March 19, 2012
This last week’s storm has changed fishing conditions fairly
dramatically. The Big Wood drainage went
to 99% of average with a meter of snow on Galena Summit. The NWS hit this one pretty right on. The Big Lost and Little Wood drainages went
up over a 100% average precipitation. We
needed it for next summer’s irrigation and fishing. Reservoirs, which were in good shape, should
fill easily now. With the rain and warm
weather at low elevations rivers did not go out, but are pretty full and
changed the fishing some as well. Silver
Creek is huge, but closed. Therefore, the
Little Wood in the desert is not an option.
The upper Wood is clear, but pushing a lot of water. If you can’t find them on midges you might
want to strip a streamer or Philo fly.
Large stonefly patterns in the soft water are important as well. Below the dam at Magic is probably off the
radar right now. The muddy roads in
reaching it stuck one fishing group that we know of. It gets impassable.
Below Mackay dam is always our favorite in March. Big midges and big baetis hatch now. My trip to the Lost on the 16th
yielded a bunch of nice fish. Zac’s
yesterday was the same, but mostly subsurface.
The midge hatch was blanket for about an hour just after noon, with a
few baetis mixed in. There was a heavy
rise for an hour and some surface shows all afternoon. Most shows were made by film feeders not dry
fly takes. A size 18 pheasant tail in
the film is a good match for both the baetis nymph and the midge pupae. A size 16-18 green or black zebra under a
size 14 adams is great to target individual risers. Dredging is very productive with a double
zebra midge on 6x fluro. If not much is
happening before the hatch stand by the old girdle bug in black or dark brown.
The Salmon went up from 350 to nearly 700 cfs with the
storm. Water temps in the upper river
went to 41 degrees. That is a migrating
temperature. It is dropping now and the
water temperatures should warm again by the end of the week, with the next frontal
passage and some sun. There are some fish showing in the upper river
above Torreys Hole. My trip yesterday
managed two steelhead, a handful of whitefish and a bull trout yesterday in 37
degree water, and cloudy conditions. One
was a nice B run buck fish in great shape.
The river is clear. Small
weighted flies are your best choice.
There were plenty of anxious steelheaders already looking for the bite
on Sunday.
That’s about it for now.
Tune in later for more updates.
Good luck out there. Keep it wet.
Scott
trout and steelhead pics
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