Because of being adjacent to the Thanksgiving holiday, we will not offer fly tying demos on Saturday, November 18th and Saturday, November 25th. Our Saturday fly tying demos will resume on Saturday, December 1st and continue into December.
Looks like we will see winter maintenance flows until the next irrigation season. Right now, water and weather conditions make BWO activity good enough for active top water fishing and for successful streamer fishing.
Ever notice the flow is greater at the Heise gage than that at the Irwin gage? That is not just from tributary water ( ie Palisades, Fall, Pine Creeks, etc.) but also from an up-welling of ground water into the river.
A. J. Jorgenson
A.J. and Family at the 2023 EIFTE
A.J. Jorgensen is featured for the Saturday, November 11th Fly Fish Food-Jimmy’s fly tying demo. He is another Colorado transplant, although his roots are in eastern Idaho thanks to grandparents. A.J. got into the fly fishing world in a backwards kind of way. That is, he began as a youngster tying flies for his dad and his buddies while living in Colorado and yet to fly fish. On becoming of age to buy a truck, he began scoping out nearby streams. It was success while doing so that fly fishing became love at first sight. Seeing that east Idaho offered much more for an outdoor life, A.J. moved there and became acquainted with our wonderful array of waters. He entered the angling industry though employment at Rio about eight years ago, but soon graduated the guiding for The Lodge at Palisades Creek. In doing so, products from his fly tying vise became sought after, especially those patterns for the South Fork, the Henry’s Fork and their tributaries. He will tie these patterns as well as offer usage information on each during his demo
About five years ago A. J. demonstrated his tying skills during Jimmy’s Saturday demos, and more recently, he did the same during the 2023 EIFTE fly tying demos held in the Mountain America Events Center. A. J. is now the Fly Fish Food-Jimmy’s assistant manager as well as a sought-after commercial fly tier. A. J. and his Mrs., Claire, live in Lewisville with children Flint and Zola, all of whom can look forward to a great outdoor life in this area.
River at Monument
It is brown trout time on the river above American Falls Reservoir, and the current weather is ideal for stalking them with big streamer patterns. Below the reservoir out flow is down to about 260 cfs as USBR is going all out to fill the reservoir. All this means that fish are concentrated in what water there is for miles below the dam. This situation will bring in a lot of anglers, wading and boating, hoping for the fish of the year and using all sorts of tackle. For fly fishers, pitching big streamers and woolly bugger types for trout and bass seems best for success.
Headlines from Dr. Rob Van Kirk’s Henry’s Fork Drainage Water Status Report Filed Yesterday
Rob Van Kirk, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
P.O. Box 550
Ashton, ID 83420
208-881-3407 CELL
208-652-3568 FAX
It is great weather and sky conditions for BWO activity and fish responding during mid-day hours. These conditions also have a good impact on streamer fishing anywhere on the river.
It featured Clark ( Cheech ) Pierce, and what a great demo it was! Cheech is a streamer pattern enthusiast, and he applied natural but mostly synthetic material that Fly Fish Food offers. Not only were his instructions thorough, but his presentation information for each was complete. With humor and and skill he began our tying demo season in a upbeat manner. Look for more of our Saturday demos to be great, but this one is certainly is going to be hard to beat!.
Because of the drop in water flow coming out of Palisades Dam look for main stem flows Above American Falls Reservoir to do the same. Below American Falls out-flow is down to about 250 cfs making for many walk-in wade locations. concentration of fish into deep water . Presenting streamer patterns is he name of the game.
Speaking of streamer patterns, The Fly Fish Food You Tube Web site features an array of streamer patterns second to none. These are tied using a variety of synthetic and natural materials and, combinations of each as well as tying instructions for each. Fly Fish Food’s web site also offers traditional streamer patterns if you prefer using them.
Do you want to fish waters available in the Park? You’d better hurry! That’s because the Park fishing season closes tomorrow at the end of the day.
For the sake of the fish population, let’s hope this is the last drop in flow (now about 900 cfs at Irwin, 1800 cfs at Heise, and 1300 cfs at Lorenzo). out of Palisades Reservoir. However it is likely that about 900 cfs in flow out of the reservoir will be what is called the ” winter maintenance flow.” So enjoy the walk-in wade abundance from the dam on down to the Henry’s Fork confluence.
Has not iced over totally yet, but could any day now. Fishing success, good or bad, depends on who you talk to.