Snake River

Flows from Jackson Lake Dam are at approximately 1,750cfs.  Hatches are waning on the Snake, but you will still see PMDs just about every day (and for the rest of the year) and yellow sallies popping around.  Caddis are still emerging in intermediate fashion on the lower reaches from South Park down to Sheep Gulch, as are the first spruce moths of the year, which can dominate for a few hours each day from Astoria down to Alpine. Although it’s early, grasshoppers are starting to get active on every reach from around noon until 5pm, particularly on the mid-reaches from Moose Bridge down to South Park Bridge.  Attractors fished in tandem with a smaller dry or as part of a dry-dropper rig are bringing in fish on the main channel in riffles, seams, troughs, confluence seams, and along banks.  Smaller mayfly, stonefly, and caddis imitations are working well in the same water but are the only game in town in side channels.

Streamers are producing best on the tailwater reach from Jackson Lake Dam down to Pacific Creek and on the lower reaches below South Park.  Bright and neutral colored patterns are working better than darker streamers, and moderately sized baitfish imitations are producing better than larger patterns.  Go with sinking tips in the 3ips range and target banks, structure, seams, eddies, and troughs.  Vary your retrieves and focus on consistency between slow and fast retrieves, long and short line strips, and whether hesitations in retrieves produce.

Please keep in mind that water temps on the Snake have gone over 68 degrees for the first time of year this past week. Adjust your start and finish times, try and finish up by 3pm, do not play your fish to exhaustion, and release your trout while they are still in the water.

South Fork

Flows from Palisades Reservoir are at approximately 12,900cfs.  Salmon flies have pretty much worked their way through the South Fork and are in the upper reach in Swan Valley.  Along the entire length of river, there is a good mix of caddis in the morning, followed by golden stones and PMDs after 11am, and then yellow sallies after 1:30pm.  Surface action has been very good – particularly after 11am – with riffles, seams, troughs, eddies, confluences, and side channels all worth targeting.  Flats and banks and structure come alive after 2:30pm.  Just about any imitation of the particular bugs hatches are producing.  If imitating PMDs (emergence of which can be heavy in riffles and on flats most days) consider using a tandem rig with both an adult and an emergent pattern.  The action is good enough that fishing a shallow nymph as part of a dry-dropper rig can produce very well after 10am.  If going this route, go with no more than three and a half feet of dropper tippet.

Streamers continue to perform well, with perhaps the lower reaches from Wolf Eddy to Menan fishing best.  Banks, structure, parallel drop-offs, eddy current margins, and the head of seams are the most productive waters to target.  Both larger and moderately sized patterns are working well.  There is no need to go too deep, so fish heavily-weighted streamers on a floating line or use short sinking tips in the INT to 3ips range.  Moderate to fast retrieves are producing better than slower retrieves.  And even cadence retrieves are also working better than hesitations in line strips.

Green and New Fork Rivers

The Green and New Fork continue to hang in there, although water temps are starting to get near or across the 70 degree mark by 2pm some days.  Both are definitely worth hitting but an early start is necessary.  Whether going with dries, nymphs or streamers, there is immediate action as early as 7am in the morning before really kicking into gear by 9am.  The fishing remains fairly consistent until around 11am, after which there is a noticeable downturn in activity.  After 1pm, the impact of warming waters takes effect with another very noticeable slowdown. 

During the pre-1pm timeframe, there will be action in riffles, troughs, eddies, seams, and along banks and structure.  After 11am, the action is almost squarely tight along undercut banks and in deep seams.  As for hatches, there are still a fair amount of gray drakes, yellow sallies, caddis and PMDs around, mostly in the morning until 11am.  Expect PMDs and yellow sallies to be out later in the morning – around 9am or so. 

Salt River

The most consistent production has been on the higher gradient reaches downstream of Swimming Pool or upstream of Thayne.  We have transitioned to a bit of a routine with caddis in the morning and PMDs coming out late morning, along with leftover yellow sallies and a few smaller golden stones around after 12pm.  No real terrestrial activity in noticeable numbers occurring yet.  Dry-dropper rigs and tandem dry rigs are working in riffles, eddies, and seams primarily.  Small attractors are outperforming moderately sized patterns and can be fished all day with a fair amount of success.  If using a dropper, go somewhat short – between 14” and 24” –  and go with smaller nymphs in the #14 to #18 range.