I will be moving to the Swan Valley area this summer. I have a 16 foot flat bottom river jet. What area waters can I fish with this? Also I have an I have a 9 foot pontoon. Any help would be greatly appreciated
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welcome to the site TSN. swan valley couldnt be a better place for your river jet and pontoon the south fork of the snake river is going to be your backdoor or frontdoor lol wichever applies.you can basicley go or float where ever you would like to on the southfork and the fishing is spectacular. if you ever need fishing tips or advice just hop on the site and ask one of us. we are always willing to help. and dont be scared to share what you know either. congrats on the move and prepare to fall in love with idaho.
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Welcome to Idaho BFT. Where exactly is the swan valley area. Hope you like the idaho bft, and get good input, and give good input.
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Wow, will you ever have a great opportunity for some stellar fishing. Like was said, S. Fork of the Snake is right there. Just watch it in some higher flows like now. You have Pali
es Res. that's right there. Don't forget some of the smaller waters like pali
es creek, Rainy creek, a hike up to the Pali
es like for back country fishing for trout or over the pass to fish the Teton River around Driggs and Tetonia. Trust me, you'll probably get in trouble just for trying to test out half the waters available to you around here!
And for redbeard1, Swan Valley is east of Idaho Falls about 50 miles, just short of Pali
es Res.
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its where your brother came up and floated with me ask him about it redbeard
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Thanks for all the info. I have done quite a bit of research about the South Fork. Could anyone give me some specific areas I could use my jet on other rivers? Also floats I might not get in to much trouble with in my pontoon? I have alot to learn and will be asking alot of advise. If anyone needs hunting or fishing info about Arizona just ask. Also I have a fair knowledge of certain areas of Alaska.
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I know a lot of people will put in their boats just below Shelly and run upstream and work their way back down. I also imagine that below American Falls would be a good area for your jet. Not too many people run motor boats on the upper area of the Henry's Fork, but maybe below St. Anthony. As for your pontoon I have enjoyed floating the S. Fork from the dam down to Swan Valley and I hear of a lot of people doing that further down. Pretty much anywhere in there would be good. The Henry's Fork is great for a pontoon floating river. Also Warm River above Ashton would be a great float. In all reality if you got on Google Earth and find rivers in the area, I don't know of any that people don't float periodically, as long as they have enough water. The Teton River would be another good one to try.
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Welcome to idaho! Regarding your jetboat...you can run it on the southfork almost anywhere. Right now it's a little too early due to debris floating the the river. Give it a few more weeks and it will be perfect. Not a lot of trouble areas to mention. You can basically run from Heise (near Ririe idaho) and head all the way to Pali
es dam. Come late fall there are some tricky areas and I stay off- I have a 22ft jetboat so I don't like to chance it late in the yr. However that seems to be a prime time to use my pontoon boat!
Ironrod
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Thanks for the input. Where would you put in and take out on the Warm and Teton?
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I have read about problems with diverson dams on the lower South Fork. What's your opinion? Thanks for all the heip.
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My best advise is to float it or take a ride with someone first. There are a few diversion dams that lead down side channels but I haven't had any trouble with the section I fish. Once on the snake after the north and southfork join these are more of a problem and you can't go over those.
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The warm river is frequently floated through the campground section. THere is a little platform at the upper end of the campground and people float from there down. Keep in mind, just below the campground is a hatchery and it's closed to fishing for about a 400yd stretch. Take out would be end of the campground (better to just wade for that short a trip) or float it down to where the warm river dumps in to the Henry's Fork. There's a boat ramp there. But personally I would just keep floating all the way to Ashton because it's truly a beautiful stretch through there, and good fishing! As for the Teton, like I said, I'm not as familiar with it. I've hear of people doing overnighters from Victor down to the old Teton dam site in a 2 day trip. I hear the fishing there is pretty good. For closer stuff I've heard of going from the dam downriver, but I'm not clear on the takeouts. Also from the hog hollow road downstream to another take out site that I'm not familiar with, but I'm sure someone on here knows those sections and could give more info on them.
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make sure you float it the first couple of times with somebody who has i had a body who is lucky to be alive after being sucked through one but other than that its fairly easy floating
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i know that from victor to the teton damn on the teton river can be a dangerouse float i had a search and rescue guy tell me that they get 3 to 4 calls a year off the upper teton for boats that have gone down. also there is a ton of rattlers there also so if you beach watch out.
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Would it me better to use the jet boat on the lower South Fork and lower Teton?
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Teton is too small for a jet. Once the water settles out a bit on the South fork the pontoon would be fine on there, as long as you know where the diversions are and don't get distracted so you forget them. It's basically a matter of learning where the side channels and various structures and such are so you can avoid them. That's why you keep hearing "float with someone who has done it before"[
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The South Fork above Heise typically has more water than the lower South Fork. This is because of the large volume of water diverted into the "dry beds" aka Great Feeder Canal. There are also a couple other canals by Heise that pull water out of the river.
There are plently of places you could use your jet boat on the Swan Valley stretch. As you get to know the river better I doubt you will spend much time fishing the lower sections of the South Fork when you have some of the best water in your own back yard.
Unless you have a lot of experience on big rivers with your jet boat I would also recomend going with someone who knows the river the first few times. Unless you have confidence you will not have any motor problems a good rule to follow is to fish upstream of where you launch. That way if you have any motor problems you can always float back to the boat ramp. If you launch at Conant and head down river to fish "the canyon" and have motor problems you will be in for a long day and possibly long night. Cottonwood and Wolf's Eddy are easy to float past if you don't know where they are and they are also a long drive on a dirt road to reach. Floating from Conant to Byington is a full day event
I doubt you need to here this but I'm going to add it hoping it helps educate someone else. When you are in a jet boat make sure you give drift boats and wade fishermen plenty of room. It only takes one or two idiots in jet boats to give everyone who runs a jet boat a bad name.
Make sure you check the rules on any river you put your boat in because there are many places along the Henry's Fork and other rivers that have motor restrictions.
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