Fishing Forum

We all fish them....you know, the side channel stemming from the big river, or the sand bar, dividing the river into two sections...one invariable large, the other possible quite a bit smaller.

Sept. sparks the beginning of wonderful things here in Idaho...especially along my hometown water..the South Fork of the Snake River which flows not 5 miles from my front door. The South Fork is known as the South Fork, only in Eastern Idaho. Above Palies Res....and up into Wyoming, the same river is known as the Snake River. As per most Tailwaters, the SF, varies in fishing conditions, as during most of the Summer, the river flows high in support of irrigation. This runs from approx. April into Mid Sept. By Oct, the river is cut back to Winter flows....which puts a on my face as Oct through Mid April, is my favorite time to fish the river....except perhaps on the coldest days of Jan. Right now, we start into small dry fly season, beginning right now with about a #20 Mahogany Dun. Later, in Oct and Nov. we get into some excellent BWO action, starting with #18 patterns, then as the Fall cools off, they get smaller and smaller until they are as small as midges...say around #26. Then there are the midges...ah, the midges.

For most fly anglers, the SF is a Nymph/streamer river....which is true and holds a chance or two at catching a really big trout. I do a fair bit of such fishing, but with the exception of stripping streamers, I find the other method (strike indicators and weighted nymphs) , though quite productive to be boring as hell. I do it very little anymore. But, oh the micro dry flies on this river and the rods appropriate for such angling...really light up my happiness and the new Redington CT 8'6" 3wt is just about perfect....and I broke it in good this morning. For about 2 hours, the Mahogany Duns hatched and I hooked and landed 7 or 8 pretty Native Cutthroat Trout like the one in the photo below. True, Streamers and Nymphs will take bigger trout but trout such as this one...in the 14-16 inch range on tiny dry flies and a 3wt are a match made in heave...close enough to perfect.








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Love it. Great Report. Thanks for sharing. I need to quit fishing small streams and fish the small streams in the big river.[crazy]

Windriver
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Yes! I get it. Just spent a few days last month on the Snake above Jackson fishing the "small streams" within its banks. The South Fork was still around 9500 cfs. Gauge says 6700 now out of Palies. Finally!!

All I throw are dries. Do you think the hatches will be better in the lower canyon above Heise, or up above around Conant/Spring Creek? I have a 4-day weekend coming up, plus a ton of time in October! Like to camp above Heise on the dirt access road above Wolf Flats.

I've always been curious about the river below Heise bridge too, down to and around that county park. Seems like lots of braids down that way.

PM works too.
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Jim,

I don't own a drift boat (which is the biggest reason, I seldom fish the SF during high water) so I have to wait for gravel bars to stick out of the water before I hit the river much. Most of the fishing I do is from about the end of the dirt road above heise on down to around twin bridges. The best fishing are along places where you have to do a bit of hiking but there are some good runs right along close to the road too...such as the area right above the bridge, shown in the photo.

In Oct. the river should be settle down even more which will expose over more gravel bars to make access easier. If you have time, just have fun and get to know the river. I like to pack two rods with me...the 3wt along with a 6wt for streamer fishing while waiting for a hatch. Try Olive or Chartreuse with white Clousers with red eyes pitched on a sinking tip fly line.
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Cool. Thanks for the feedback. Its on my radar screen one more time now that the flows are reasonable. I have a raft and other floating river craft, but I don't enjoy the 10,000 cfs high flows even with a boat. I like to float to the gravel bars, and then wade and hunt heads to cast to. I was looking at some of that drive-by water a mile or two below that bridge in the photo last month, and it looked like it would be perfect in the lower flows. Maybe park in that lot at the trail head that goes away from the river.

Maybe I'll chuck some Clousers. I usually save those for the tarpon and snook!
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