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Looks like high water temperatures and record flows will continue for the next week. Very impressed with the B-run established this year in the Pahsimeroi. With less than 1% the usual fish caught since the first of December and a complete wipeout below Salmon this spring thus far will be interested in the count to the Hatchery. Not seeing any Pahsimeroi fish passing the interrogation sites that are not 2014 outplants. All two ocean fish pretty impressive. When will the lowland snowmelt run its course?
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A good buddy of mine fished the pissimori hole yesterday and said it was chocolate milk all the way up to the east fork which is dumping in straight mud
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Water temperature just above Owl Creek the (Shoup Gage) hit a high today of just under 48 degrees. Only fish catchable at that temperature are first hour of the day and they are sparse. It is the reason you seldom see more than a handful fishing in late afternoon in the Ellis area in the Spring. Fish are moving to fast to be territorial. Once
water hits 45 steelhead are moving to fast to bite.
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I too am impressed by the 2014 releases that are showing up at the guages. I was worried that with all this snow and the the above average temperatures we'd be in trouble. It will be interesting to see what comes to the hatcheries and if we even get a chance below the P hatchery. Not looking too promising at the moment. Temperatures need to become more seasonal for things to get better..On another note, I was pretty devastated to see that the Pack Bridge went out yesterday. I have a lot of good memories from that area and have crossed that bridge countless times. Did the rock slide hit the actual bridge? Or was it the cables that bore the weight and were drilled into the mountain? The slide looks like it came down on the North side of the bridge on the far bank. I wonder if they will rebuild it back up. A lot of people/outfitters need access to those switchbacks.
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Looks like the slide came down the south side from the pictures. Google Duncans Outpost and go to their facebook page to see the pictures. The pictures of the ice jams this winter are incredible. The leading edge of the P run is hitting Salmon now with nearly zero fish being taken and is only a week or so away from Ellis with the hydrological prediction service calling for no decrease in the flows for the next five days. This kind of high dirty water above Salmon is unprecedented for this early effectively eliminating the spring run fishing thus far. Only hope is to loose the lowland snow in four or five days where the water is fishable. Oh well there is always the Sawtooth run.
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Just checked hydrological for salmon and Mar 24th are calling for 3700 cfs at Salmon. If true there will be no fishable water for steelhead at Ellis or below for the remainder of the season. Have some doubts as to whether there will be any below Basin Creek above the Yankee Fork as well. Would expect to get 10,000 plus two ocean fish back to the Pahsimeroi Hatchery.
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It's not impossible, but it is difficult. Fish just don't hold in their regular spots when the water is muddy and high. I have found when the water is higher the fish will hug the banks a little closer looking for a little less resistance. Fish can be caught, but it is a tough ask. We need this cold front to hold for a few days and hopefully clear it up a bit. Fish are showing at the Pahsimoroi in decent numbers, we just need the water to cooperate in order to do any good.
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Its driving me crazy because I haven't been due to the water condition. I'm almost to the point where I don't care and need to go just to be able to sleep at night! hahaha
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The water is high but it is becoming fishable. Find soft water and you will catch fish. Not a runaway but getting better every day. Good luck.
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I am headed up today. Not sure where we will end up, more than likely above the east fork. I am glad to see the numbers improved drastically last week. if I get phone service I will let you know how I am doing. but if you don't hear from me just assume I am not doing great.
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Only a couple good fishable holes from Yankee Fork to Salmon where water is soft enough to catch fish. Went two evenings and following days this and last week and caught fish. Last five days water clarity has been excellent. No Pash. pit tags at the 437 (twelve mile site) in last four days. 41 of the 63 P tags that crossed Lower Granite have cleared the 437. P run is about over. From the 437 to the 460 (Iron Creek) about eleven or twelve miles is taking from 1-3 days. Still a smattering of Yankee Fork East Fork and Sawtooth fish crossing the 437 each day. Total number including the P down to two or 3 from an average of eleven or more a week ago. Will not be a catch and keep run next year on Clearwater and lowest Salmon River run in last thirty years as well forecast. Reason for high water everywhere is the water content of the snow Stanley has over 18 inches of precipitation since Jan. 1st with a high % of it being rain. Temperatures have only been average. Looks like with less than one percent the usual fish caught below Yankee Fork from Jan to present we are only going to get around 2400 fish to Pahsimeroi. Too early to tell about the Sawtooth but they look dismal as well. Oh well best North Fork Clearwater run in 30 years and the South Fork has been good as well. May not even be a season there next year to have enough for broodstock.
