The river is currently running at 8,900 cfs and the reservoir is currently 70% full.

Mild weather along with the gin clear water conditions has allowed for great Spring time fishing opportunities. Fish are still holding in their winter locations, so look for slow deep pockets where can hold with ease and still make a living. The flies needed to entice these fish in their winter grounds encompass a variety of streamer patterns. Closer to the Dam, white streamers are the anglers top pick, such as Flies like Flash Fries and Mr. Wiggles. As one fishes further down river, a combination of olive and black colored streamers tend to do the trick, such as olive Zonkers and black Bottoms Up.

The rainbows are in full spawn.  Click below to read more.........

As of this morning the river has come up to 6990cfs and will continue to rise. The number I keep hearing is 13000cfs. As you all know this is a drop in the bucket compared to last year’s 24000cfs. Current snow pac is at 80% of average and unless something crazy happens we should have a great early season! I will tell you right know if you don’t find yourselves here in May you will regret it. Skwallas and Mothers Days Caddis will be better than they have been in years.

The Lodge will be open for business on May 1^st this year. Also we will be doing a Mother’s Day Brunch. Call quickly for a reservation as spaces will go quickly! I believe there will be two seating’s.   10:00am and 12:00, Call for details. What a perfect place to bring Mom and we will even do the cooking as well as the cleaning.

The river is scheduled to start coming up tomorrow. If I have read the target flow will be 13000cfs. We shall see! The Henrys Fork is having great Blue Wing Olives and I think from what I read in the paper this morning that there will not be a flush!  This is great news for mother’s day’s caddis hatch as well as skwallas!  Look for great fishing conditions to start as the water levels stabilize. This is the exact opposite of last year but so it goes. Don’t miss out on the early season fishing!!! May will be stellar and you don’t want to miss out!

Palisade’s reservoir is still locked away under a blanket of ice but I am starting to see some open water appearing on the east end. This is great news for those of you who want the pleasure of catching large hungry cutties and browns that are cruising the banks looking for an easy meal.  If you have not experienced a lake at Ice out then get out here and give it a try. The tactic is to but in a drift boat and one side you will have ice and on the other side you will have the bank. You can spot these large trout cruising along the bank in search of a meal. Cast a Zonker in front of these fish and watch what happends! On the right day the action can be non-stop!    

The river has come down significantly but hold on to your hats because the word on the street is that it is going to come up dramatically! I did get out on Saturday with my boys, Grant and Greyson but it turned into a rock throwing contest that was followed with a beaver hunt. Needless to say I did not get a lot of fishing done. Ian however did a float on the upper end and reported relatively slow fishing but in the afternoon the nymph fishing did pick up. Fishing a #18 tungsten zebra midge with a #20 lighting bug seemed to work very well. The weather is typical for spring in Idaho and should just improve as we get into April. As for Blue Wing Olives I have yet to see any but hang in there, should be any day. Watch for the river to come up this week. The snow pac is falling fast and the water level in the dam is also coming down. Look for flows to start increasing on Wednesday but take anything form the DOR with a grain of salt. Please call with any questions and remember let us do the rowing for you!

The fishing remains strong on the south Fork of the Snake. Ian and Hailey and I did a bridge down to Conant valley after work yesterday and although the catching part was not so good the fish were most certainly chasing the streamers! When we put in at spring creek I was amazed at the number of midge shucks that were swirling around in a little back eddy right at the ramp! There were thousands of them! The river is holding steady right now but look for the flows to increase over the next couple of weeks. I have read that the flows will be expected to come up to around 8000cfs Still no word on the arrival of the Blue Wings but the water temps are coming up quick so I think that could happen anytime! Small bead heads like Tungsten Zebra Midges and Pheasant tails have been working very well and the #20 Hi-Vis Griffith Gnats have been working great! Also don’t forget your streamers. We did float from Conant to wolf last week and with the higher flows it was not a problem. I think we only pushed for a mile or two. We stopped at our outfitters camp had a great shore lunch and the fishing through the canyon was excellent!

We will be in Salt Lake City next Friday and Saturday for the stone fly society’s fly tying expo and will have a both set up. If you are in town please come by the South Towne Expo Center and say howdy!  

Guide School was a great success! We ended up with 6 students and after the school the biggest complaint was that nobody wanted to leave! We covered everything that a guide needs to be successful on the South Fork! Everything from professionalism to entomology was covered and everybody learned a ton! We are going to do another school April 29^th – May 5^th so if you’re interested please get back to us ASAP! Slots are going fast! After school was over we ended up hiring almost everybody for ourselves! 

The Fishing just keeps getting better up here! The flows have leveled out at 6090 cfs and look to be holding. We are expecting to the arrival of Blue Wing Olives anytime! The midge fishing has still been productive in places from time to time and we have had some great streamer days! I have been seeing a lot of October caddis as well. The Mother’s day caddis hatch is right around the corner and we should start seeing skwalla Stones anytime! The fishing is just going to improve until the flush! Get out here and shake a little cabin fever and lets do some fishing!    

The Cotton Wood access is still closed but all other access are open and floating the canyon is doable but if your fishing hard you may have some  pushing to make the takeout by dark. As far as patterns go I would have Griffith Gnats in #18s and #20s I would also have some streamers with you. I have just been fishing floating lines and have been great success. Kelly Galloup Streamers like the swimming Jimmy’s have been working very well fished just under the surface. The key is to fish them slow.

Spring is here! Most of the valley snow is gone and the high Mountain snow pac is a 93% of average. We are set up to have a great year on the South Fork! I think we will see bugs hatching early this this year. Last year was a disaster with the flows but I think this year will more than make up for it! I would almost bet we will see some great hatches the third and last week of June!

The fishing this weekend was great! The weather was perfect and the bugs as well as the trout were very active. I fished the upper end both days and I fully expected to see some blue wing olives but to my surprise I did see any may flies. The little black stones were out in force as well as the midges. I did a guide trip on Friday from the Irwin Slide down to Conant and the morning was a little slow but by the time we got down to the big riffle the fishing picked up. The midges were hatching in big numbers and the trout were gorging on them! On Thursday of last week I also floated the entire Canyon and the streamer fishing was spectacular all the way through. A white zonker was the pick of the day.  The water temps on yesterday were at 42 degrees F. Also the river has come up quite a bit. As of today the river is at 4600cfs. Perhaps spring is coming!

The Snow is still coming down this morning and supposes to continue for a couple of days. It looks like Sunday should be a great day to get out on the water and exercise a few fish. Temps are supposed to get into the 40s on Sunday. There is not a lot a new to report as far as fly patterns go but I expect to see the blue wing olives within two weeks. We shall see! Looking at the snow pack averages I still think we are going to have a great summer.

I have to be honest with you, I have not fished since last week……The 60 mph sustained wind keep me off the water! I must be getting soft. It looks like we have a few more storms lined up over the rest of the week but I think spring is on its way! Brandy is having a great sale over in the Outfitters! $2.00 for a sage t-shirt and 50% off retail on the items with the old logo, still have plenty of sizes in stock. Get out here and take advantage of this sale while it last!