Fishing report July 19
I know you have not heard from me in some time. For that I apologize. It has been a whirlwind of a summer. This last week we had a group on the Big
Wood with 30 guides out followed by 25.
That is a muster for us when we usually pride ourselves with customized
trips to fit the client. I had a couple
of cancellations for the next two days which is allowing me to catch up on some
much needed office time. An updated
fish report was first on my list.
Some like it hot, but not our trout or the insects they feed
on. We have experienced some pretty hot
weather so far in July. Fortunately some
monsoonal flows have dumped much needed rain and made for some spectacular
thunder storms this month. The showers
have freshened the river flows nicely.
On the evening of July 16th, just after our large group got
off the river, a deluge the likes of which we almost never see came in from the
south, pounded the Wood River Valley and continued over the Pioneer
Mountains. The following Day the upper
Lost ran muddy and had risen 150 cfc.
Well over an inch of rain fell in some places. It cleared two days later
and the fish did not mind. The high
altitude meadows are spectacular and the colors change weekly with blooms of
different species. Even though we are in
a dry spell there has been enough moisture that the rivers are staying cool,
fishing has been good to excellent, and the landscape is green. You do need to pick the right river at the
right time of day to maximize your effort on the water. We are promised more monsoonal flows next
week by Wednesday.
Big Wood
The Big Wood at Hailey is flowing below normal at 244 cfs
this morning. Still pretty good
flows. Fishing is best in the morning
hours until about 2 pm then again in the evening with the caddis hatches. Expect some rising in the morning to the
various smaller mayfly spinners and some residual caddis egg laying
occurring. Some pink Alberts are
beginning to show in the waters around Hailey as well. Mid day expect to see some yellow sallies
over the water in their egg laying phase.
Use a small yellow/orange stimulator.
Way north of Ketchum there are still a few Western Green Drakes around
both hatching and spinning. Longer
leaders are the norm and if you do not have to match a hatch that is obvious on
the water, an over sized dry fly like a stimulator or madam X with a dropper
such as a 16-18 zebra midge or a 14-16 copper john will work quite well. Swinging soft hackle nymphs in size 14 and
caddis emergers on the Tenkara rod with the son of a client last week was killer. You might want to check out our Temple Fork
10 ½ foot and 11 ½ foot Tenkara sticks.
Although swinging flies works fine with your usual gear, the no reel
Tenkara is a pretty fun different style of fishing. We will host Yvon Chouinard in late August for a limited class in Tenkara
fishing.
The water at Stanton flowing into Magic is 26 cfs and is too
low and warm for much good success right
now.
Magic Reservoir is still fishing for smallmouth with
streamers. Let’s hope something survives
in Magic this summer.
The Lower Big Wood, in case you had not heard, is dead. Water flows this morning are 1.1 cfs. Two
foot rainbows and browns belly up.
Thousands and thousands of trout of all sizes are in decay due to some
shortsighted decisions by the Richfield Canal Company, who decided that one
more day of water on the dessert alfalfa was more important than saving the
trophy fishery in the Canyon below Magic Reservoir. There is a definite lack of understanding of
the value of a fishing resource and riparian habitats when it comes to water
use in this state. This fish kill did
not have to happen. The Wood River Land
Trust offered to buy their last day of water release of 850 cfs to maintain
daily flows of 20 cfs into September when temperatures cooled to keep the
fishery alive. The Richfield Canal
company refused. What would one less day
of water have meant to the alfalfa, when there was less than 60 days of water
available, one hay cutting, and temperatures in the 90’s and 100’s? We lost a great resource. I personally lost about 1/6th of
my guide water and days. The rest of the fly shops have been affected
similarly. The general fishing public
has been robbed of a tremendous resource.
Something needs to change with this water management policy below
Magic. It will take years of good water
conditions for it to recover. If this
happened in any other state there would be outrage. It is way
past time to fix it. There is a solution
and it is not the stubborn status quo.
Silver Creek
Silver Creek is a bright spot with water flows. It is flowing at 149 cfs. Best fishing is in the early morning hours
with Trico spinner falls and possibly PMD spinners following on some days. Again the evening when it cools bring the
hatches back the PMD emergences which have been very strong. You should also be prepared with caddis and
the tiny baetis. If you can stand the
heat some afternoon callibaetis spinner falls and emerging. Hoppers are not far off and dry damsels in
the middle of the day will surprise some of the big guys. The rehab project in the pond area of the
Nature Conservancy and the RR Ranch has been approved. I can’t help but think this will speed flows
through the pond area and help cool the waters downstream and improve trout
conditions throughout all of Silver Creek.
The Big Lost
The Big Lost system has been a bright spot this year. Snowpack was decent, there is still some cold
water coming from the ice fields above Starhope Creek and Wildhorse Creek,
keeping the water and the fish healthy.
Mackay reservoir was full. The
Lower Lost has been flowing at a rate of right around 500 cfs, which is big,
but wadable in spots and very fishable, mostly with small weighted nymphs right
now. In the upper Lost, the North Fork,
and Copper Basin most of the heavy hatches of green drakes have gone, but there
are some golden stones and yellow sallies egg laying mid day. Most rising will occur in the morning hours
when there is a rusty spinner fall and a mix of other streamborn insects. Take your flying ants in size 14. If you can’t see them hang them two feet off
a parachute Adams or purple haze. A
dropper nymph on 5x fluorocarbon is very effective as well. Although there are no regulations on the
upper system, except for a no kill on whitefish, we have experienced catches of
good sized mature rainbows and fine spot cutthroat who show spawning scars from
this past spring. We also had many
juvenile fish in the East Fork drowning the dry fly trying to eat. I really have not seen so many juveniles in
the system since whirling disease affected the Big Lost system in the early 1980’s. That is a very positive sign. Please release your catch in the upper
Lost. It is one of our most easily
accessible pristine river systems in the state.
There are rainbows, cut-bows, and cutthroat over 18 inches in the river
and they are feisty, fat, and fun to catch. No grayling to report yet however.
South Fork of the Boise
Water flows are 1600 from Anderson dam right now. Access is good with a boat. The giant stones
were out last week along with blanket caddis hatches. Fish are hard to come by when there is that
much food available. As these two
hatches diminish look for some pink alberts to emerge from the riffle waters
and hoppers begin to attract some attention.
Yellowstone Park
The Park waters are all fishable now. The Yellowstone below the Lake is open. I would stick with the cold water fisheries
for now and save the Madison in the Park and the Firehole for fall. We still have some openings in September for
our fall trips to the Lamar Valley if anyone is interested. If you want a thorough blow by blow, river by
river update you should check out the fishing report by Craig Matthews of Blue
Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone. He
does a great job.
That is all for now.
Be ready in August to fish far and fine as the waters continue to drop
and grow gin clear.
Tight loops,
Scott Schnebly
Lost River Outfitters
Remember, our kids fly fishing camps are in full swing !
