South Fork 7-7-18

Flow out of Palisades Dam is down to 12500 cfs ( 12000 cfs at Heise, 5140 cfs at Lorenzo), and that is slightly less than normal for this date.  Walk-in wade fishing is now safer, and at this flow the river offers more candidates for doing so. Big stoneflies are in the canyon and moving upstream.  Presenting nymphs, rubber legs, and such as SJ worms into deep holes from gravel bars is still a very effective way to fish. Presenting small nymphs, beadhead or not, are working best when fishing riffles. Any day, however, because of the good concentrations of PMDs, sallys, big stoneflies and caddis this will turn around to better dry fly fishing.  Rest assured that boat traffic on the river is increasing and will do so at an accelerating rate as it shapes up to meet its reputation as a great river to fish.