Flow out of Mackay Dam is about 75 cfs. Water management priority is to fill Mackay Reservoir, so look for low flows until irrigation season begins. The low flow makes for easy wading and concentrates fish into deeper water. Broken snow and ice prevails along banks and is receding. Midge and BWO life cycle, small bead head nymph, medium sized woolly bugger, and peacock leech patterns bring action.
With only 45 cfs coming out of Mackay Dam, fish in the river below will be concentrated in deepest holes and wading will be easy. Crowding is not the best situation for the fish, but BWO activity will bring them to the surface where BWO life cycle and soft hackled patterns will be effective.
Less than 100 cfs is flowing out of Mackay Dam making for good wading conditions, but tough weather conditions are present. Little traffic will be coming from the Ketchum-Sun Valley area because of road conditions on Trail Creek Summit. Some discolor is present in the water, but BWOs and midges are emerging, so life cycle patterns for these will work. So will woolly bugger types and nymphs in singles or tandem rigs.
Flow out of Mackay Dam is 108 cfs making for relatively easy wading in the river below. Water has some discolor from silt coming in from reservoir remainder above, but AM tricos emerge. Bead head nymphs, soft hackles, woolly buggers and small streamers are producing. Some BWOs appear in the PM.
Flow out of Mackay Dam is around 125 cfs. This flow makes for easy wading in the river below and may go lower. AM tricos are becoming more numerous with fish beginning to respond until late morning. Terrestrial insect patterns ( mostly those for hoppers and ants ) and caddis life cycle patterns are best bets from late morning on. Don’t overlook traditional attractor patterns such as the renegade in medium sizes and two-nymph rigs to drift into deeper holes. Expect some company arriving from the Ketchum-Sun Valley area even though The Nature Conservancy has re-opened their portion of Silver Creek to fishing.
With flow out of Mackay Dam around 150 cfs, wading is quite easy. Some PMDs and western green drakes with PM caddis are emerging, so life cycle patterns will produce. Traditional attractors such as renegades, Wulff series patterns, stimulaters, and humpies. Terrestrial insect are coming on. With the Conservancy’s Silver Creek closure and the low flows in the Wood River drainage, visitors are arriving here and along Copper Basin waters.
Flow out of Mackay Dam is a bit above 300 cfs. Wading with caution here can be done. Try streamer and caddis and PMD life cycle patterns. It is likely that the reservoir above will undergo significant draw-down to satisfy downstream irrigation demands. That means flows in the river below could remain at this level for weeks to come. Also expect fly fishing company from the Ketchum-Sun Valley area because of less than good current fishing conditions in the Big Wood River system. This will be particularly the case along the river above Mackay Reservoir and in Copper Basin.
Here are some improvements to access in the Big Lost River area that will benefit all anglers from 2021 into the future
The year 2020 with a pandemic has changed a lot of things for many of us. One change noticed by Fish and Game was an increase to the amount of use that occurred on department owned and managed public access sites. The increased demand for recreational opportunities made it abundantly clear how valuable our public access areas are to sportsmen and women.
Fish and Game maintains 70 access sites within the Upper Snake. This year the focus was on making improvements to existing access points which needed some attention, including several sites in the Big Lost drainage. Here are some highlights from the past year.
Vaulted toilets were installed near the fishing pond at Mackay Hatchery. This new amenity is located near the visitor parking area and fishing pond and makes the fishing or sight-seeing trips to the hatchery more enjoyable for you and the family. This was placed in early spring and features an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant parking pad close to the fishing pond so you won’t miss out on any of the family fun.
After installing the new toilet at Mackay Hatchery, the maintenance crew worked on access sites along Mackay Reservoir. They fixed the boat dock at the Mackay Reservoir-lower site by fixing the anchor that holds the dock in place and cleaning sediment from off the lower portions of the ramp while low water levels in the reservoir allowed us to work in the “dry”. In the picture below, they are repairing the dock’s wheels that lets the floating dock roll up or down the bank as water levels change, allowing the dock to self-adjust during changing water levels to maintain the position of the dock at the edge of the water.
One of the unique challenges faced this year was the need to reposition the anchor for the Mackay dock. After several years of wind and shifting ice, the anchor and the dock had moved to a point where the dock became dysfunctional relative to where the boat ramp is located. In the picture below, they are moving the concrete anchor block and dock back into the correct position using lift bags and scuba diving equipment. Once the anchor became suspended with the lift bags, a boat was used to drag the anchor back to the correct position.
Several updates were made to the Big Lost River-lower site. Truckloads of gravel were hauled in to repair roads and dead trees were removed from the campground making it easier to access and safer to use.
The Stennett Access site had the parking lot extended with a new turn-around area which will make it easier to load/unload small watercraft.
Additional camp sites were added to the Rothwell Access site with parking pads and an improvement to the roundabout, making it more convenient to pull campers into and out of the site.
Flow out of Mackay Dam is down to 51 cfs. This is really quite low for the river here and will concentrate fish into deeper water and make for easy wading. BWO activity is ongoing during afternoons and hoppers are pretty much gone for the year. So resort to presenting BWO life cycle patterns and drifting small nymph and streamer patterns into the heads of deeper holes and runs. Be ready for “brisk” weather.
With flow (220 cfs ) just about where it should be below Mackay Dam, wading is safe. Afternoon BWO, all day midge and some hopper activities are attracting resident brook and rainbow trout. Small nymph patterns, with and without a bead head, will always produce here. Look for cool mornings, but afternoons will be as comfortable for fishing as it gets.