South Fork

South Fork 6-4-16

Flow out of Palisades Dam is ramping up partly because of Magic Valley irrigation demands. Flow has been increased each day this month and now is 15000 cfs out of the dam. Is this also the start of a flush? We’ll keep an eye on how flows proceed and put that information here.

South Fork 5-24-16

Flow out of Palisades Dam has been steady (around 11400 cfs) for several days.  The result is good streamer and rubber-legs fishing, especially on the upper river where spawning and post-spawning rainbows are concentrated. Cool cloudy days has resulted in some BWO activity along calmer side channels and backwaters from the dam downstream through the canyon, but you will likely need a boat to get to these locations.  No word yet on a flush out of the Palisades Dam.

South Fork 5-10-16

Flow out of Palisades Dam has been around 11700 cfs for the last several days. About the only activity we have heard of is streamers being effective for catching rainbows below the dam where  rainbows are in a spawning mode.  Native cutthroat will thank you for presenting streamers and then removing any responding rainbows from the river!

We received an email on Friday that there is a tree across the middle channel just above twin bridges. It is about 1000 yards above the twin bridges highway. If you get out at the twin bridges boat dock, plan on dragging your boat around the log.

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South Fork 5-3-16

Flow out of Palisades Dam leveled off at just under 10000 cfs a few days ago. At Heise flow is 10600 cfs.  Might be time to begin pitching rubber leg and yuck bug patterns with flows stabilized for a while.

South Fork 4-30-16

Flow out of Palisades Dam still going up. It’s now at 10000 cfs. Rainbows are spawning in river, and pitching streamer patterns, glo-bugs, and San Juan worms will attract the more aggressive ones.

South Fork 4-26-16

It’s cold, its discolored, and flow out of Palisades Dam is being increased almost daily to satisfy downstream irrigation demands. Currently flow out of the dam is around 8000 cfs. Tomorrow it will be more, and so on, and so on. So for the time being consider the Ashton Dam to Chester reach of the Henry’s Fork or the Madison River between the lakes or below them.

South Fork 4-12-16

Looks like the flow graph for the gage below Palisades Dam will read like a step function for weeks to come. That means irrigation demands for the upcoming agricultural season will dictate increased flows out of the reservoir. Right now flow out of dam is at 2200 cfs and remains quite cold. Try zebra nymphs and rubberleg patterns as increasing flows will scour the bottom relative to the low winter flows. Also rainbows are moving to redds, so the cutts are hoping you will target those love-making ‘bows!

South Fork 3-21-16

Flow just below Palisades Dam is a little under 900 cfs. At Heise it is 1400 cfs and remains in the mid 30’s in degrees Fahrenheit. No wonder there is not much dry fly activity! Zebra midges, rubber legs, and San Juan worms fished around riffles are bringing responses. Expect many of those responses to be from whitefish.