Snake River

Dry fly fishing on the Snake has been excellent on the lower reaches from Moose Bridge down to Sheep Gulch with tour rising to blue-winged olives, PMDs, and mahogany dun imitations during the afternoon hours. Riffles, seams, eddies and submerged structure are the prime targets.  Actions starts around noon and intensifies until 5pm or 6pm.  Takes have been fairly slow, so slow down on your hook set.  Tandem rigs – dun trailed by an emerger –  are working best, but you will notice that there will be noticeably more action on dun patterns as the day progresses.  That is a good time to switch to a solo adult pattern.

A dry-dropper rig is a good way to go in the morning hours. Fish will definitely be taking the nymph.  Look for refusals or takes on dry attractors.  When that begins to occur with consistency, switch over to mayfly dun and emerger patterns.

Streamers are working from time-to time but have not been producing anymore consistently than they have over the past several weeks. They can still be worth chucking in the morning hours on 3ips to 6 ips tips and fished along banks, submerged structure, and riffle pools, retrieve with moderate to fast strips.

Dry flies – Will’s Winged Chernobyls, Purple Bruces, Royal Wulffs, Parachute Extended Body Cahills, PMDs, BWOs, and Purples, Parachute Adams, Booty’s BWO Emergers, Pheasant Tail Emergers, and Film Critics.

Nymphs – Lightening Bugs, Rainbow Warriors, and Copper Johns in red or black.

Streamers – Mini Sex Dungeons, Chicklets, Woolley Buggers, Kreelux, Booty Call Minnows, Shaka Zulus, and Beldar Buggers.

South Fork

As on the Snake, the South Fork is offering excellent fishing on the lower reaches from Wolf Eddy down to Lorenzo with fishing feeding heavily on blue-winged olives and mahogany duns in riffles, seams, and on flats (the latter especially on cool, wet days). The action starts around 11am and builds into a serious crescendo by around 2pm or 3pm.  Riffles are coming alive and the shelves of the riffles can be as active as the pools.  Banks with shallow to moderate depths and slow currents are also worth targeting.  Hit them in the morning before riffles and seams produce, but don’t be afraid to hit them in the afternoon as well.

Nymph rigs are a good way to go throughout the day but it is important to go with light to moderately weighted patterns and fish them in riffle pools and the tail of seams with slow to moderate current speeds four to six feet of leader from line to trailing nymph will suffice. Shallower riffles and flats are fished more effectively with dry dropper rigs.  As on the Snake, fish and attractor on the surface and switch to mayfly imitations once you start to get consistent surface takes or refusals.

Dry flies – Circus Peanuts, Chubby Chernobyls, Parachute Extended Body BWOs and Mahoganies, Parachute Adams, Pink Parachute, Booty’s Mahogany and BWO Emergers, Quigley Cripples, and Pheasant Tail Emergers.

Nymphs – Zug Bugs, Soft Hackle Princes, Psycho Mays, Psycho Princes, Booty’s Deep Stinker Nymph, Lightening Bugs, Zebra Midges, and Ice Cream Cone Midges.