No significant giant stonefly or mayfly activity yet. Water needs to warm up. To some extent Dr. Rob Van Kirk’s comments on Henry’s Fork aquatic insect hatches being late this year applies to those on the South Fork. Palisades Reservoir is near 100 % of capacity, and flow out of it was deceased very slightly yesterday with no impact on the relatively slow fishing.
Flow out of Palisades Dam has been nearly constant for about a week. Streamer, rubber leg, woolly bugger patterns and annelid presented in slower waters will interest some fish. Changes are coming soon with the stonefly hatches just around the corner. We will keep track of these and their progress and report on this web site.
Only change is a small increase in flow out of Palisades Dam on June 15th. This will not impact fishing which has best results through using such as rubber legs, woolly bugger types and streamer patterns. Anchoring a boat to fish these types deep just below Palisades Dam could be productive.
Palisades Reservoir is nearly full, and it appears that upstream run-off has peaked. So flow below the dam has been reduced (now 12000 cfs at Irwin,12900 cfs at Heise an about 6000 cfs at Lorenzo). These are about the same as summertime flows and are likely to stay close to these levels until the end of irrigation season. However water needs to warm some for major inset hatches to begin.
Now is a good time for boating fly fishers to review boat ramp and on-the-stream diplomacies which will be needed for the upcoming season.
Flow out of Palisades Reservoir ( about 85% full ) was reduce slightly ( now 12800 cfs, 1500 cfs at Heise, 6540 at Lorenzo). River still a bit high and with some discolor. Rubber legs, annelid patterns and streamers might work in calmer waters. Only midges emerging.
Let’s let them spawn in peace during June in tributaries below Palisades Dam
Flow out of Palisades Dam was raised to 14000 cfs yesterday (now 1,6000 cfs at Heise, 8600 cfs at Lorenzo). Discolored water in the river below is from run-off from tributaries. All South Fork tributaries below Palisades Dam will be closed to fishing during June to protect spawning cutthroat.
Flow out of Palisades Dam was upped to 12000 cfs (15000 cfs at Heise, 6000 cfs at Lorenzo) yesterday. Water management plans are to keep it at this amount until May 28th when flow will be increased step-wise to 14000 cfs. Whether going into Palisades Reservoir or the river below, all tributaries are bringing in snow melt which impacts water quality. The above photo taken looking down Big Elk Creek Arm gives an example of snow remaining on mountains within the drainage. It also shows that the reservoir has enough room to capture resulting runoff given that flow out of the dam is being increased to satisfy downstream agricultural demands but not having the best impact on fishing success.
Flow out of Palisades Dam remains constant and the same applies to water conditions (cold and discolored) in the river below. With Memorial Day weekend coming up, and higher than normal amounts of snow remaining on surroundings above the reservoir, consider contacting the Palisades District Ranger Office for road conditions and campground status. To date the only reservoir tributary that is approachable by road is the Big Elk Creek Arm where fishing success is possible just outside the discolored water plume coming in from the creek. Woolly bugger and San Juan type patterns presented on intermediate lines are effective.
Flow our of Palisades Reservoir has leveled off at around 7800 cfs ( about 11,000 cfs at Heise). Cold, discolored water runs in the river and slows fishing.
Flow out of Palisades Dam was upped to about 8900 cfs ( now 11240 cfs at Heise, 6250 cfs at Lorenzo) yesterday. Tributaries such as Palisades, Fall, Rainey, Pine and Burns below the dam are closed to fishing during June but now are putting cold, discolored water into the river helping to reduced fishing success to presenting nymph or streamer patterns. The lower flow at Lorenzo is because canals are opened to provide irrigation water.