South Fork 6-13-13
The flows on the south fork have stabilized at 12,800cfs at Paslisades Dam and 14,000 at Heise. This should be the flow for much of the summer. Run off has peaked according the Bureau of Reclamation and Palisades Reservoir will not fill this year which points to an early stonefly hatch. Traditionally the hatch starts the last week of June but I’m sure we’ll see it start earlier. We floated from Byington to Lorenzo yesterday and had very good fishing with a pair of Bennett’s brown rubber legs. The fish were holding below the drop offs and troughs in the riffles. We did not see any stone adults but we saw a hand full of yellow sallies and green drakes. Some of the fish had bulging bellies from eating stone nymphs.
We’ll keep you updated on the status and progress of the hatch. Meanwhile the fishing with nymphs and streamers should be very good. The river is the perfect “south fork green” color for this time of year.