South Fork of the Snake Report

[tob04002]

I was finally able to get out and float the South Fork (Conant to Byington). After getting the trucks shuttled and getting all the gear together we eventually set sail at around 8:30 a.m. The water looked amazing. The clarity was perfect but water temperature was still very cold. The fishing started out fairly slow. I was fly fishing using a rubber legs and various small nymphs dropped under. We first hit a real nice looking side channel and the fishing picked up. We caught quite a few on small nymphs and streamers. From there we floated on. I hit the banks hard with the same set up. I got just a couple of takers, still on the small nymph. We then hit several small side channels and really started to pick up fish. I picked up some on the small nymphs but I also switched over to spin fishing and picked a lot on spinners and rapalas. Most of the fish were fairly small, but we did pick up quite a few NICE 17-20 inch fish. We hardly caught any fish on the main channel of the river. I did pick up a really nice brown right in the middle on a rapala. It definitely caught me off guard as he shot up like a torpedo!! After all said and done we caught over 50 fish for the day. It was by far my best day on the South Fork. It made me like the river much better, as I've never had much luck on it! A few side notes though: I was completely skunked on the rubberlegs, to my surprise. I looked under a few rocks in the river and never even found a stonefly nymph!! There was ZERO top water activity. I seen two fish rise at the beginning and then there was NOTHING. The water was still extremely cold. It will be at least two weeks before we get some major dry fly action. It could be longer because of the cold front moving through the region for the next week. Attached are a few pictures. PM me for specific details on the river or flies.

Josh
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[Bmarsh]

Good to hear you did well. The side channels are awesome! The top water action on that river is hit n miss. Some of the best top water action I have ever seen on it was the end of April. Lots of people look for the big Flys to hatch during the summer but imo the best dry action you will get is the bwo hatches in the fall and spring. Also if you can plan you're float to get off as late as possible. One of Tue perks of running a jet is we are usually one of the last people off the river and you wouldn't believe the difference a couple hours later in the evening will do to that river. There's a reason we rarely fish it during the midnight and mid day rush. It's mediocre compared to the evenings.

Those are some good looking fish. Hopefully the river keeps treating you good!
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[cpierce]

Nice pictures. It's great to see some water that is nice and clear.

Did you use a shuttle service?
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[tob04002]

No, we didn't use a shuttle service. I wish we would have though because it took for ever to do it ourselves! lol
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