South Fork 6/17-6/27

Well I thought that the big bugs would be out by now. We are all still waiting. At this point it looks like all of the bugs might just have one big party and come out together. It might get a little confusing on what to cast if you have Salmonflies, Goldens, Green Drakes, and PMD's all coming off at the same time. But I guess this is a good problem to have. I did see two Salmonflies a couple of days ago but have yet to see another one. The good thing is that the fish are starting to look up for their next meal. Some of the other guides at the Lodge have been getting limited success on dries throughout the day. However the ticket is still to put an indicator on and do some nymphing. The fish in the lower river are really looking for big rubberlegs and worms. We havent seen a lot of big fish lately just a whole mess of browns in the 15''- 17'' range. I guess you could say it has been the attack of the preteen brown.

One cool thing that happened to me this week was I had a solo client catch a fish using an indicator, streamer, and a dry. I have never had a client pull a trifecta like that. We started off the day throwing a 4 inch streamer and proceeded to catch 5nice browns. Then in the middle of the day we switched to an indicator and caught about 10 more browns. Then we ended the day with 5 dry eats on an Eldens Ant. It is pretty cool to have a client skilled enough to throw all three methods of river trout fishing.

The other moment I will probably never forget is when I took my father-in-law and wife out in the canyon. This was my father-in-law's first time ever fly fishing. He was a serious prodigy and only got in one tangle the entire day. He ended up outfishing his daughter with 9 nice fish to the net. Hey I even got to catch one on a dry. This is the first fish I have caughten on a dry in a long time. It was nice to throw something that didn't have a piece of split shot on it. Overall it was a great experience. The best part was when the father-in-law got on the oars and started rowing for the two of us. You gotta love putting the in-laws to work.

Fish Hard!

The South Fork 6/14 - 6/16

Still waiting on the Salmon Flies!

My first three days of guiding are done out here in Swan Valley, Idaho. The water temperatures are still very cold from snow melt. The temperatures in the upper river are about 49 degrees and the lower river is measuring in around 52 degrees. The water needs to get around 55 degrees before we start seeing those big bugs fluttering around. I have tomorrow off and then I am back on for another eight in a row. This is going to be a great summer of guiding.

The last three days we have been stuck stairing at the indicator. But this time nymphing paid off pretty huge. I had the pleasure of rowing Dave and Kim from Seattle, Washington. On the second day Kim hooked a big fish that just stayed on the bottom of the river for a good 5 minutes. She fought this fish for about 300 yards down two different runs. Kim ended up landing a 24'' Brown! This is the largest fish that she had ever caught and the second largest I have ever had a client land. All three of us were fired up. This was a pretty cool moment.

Most of the fish that we have been catching have been coming on rubberlegs, golden stones, san juans, and copper bobs. I think I have about another week of of nymphing with clients. I am just itching to start throwing some dries. I guess it will be here sooner or later.

Tight Lines!

Early Idaho Report 6/4-6/10

Well for those of you planning a trip to eastern Idaho and western Wyoming you might want to postpone your trip a few weeks. They have gotten tons of snow this way and the majority of the rivers look like chocolate milk. You can find some decent water clarity if you fish some of the tailwaters, but all of the freestones are unfishable. According to some of the locals this is the most snow they have seen in over twenty years. The weather forecast is projecting more snow this evening and through tomorrow. With all of the rain and snow it is going to be a late summer for fishing. People should expect great fishing in the rockies all the way through September. There shouldn't be any river closures this year due to low warm water.

With all off the freestone rivers being unfishable I have got one day in fishing the Blackfoot and then another fishing the South Fork of the Snake. The Blackfoot in Idaho is a little gem that not to many people know about. The Blackfoot is a tributary to the Snake River. The river doesn't boast a huge population of fish but the cutts and rainbows in there grow to large unhealthy proportions. For some reason they are short and fatt. The two times that I have fished the river it has resulted in some chubby specimans that are strong and full of fight. Well last week the fishing was pretty tuff with only about two feet of clarity. A fellow guide friend and I spent the whole day throwing streamers and we only managed to hook 7 fish. But 4 of the fish hooked were all 18''-20''. The great side about it was that I was able to get some fishing in before my busy season starts here this next weekend.


Monday I went and checked out the South Fork of the Snake. It was good to get back on this river after guiding it all last summer. For those of you who have not been here it is a must see for any fly fisherman. The bugs on the South Fork traditionally come off near the end of June so for the next couple of weeks we will be stairing at indicators in the riffles and throwing streamers on the banks. The fishing was good the other day with about 30 fish landed between two of us in about 5 hours of fishing. We decided to float from Palisades Dam down to the Lodge at Palisades Creek. The streamer bite looks like it is just getting started and the fishing with eggs and San Juans was pretty silly. The big fish of the day was a 21'' cutty that had the biggest shoulders I have ever seen on a cutthroat. It was probably a 5lb fish. At first I thought that I hooked a decent brown because it just stayed on the bottom and bull dogged me for about 5 minutes. To be honest I was thoroughly impressed that it didnt do its normal cutthroat roll and give up routine.

Just for some additional information. I have heard that the Henrys Fork is fishing. It should be any day now before those Salmon Flies come off on Henrys. That means we are about 2-3 weeks from having them come off on the South Fork. Get exicted because those big bugs will drive the most seasoned fly anglers crazy. I guess you could say that it is a hatch of a lifetime.

I hope this helps for those of you coming out this way in the next couple of weeks. I will be guiding out here through August and then I will be coming back to California for all of the famous egg bites. I guess you could call that California's hatch of a lifetime.

Fish Hard!