Welcome to the 2017 fishing season, we are happy to be back! We have been experiencing some spring weather over the past 5 days and the fishing has responded. The South Fork of the Snake is the place to be, with warmer temperatures and mild weather, fishing tends to be better over the hill in Idaho this time of year. With all the snow we have received this winter, the flows out of the Palisades dam have been bumped up to create more storage space in the reservoir for the large run-off that we are going to see. The flows have been steady at around 7,000 cfs for quite some time now, the fish have settled into their new landscape and are on the feed. Fishing remains solid all day, but when the sun pops out and the temperature rises, the fishing turns on, target the warmest hours of the day for the best success. Rainbows and Cutbows have been the primary species in the net, but we have seen a few browns landed as well. Look for Rainbows to become more aggressive as they prepare for the spring spawn. Nymphing has been the preferred method in order to really see some numbers. Fish seem to be most keen on tungsten pheasant tails, zebra midges and pats rubber legs. If you have the fly in their zone, they haven’t been too picky. Streamers have been working, but you really have to work hard for just a few fish. When it is warm enough and the midges start to come off, fish begin to start rising to the surface to feed. Griffiths gnats, cluster midges and parachute midges have been the ticket to fool fish on the surface.
The Snake in the Jackson Hole valley is buried, but that doesn’t mean you can’t catch fish. All the boat ramps are inaccessible at this time, so floating isn’t an option. Keep in mind that the river bottom is closed through March 31st from Moran to where Blacktail ponds enters the Snake just above the Moose. The flows on the Snake have also been bumped to make more room for run-off, flows out of the dam jumped from 300cfs to just shy of 1000cfs on 3/8-3/11. With more water in the river there are more options to fish, getting to those areas become the only challenge with all the snow we have in the valley. As for the fishing, nymphing has been the most productive, with occasional dry fly fishing when the sun is out and the temperature heats up. Black and purple zebra midges, chironicones and pats rubber legs have been steady performers. As for dries, griffiths gnats, cluster midges and parachute midges get the job done.
