Tuesday, June 23, 2009

South Fork of the Snake


Things have been put on hold out here on the South Fork. As of Sunday we had 19 straight days of rain and there is no more room for the water in Palisades Reservoir. Yesterday the Reservoir hit 100% of its capacity. So the water resource guys were forced to match the inflow and outflow. Currently the South Fork is flowing at 23,500 cfs. Needless to say that this is a lot of water. Making the fishing a little difficult. All of the trips for the Lodge have been cancelled or rescheduled this week. Things should start to look better next week with clear weather in the forecast. I think summer has finally made its way to southweast Idaho.

Prior to the large dose of water things were progressing nicely. Lots of fish eating rubberlegs and cobberbobs. Most days we were boating around 20 trout with a mixed bag of rainbows, cuttys, and browns depending on what stretch of river you were fishing.

For those of you looking to do some fishing out here in Idaho I would wait about another week. By that time things should start settling down in southeast idaho and western wyoming. Keep your fingers crossed as dry flies are just around the corner.

I do have several availabilities through the month of August for those of you that want to come out and give the South Fork a try. Big Dry Flies are the name of the game out here.

Tight Lines!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Back in Idaho for the Summer


Last week the wife and I took a nice 15 hour drive to our home for the summer in Idaho. I will once again be guiding on the South Fork of the Snake in Swan Valley through the month of August. I am excited for all of the dry fly fishing that awaits in the next couple of weeks. But at this point in time the dry fly fishing is going to be a while. It is really wet and cold out here. It has been raining for the last week and we have been stuck doing some nymphing. Haven't done any of that before in California:) We have been able to pull a couple decent days of throwing streamers but as a guide I get nervous of big hooks flying over my head. Wednesday I took a size 2 out of my neck. Gotta love the dangers of being a guide. That hard hat is starting to sound better each day I am on the water.

Right now the word on the street is that the Salmon Fly Hatch is about a week and a half away. That means by the first week of July things are going to be on fire. So for those of you coming out to Southeast Idaho get excited for what is to come. For those of you heading to the freestones expect some muddy water. Most of the rivers around here are high and brown. The tailwaters are fine but everything is probably not going to be fishable until the first part of July.

I will be back in the middle of September to start guiding our home waters for the famous egg bites for trout and steelhead on the Sac, Yuba, and Feather.