout but has been stocked with rainbow trout, some of which hold over. Standard still water patterns (damselfly life cycle, leech, scud, speckled dun life cycle) should work well.
Small Streams 6-18-16
Nearly all eastern Idaho small streams are in good fishing shape. This includes all sinks drainage streams, Palisades Reservoir tributaries (tribs), Henry’s Fork tribs, Fall River and its tribs, Portneuf River, Salt River tribs, and Warm River and its tribs. Generalized aquatic insect emergence for these streams include caddisfly, golden stonefly, PMD, yellow sallies. So use life cycle patterns for these as well as traditional attractor patterns. Exceptions to good fishing conditions are some Teton River tribs draining west slope of the Teton Range. Flow in Big Lost River below Mackay Dam is dropping but at over 500 cfs makes for tough wading. South Fork tribs and the Blackfoot River and tribs above the reservoir do not open for fishing until July 1st.
Yellowstone Park 6-18-19
Give Fall River Basin streams another week or so and dry fly conditions will prevail. Our trip into Bechler Meadows yesterday resulted in wet fly conditions with streamer patterns fished deep being the best producers. As per usual this time of year the mosquito population is fierce, their nature the same, meadows a bit wet, and wildlife signs abundant. The Firehole River is still fishing very well, but with warm weather coming up, look for trout activity to begin tapering off. Dry fly fishing on the Madison River is improving with PM caddisfly and oncoming PMD hatches providing action. If you are willing to carry a flotation device into Shoshone Lake and concentrate on fishing around weed beds with leech, scud, and streamer patterns, your reward will be non-stop action from juvenile lake trout (17″-21″), and a few brown and brook trout. Be sure to use a full-sink line. Trout Lake opened to fishing on the 15th of this month. Some of the largest cutthroat-rainbow trout in the park reside here, and the next few weeks will be the best time encounter them until the lake begins it usual algae bloom. Run-off prevails on Lamar River drainage stream but is decreasing.
Small Streams 6-14-16
It appears that most run-off is over meaning that many of our small streams are in good fishing conditions. That points to these as being alternatives to the present crowded conditions on the Henry’s Fork, and the upcoming same conditions on the South Fork.
Do you want to get a bunch of fish for an upcoming 4th of July fish fry? Try Robinson Creek and tributaries, Upper Warm River, Partridge Creek, Camas Creek, Conant Creek, Sawmill Creek, and Birch Creek for brook trout. These non-native fish rolled in corn meal then fried in olive oil are fit to feed a king, and with a daily bag limit of 25, a few anglers can harvest enough to feed a party.
Some large Palisades Reservoir cutthroat remain in Bear and McCoy Creeks. The upper Blackfoot River and its drainage open to fishing on July 1st, and the same applies to South Fork tributaries. Idaho’s Salt River tributaries (Crow, Jackknife, Stump, and Tincup Creeks) are in great fishing shape. Warm River below the spring will feature a good combined caddisfly-PMD hatch with resident browns and rainbow responding.
So for those of you wanting to escape the crowds, but wanting some quality fishing, suggesting these makes a candidate waters sampler. There are more, and if you come to the shop, we can point them out for you.
Henry’s Fork 6-11-16
The best action to date is on the lower river (Bear Gulch to Chester Dam) where caddisflies are out big time. They are accompanied in smaller numbers by yellow sallies. A few green and gray drakes and PMDs are making appearances with hatch peaks yet to come. Some adult golden stoneflies remain and cloudier afternoons will bring out BWOs. Midges are always present and ants and beetles fall into shoreline waters. So for the fish conditions are like having an aqueous Chuckarama where the choice of what to eat is up to them. For the fly-fisher this means figuring out what fish are taking at a given time!
South Fork 6-11-16
The flush peak is over, and flow out of Palisades Dam is being stepped downward. Currently it is 15000 cfs and likely to drop further. Not only is the present a good time to present streamer patterns, but also for presenting such as wooly buggers and (heaven forbid!) San Juan and Suede Juan worms. For a time fish will look for annelids flushed out because of the recent higher water. Rubber legs patterns will be increasingly effective as we move through June, and as Parker suggested BWO, sally, and green drake adults may soon show up in enough numbers to attract fish in more sheltered waters such as channels and flats.
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