A tragic drowning on the Snake River in Bingham Country serves to remind that wearing proper gear is a must for boating anglers in preventing such events. Wearing a life jacket ( not just having such in the boat) should be practiced especially if that boating person has donned waders.
Big Time Trout Food
The stone fly hatch on the lower river is beginning right on time. From Ashton Dam down to the Chester Dam nymphs are crawling onto banks. It will take some warm weather to advance the hatch in numbers, molting to adults, and to fly over the river. So until warm weather arrives, big nymph patterns simulating these insects will be among the most effective to use as resident trout key on such patterns. During this week the hatch should advance, and we will provide information on best locations to enjoy it into Memorial Day weekend.
By any measure the big stone fly appearance ends the so called shoulder season on the river. From now on high interest applies to the season long advance of insect life which makes fishing the river so famous. We at Fly Fish Food-Jimmy’s will monitor this advance on the river and provide solid information on it throughout the season.
Water quality continues to be good throughout the watershed. Water temperatures and dissolved oxygen concentrations are good to excellent and near average for this time of year. Turbidity continues to drop in the Warm River to Ashton reach and is also starting to drop downstream of Fall River. I do not expect abnormally high turbidity anywhere in the watershed for at least a week. Hatch timing is within a day of average at all locations and is likely to stay very near average for the next few days. Cooler weather next week could slow things down a bit then, but I expect average timing for the salmonfly hatch watershed-wide. Salmon fly adults have just started emerging in the spring-fed locations such as Buffalo River and Warm River, indicating just a few more days before they begin to hatch in large numbers in the reach between Ashton Dam and Chester Dam.
Rare Wind Free Day
Fishing Success on the lake depends on who you talk to. Some locations ( i.e. in front of the Cliffs and in front of creeks seems to be producing) are better than others. Of course the wind has much influence on fishing this shallow lake, and it can make fishing from boats perilous.
IDF&G’s annual gill netting operation finished last Monday. The report on results of the operation will be released soon, and is sure to be of interest to all Henry’s angling enthusiasts.
Flow out of Mackay Reservoir has been raised step wise to over 500 cfs,. This is being done to provide room in the reservoir to collect runoff and potentially for doing repairs on the dam. Wading the river below the dam is extremely dangerous and not productive for fishing for now.
The Henry’s Fork continues to offer the most consistent fishing of any area stream. Good caddis, BWO, and midge activities are reasons for great top water fishing not only on the lower river, but on the river above. Here the Last Chance area and above Coffee Pot rapids are good areas to try. For streamer and nymphing enthusiasts, Box Canyon is worth a try using streamers and fly rod jigs.
Here is some encouraging water quality information from Dr. Rob Van Kirk’s Henry’s Fork drainage SWE report filed yesterday.
As good as water quality was on Wednesday, it was even better yesterday. Water temperatures warmed just a hair, putting them within the optimal range for development of rainbow trout eggs and fry in all river reaches. Increased sunlight yesterday resulted in higher photosynthesis than we have seen in a week, increasing dissolved oxygen watershed-wide. Turbidity continued to drop yesterday, although that trend will be reversed today as snow begins to melt. I expect the highest increases in turbidity to occur downstream of Robinson Creek and Fall River, which are the two tributaries that will respond the most to mid-elevation snowmelt over the next week. Hatch timing is a day behind average at most locations after slowing down over the past five days. However, I expect aquatic insect development to accelerate a little as temperatures warm, putting it back at average to a day or so ahead of average by the end of next week. That means upcoming springtime hatches—including salmonflies and March Brown mayflies—should be right on time.
While springtime warms, back country roads begin to lose snow cover and become easily damaged because of wet and muddy conditions. County, state, and federal agencies ask that travelers refrain from using such roads until they dry and are repaired to a passable condition. Contact these agencies to determine condions of roads in question.
On contacting the Palisades District ranger station of Caribou-Targhee National Forest we learn the repairing the Bear Creek road to original condition requires a two year project. So travel restrictions will remain for this period.
Fishing has slowed as is usual for a while when the lake becomes ice free. As ice leaves the lake, fish disperse throughout making fishing from boats more effective than wading shorelines. Beginning Saturday of Memorial Day weekend the trout limit of two in possession applies here. However, fish will thank those anglers continuing to practice catch and release!
Flow in the South Fork is reduced significantly ( now about 11000 cfs at Irwin, 12400 cfs at Heise, 8000 cfs at Lorenzo) because the reservoir volume above is down to around 75%. Now there is room to contain run-off and reduce flood danger below. Cold water and discolor in places below some tributaries are present. But the river is now more suited for fishing and boating. Fly rod jigs, rubber leg, woolly bugger and streamer patterns presented on sink tip ( most useful) or full sink lines ( for slow, deep water) would be most effective until waters warm. So we are heading in the right direction with the water, and weather is shaping up too.
The road through Bone to Blackfoot River Reservoir has been opened for travel. We mention this because the annual carp tournament on the reservoir will take place soon. More information will be posted here later.
Flow out of Palisades Dam was raised to 14500 cfs on April 30th. Flow at Heise is now about 16200 cfs and 12400 cfs at Lorenzo all with cold, discolored water. Those are great flows for sight seeing excursions by boating but not for fly fishing!