Lost River Outfitters fishing report May 22, 2018

Last year’s water was enough for two years.  This winter, you would have thought we would have to spread it out over two years.  Snow drought in December, January, and much of February made it look like that may have to be the case.  We did have a wet fall, and then late February here it came.  Back-country skiing finally kicked in, and there were some very nice powder days on Baldy.  Snowpack got up to 100% and it keeps coming.  Then it got warm and started to rain and won’t quit.  Morel season has arrived.  What does this mean for our season?  Quite a lot actually, although you may have to be patient to visit your favorite pool on the Big Wood or your favorite reach on the Big Lost and be content with some whitewater boating instead of leisurely float fishing the Salmon.

We finished our steelhead season on April 18.  Our last angler landed four deep water steelhead.  We averaged nearly three fish on the beach a day on our trips.  We had two double digit days in the mix.  The largest steelhead was a wild 30 inch buck and a 25 inch bull trout was landed.  We got our share of steelhead in the upper river this year and angler pressure was low, so it was a pleasant March and April.  We moved out of the steelhead lodge on April 16^th and are already looking forward to next year.  With last year’s huge runoff and flush there should be a nice return coming back.

I was anxious to return to the low country to see what the reservoirs had in store in late April.  Every one of our local reservoirs had more carry over water than they have in years.  Anderson was ice free in February.   Still water fishing in the spring is something that many fly guys/gals overlook.  It doesn’t take much to make the transition.  A sink line, some wet flies, a float tube and fins is about it.   Lakes and reservoirs grow some of the biggest fish on the planet and our local still waters rival any place in Montana or Wyoming.  Every still water presents a different challenge whether it is pattern, place, or method, but that is the joy in making it work.  Reports from all of our local reservoirs have been amazing, if you are in the right place at the right time.  Anderson gave up bass, bull trout, big pike minnows, a couple of landlocked Chinook, perch and a few trout so far this year.  The best bass on one of our outings was 21 inches, but many in the 14 and better.  The largest bull trout was 25 inches.  Full sink lines stripping streamers is my method.   

 Mormon has been a bright spot too.  The rainbows have been unbelievably large this year and fat.  Largest landed 23 inches and probably over 6 pounds.  Size 14 midges and callibaetis are hatching in huge numbers.  Big zebra midges or nymphs under an indicator  work in the bays.  I still like stripping streamers for the big tug there because you can fish 1 or 2x.  Full sink line and green or brown buggers with or without a hackle and a bead.  There has been traffic, but it doesn’t seem to matter.  Pick a cove and fish it slowly with a fairly quick retrieve at the end of the cast. 

 Magic has had its moments.  Midges are starting to hatch so Seagull Bay should start to fish with indicators.  I have had good success stripping perch buggers on a full sink line for both browns and rainbows.  The perch populations have exploded as the full reservoirs give them shallow bays to spawn in.  That means more food for the predacious rainbows and browns.  

 Good reports have come from the Little Wood Reservoir, Fish Creek reservoir and Mackay reservoir.  There is no lack of still water fishing to be had.  Trail Creek is open!

Our opening day on the local rivers will offer limited fishing.  The Big Wood today is flowing at 2,100, which is really not very safe to hang around yet.  Flows at Stanton are 1380.  Flows at Camas Creek are 137.  Outflow of Magic in the canyon is 1,700.  You could probably jet boat the canyon, but even that is big.  

 Silver Creek will be crowded but our fishable stream water this weekend.  It is flowing at 161 cfs.  Look for some late morning PMD’s, possible afternoon callibaetis.  With over cast skies you can always have the possibility of seeing baetis.  I would anticipate that the brown drakes should fire up the first week of June, possibly even the last few days of May given our fairly warm spring weather.  We have all of our usual custom drake patterns ready for you at the shop.  Stop in, before they are gone.  It should be a big drake year for some big browns this year.  Big water redistributed them last year and last winter many big guys showed up chasing streamers. 

 The Big Lost is flowing at 1,790 above the reservoir and 1030 below the reservoir, and 291 at Arco  Both reaches are too cold and big above and too big below for any decent fly casting.  

 The Little Wood has shown some promise this Spring.  Please treat it right as it has been dead for ten years because of too little water, too much hot water, and poor water quality.  It is such a beautiful little stream and can have amazingly pretty big browns that it needs all the help it can get.

Our Yellowstone year is pretty well booked, although if you are interested we might be able to squeeze in another June date.  We have one three day window left in late September fishing the N.E. corner of Yellowstone.  Those dates are September 21, 22, and 23.  There is plenty of water in the Park, and it is still raining there as well.  The Lamar River is flowing at 9,750 cfs.  That will spread out the cutties.  We start June 5 in Yellowstone and return June 23.  We have another trip August 5-10.  Our September runs from the 5^th to the 23^rd.  If you have not fished Yellowstone it should be on your bucket list.  We can help.  208-720-3813 is my cell if you want more information or my email is scott@lostriveroutfitters.com.

We are stocked with all the bugs, tippets and gear you need for the opener.  Stop by and say hello, share a fish story, purchase your controlled hunt permit before the end of May, pick up some fly tying hooks for your next pattern, or shop for your significant other.  We are always glad to help you find the right thing. 

Fish far and fine,

Scott Schnebly

Lost River Outfitters

FISHING REPORT JULY 19,2013

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 16^th, 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 1/6^th 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 !

Stillwater Report-Carey Lake

In an area dominated by trout fishing, it's sometimes fun to go looking for other species.  Having grown up catching trout exclusively, I always get a kick out of finding a few bass, perch, or bluegill.  On Saturday, Scott Carper, Frank, and I took a drive to Carey to celebrate Carper's birthday and catch a few fish.  We rowed the numerous channels of the lake and caught decent numbers of all of the aforementioned species.  The key was the double black diamond cast: casting as close to the shore as possible without piling a pair of buggers in to the bank.  We stripped any number of buggers, and they seemed to like most of them as long as a proper double black diamond cast was executed.  We found more bass than expected and even tied in to a few that gave our five weights a solid pull before reaching the boat.  While most fish were fairly small, we found about a dozen perch and gills that were big enough to filet.  They found the frying pan and the inside of a tortilla. If you're looking for a few laughs and a bunch of fish give Carey lake a try.