South Fork

South Fork 9-28-13

Mahogany duns and BWOs are making for some of the best top water fishing of the year here.  The weather is ideal for these mayflies to hatch, crowds are down, fall colors are coming on, and flow out of Palisades Dam has been hovering around 5000 cfs for a week making for great walk-in wading conditions.  All this adds up to a great time to visit this best of rivers.  Come in for a visit and to get information on some of the best locations .

South Fork 9-20-13

The flow has dropped twice in the past 24 hours and is down to 4910 cfs out of Palisades. These drops are inevitable this time of year as the irrigation demand reduces. Usually it takes a day for the fish to adjust. The water temperature is also dropping (from 64 on Tuesday to 60 this morning)which is very good news and we are starting to see good numbers of Mahogany Duns and Blue Wing Olives.

*On Sunday a rod and reel was left at the Twin Bridges ramp. It is a sage FLI and is personalized with the owners name (Jeff King). If you happened to find it please give Jeff a call at 208-206-3713.

South Fork 9-17-13

Flow out of Palisades Dam was dropped to 6000 cfs Sunday. That’s heading in the expected direction and reinforces our suggestion that walk-in wade fishing is becoming more practical. Get in touch with us for location suggestions. With the cool, cloudy weather we have been experiencing and diminishing hours of sunlight, look for BWOs to make a significant appearance to be followed by that of mahogany duns. Now begins the time of year on the South Fork to reserve a place in your fly box for streamer patterns to be used early, late, and under low light conditions.

South Fork 9-10-13

Earlier today flow out of Palisades Dam dropped to 6700 cfs. That’s a 500 cfs drop with more to come. This is good news for walk in wade fishing. Water out of the dam is still on the warm side at 63 deg. F. , but days are getting much shorter and cooling off , so the river below will begin cooling as a result.

South Fork 9-7-13

Three days ago flow out of Palisades Dam was dropped to 7080 cfs.  Expect more drops in flow out of Palisades Dam to come with the reservoir at 8% of useable capacity.  With dropping flows, walk in-wading will have a lot more opportunities. Come visit us or get in touch for suggestions on locations to target. One Fly Contest is going on today, making for only six boats per section, including the South Fork. Six more boats is only a blip in the variation of daily South Fork boats. With recent cloudy weather a few BWOs could begin to show up in this year of uncertain hatches.  Allow about two more weeks for BWOs and mahogany duns to show in significant numbers.  For now look for mutant stone activity to provide some action.

South Fork 9-4-13

Just a quick heads up for everybody, the river is now flowing at 7,550 cfs. Look for the Mutant stone fishing to improve with each of these small drops in cfs. Also today 9/4/13 the river is running very dirty from Hiese down to Menan, the tremendous rain/thunderstorms we have had lately have caused some run-off from farms in the area. The river above Hiese has not been affected and is still fishing well.

South Fork 8-31-12

Flow out of Palisades Dam is down to 8000 cfs with a water temperature of 64 deg. F.  The recent drops in flow have been small, but they add up.  Best strategy remains fish early, fish late.”  Hopper patterns and chenobyl types trailed by your favorite bead head pattern seem to work best with most strikes coming to the dropper.  Evening caddis hatches bring some action and streamers fished early and late can do the same.  With streamers location is more important than pattern.  Sounds a bit like a broken record, but changes are on the horizon as we move through September.

South Fork 8-27-13

Flow out of Palisades Dam is going down at a slow rate so far.  But reservoir above is not far from 10% of capacity with inflow about half of outflow.  So the flow out of the dam is certain to go down more quickly soon as irrigation season winds down and storage season begins.  Jimmy floated from Cottonwood to Byington yesterday with good results pitching a chernobyl ant trailed with bead head.  A few mutant stones were around, and the partly cloudy conditions helped bring good action.

South Fork 8-26-13

The South Fork is still chugging along through the dog days of summer. The river is right around 9,000 cfs coming out of the dam and is still fishing pretty decent for those willing to work for their fish. Fishing early in the morning and then again late in the evening has been producing best. Try throwing mutant stone patterns against the banks early and add a dropper or switch to nymphing as the day progresses. Streamer fishing has been okay with the best fishing on overcast days or early in the morning. Towards the evening try fishing with caddis emergers. If you have any other questions please contact us at the shop!