Well here we are in late July. It’s been a while posting, neither myself, Jason, or Fred have had a day off since the solstice. Fishing has been good with trico’s primarily being the hatch of choice, although we’ve seen an occasional head scratching flush of pmd’s come out of no where and lead us to reach for flies we thought were done for the year. Caddis have been skinny. I think that is due to the low water year last year. The caddis didn’t have a great opportunity to create more caddis last year and we are seeing the effects of that this year.
Flows are currently at 4,420 and holding. We’ve gotten litte pulses here and there, but nothing dramatic. I expect the river to stay at this level for the remainder of the season.
We have had a cooler than average summer which has made it so the weeds have stayed mostly down. Some sections of the river are weedier than others, but overall not bad. The days I’ve seen it get real weedy is when they release more water at the dam or we get a good gully washer that flushes junk of the banks. If the weeds get you down just pick up and move somewhere where they aren’t a problem. Fish those skinny inside corners that have current.
Haven’t seen much in the way of hoppers, but some people have been fishing them and getting an eat here and there. Nymphing is good in the mornings and later in the afternoon. It seems the trout are taking a midday siesta sometimes. But overall, the guests at the lodge and the clients in the boat have been having fun, which is what fishing is all about. I think the trico’s will hold strong into August, and who knows what else is going to pop up…you have to be here to find out.
Flies
Dries
Tricos…
Double Wing Trico in 16-20
Buzzball in 18
Hi Vis Trico Dun in 18-20
CDC Trico dun in 18-20
Trico Sparkle Dun in 18-20
Hi Vis Parachute Adams in 20
Griffiths Gnat in 14-20
Royal Trude in 12 (Have faith)
PMD’s
Rusty Spinner in 16-18
Hi Vis PMD Spinner in 16-18
Parachute PMD in 16-18
Nymphs
I was on a 5 boat trip Friday and then a 3 boat trip yesterday and between all those boats there were probably 12 to 20 different nymphs being dead drifted (most of the time). Everyone had success, although not on every single bug, but a lot of different stuff works.
Micro mays, zebra midges, gold and purple weight flys, rainbow czechs, pt’s, hare’s ears, little green machines, peep shows, wire worms, rainbow warriors, purple or gold lightning bugs, and probably at least a dozen other patterns work, at the right time, and right place, and right depth.
Interested in something different? The freestone streams are in great shape right now. I hiked into a blackfoot tributary last week with a friend and had a great day. We didn’t see another soul and had 13-14″ westslope cutts crashing an Amy’s Ant all day. Great days to be had for sure. Wolf Creek is within a short drive to some truly wild and unique small stream fishing. Have fun out there—Matt
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