South Fork 7-10-09

Flow out of Palisades Dam continues to decrease. It was stepped down to 15600 cfs this AM, and it looks like further decreases may be in the works.  Although the river remains a bit colored, fish are responding quite well.  The big stonefly event is in the canyon, so the best way to encounter it is to float from Conant Valley downstream.  Try big nymphs as well as dry patterns, and remember presentation is more important than having a particular dry or wet pattern.  Yellow sally patterns continue to produce good responses from trout up & down the river.   PMD’s are now coming out big time.  With the river still higher than normal the best strategy for fishing PMDs is try life cycle patterns close to banks and at the shallower areas such as below islands or over visible gravel bars.