South Fork, August 2nd, 2023

It’s a living river: look at the side channels

Flow out of Palisades dam is reducing to usual for the time of the season ( 9900 cfs at Irwin, 10400 cfs at Heise, 4800 cfs at Lorenzo) as irrigation demands stabilize. With PMD populations reaching summertime levels, don’t overlook AM spinner falls as well as daytime riffle visits. No AM mutant golden stone activity yet, but keep on using those hopper-dropper rigs as bank side hoppers are becoming abundant.

We continue to have big boat traffic on the river, and first responders beg that folks within each wear life preservers. We had a recent incident where a boat wedged against a bridged abutment in Swan Valley. Human occupants, not wearing these jackets were pitched out, but luckily were picked up downstream. The lone occupant remaining boat-wise was a dog willingly geared into a life jacket. Makes one wonder who was the smartest of that bunch!