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Hopefully the numbers are because they're staying in the ocean another year and not that they've had that much mortality. I guess all we can do is wait until next year and hope for the best.
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A big part of it was warm ocean temperatures with the fish having to change their diet from the usual creel. The outgoing water has not been ideal for a number of years as well. Heard reports of a lot more fish being caught the last couple of days today. Some very good spots which the knowledgable people already know and require very little sleep to attain now need not to be mentioned here and some soft water edges have been productive. Hint, most of the great water is only two to three feet deep and very close to the bank. Not the usual areas. Of course above Stanley the water is low and the fishing is fairly good and will continue for the next two weeks. Lots of Yankee Fork, East Fork B runs and a few Squah Creek Bs as well. Again only 5000 A runs over lower Granite according to Dupont this year. The B's released in 2015 that will come next year were subject to the same outgoing and Ocean water that caused this years A run to be by far the worst since the introduction of the hatcheries. Not hearing any good reports of the Cable Yankee Fork and Sunbeam holes in these flows.
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Have spinners or corkies?
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made it home yesterday. we stayed in the Clayton area for 4 days. we fished that area the first 2 days with only 2 fish caught and a handful more that we lost. Thursday the weather was rainy and we drove up to Stanley to check out the slide areas in the canyon.... WOW!!! those avalanches were impressive. we heard some good reports around buck horn bridge and stopped to see if we could fit in. When we got there, there were 6 ppl fishing and 4 of them had fish on. I fished for 2 hours in a down right blizzard and hooked up 8 fish and landed half of them, we also fished buck horn on saturday but the fishing was slower only landing 1. Water was clear all the way to challis but water level fluctuated day to day but was on the high side the entire trip. There is a lot of falling rocks coming down onto the road so slow down a bit. We ended up having to pull a elderly man out of his truck and up the hill just above Clayton as he had swerved to miss a rock and ended up in the river.
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Took the two oldest boys up Thursday/Friday to give it a try... Weather was less than stellar later on Thursday and pretty much all day Friday. Water was still running high but had decent visibility. Tried from the mouth of the Pahsimeroi all the way up towards Stanley... Kept one steelhead, a nice buck just shy of 31 inches. Was nice to get away from work and spend some time with the boys!
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Glad you were able to get out. I was up there last Monday-Wednesday in the Stanley area and it was COLD. We did manage to catch a few fish everyday, but the bite was afternoon both Monday and Tuesday and mid morning on Wednesday. It seemed that the fish were a lot nicer this year, even though they are fewer in number. I was fortunate enough to land one hatchery male that was 36 1/4". One of my largest on that stretch in a long time. I'd imagine that the Sawtooth has probably around 1500 fish at this time. I wonder how many more they are expecting. I can't get a great feel on it. It is hard to say with success being limited in the lower stretches of the river this year. I'm hoping to get one to two more weeks at it, but we will see.
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That is a mammoth fish on the Salmon. Anything above 34 is super rare on that river. Especially keepers or above the MF. Congrats.
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It was a pleasant surprise for sure, especially on a fly rod. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't put the tape on it really quick. I'd already kept two so I sent him up river in hopes that he'd make it to the weir. Someone had told me of a 39 inch fish as well that was caught down around the east fork. Maybe there are some big ones swimming around. I'm hoping we still have a week or two before it really tapers off.
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I was up last Wednesday, and also went up today.
Last Wednesday landed a couple and hooked a few more. First time fishing for them with a fly rod, what a blast!
Today ended up landing four with a few other hook-ups in 5-6 hours of fishing. Biggest was a beautiful 32 inch wild hen that was in really great shape and gave me all I could handle. There seemed to be a lot more fish in the river today than there was last Wednesday. I saw probably 20-30 fish in a half-mile stretch that I walked, and hooked a number of fish blindly as well. Saw a number of guys catching fish with fly rods on the other side of the river from me as well. Last Wednesday I only saw fish in one spot (though didn't walk as much and didn't put in a lot of time), but everyone I talked to wasn't seeing many/any and I never saw anyone else catch fish. I'm not aware of what is normal or typical in the Stanley area as I generally don't fish up that way, but seemed like a good push of fish had moved in from my perspective.
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