South Fork of the Snake

Fishing Fishing Reports
1

My Home Water ( photo taken April '07 )

Finally had a decent day with nice temps and no wind. Fished a spot that usually is a 6-7 minute walk through some woods and up a dry side channel to get to the river. Took about 25 minutes of postholing through 18-24" of soft snow to get to the water.

Fished a rubber legs nymph with a midge larva trailing. Had one really nice cutthroat, a nice brown, and seven pretty routine mountain whitefish. A nesting pair of eagles watched from directly across the river a good part of the time. With the unmarked snow, a partly clear sky, and great looking water, it was a really good day. The fishing will pick up next month, but was it great to be out.

The walk back, being careful to walk in the holes made on the way in, didn’t take quite as long. The snow should be melting off soon, and it will be a much more pleasant walk.

2

Sounds like a great day to be on the water.

3

Another decent day with no wind to speak of. Someone was kind enough to take the path I made the other day through the woods and up the side channel and all the way to the water wearing snowshoes. Between the snowshoe tracks and the firmer snow because of the settling and some colder temps, getting to and from the river was quite easy.

Saw a cow moose and her last year’s calf on the way in - at a distance of about 40 feet. Mama moose’s with newborn calves can be kind of testy, but this one was quite calm, as was her calf. May be the same moose that watched me fish in this location for about an hour one day last March.

Also saw a couple eagles, at some distance. May have been the pair that nests right across the river from where I fished, but one was working a run some distance downstream from me and the other seemed to be out hunting.

Fished from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Quite a few midges on the snow, but no obvious hatch and no fish rising. Decided to go with a large brown rubber legs stonefly nymph trailing a midge larva. Took eight browns, most of them 14-15" with one pushing 18," all but one on the stonefly. Also had a dozen whitefish, most pretty routine but one about 16," again all but one or two on the stonefly.

It was cold enough for ice in the guides the whole time, but with no wind and some filtered sun, it was quite pleasant.

The place I fished today is quite different from last March. A nice, slow run off the main current that was about twenty yards wide and a hundred yards long completely filled in with small gravel during the high flows over the summer - completely. In the five years I’ve fished this section, it has only been the same two years back to back. Keeps it interesting.

4

John,
Thanks for your Report! I wish that I would have been there.
Doug

5

John, thank you for the fun and vivid fishing reports!
There are times, when I really, REALLY miss living in Idaho, your fishing reports sure don’t help! (But, love reading them, anyway!)

6

Fished my home water from about 1:15 to 4:30 p.m. today. The weather was delightful - mostly cloudy, no wind, and temps in the lower 30’s. No ice in the guides today, first time out this year without ice to deal with. There was a sporadic midge hatch going on, but very few rising fish. Not enough to think about fishing a dry fly.

Fished the brown rubber legs nymph. Got a whitefish ( aka Rocky Mountain bonefish ) right away, and another three bonefish and a 17" brown, fairly quickly. Then it slowed down, way down.

So I headed further upstream, as much to explore the next run as to fish it. Did catch one whitefish in that stretch, but more important, got a good look at the run. More change. One stretch of water, along the near bank anyway, that was a good three feet plus deep last year is now about a foot deep, a good 30’ out from the bank. Hard to believe that the river moves that much rock every year, especially stuff that is up to a foot in diameter, but it does. Not sure how this will effect the fishing this spring, but will know in a month or so.

Got back to my starting point about 3:00. Considering how slow it had been, I seriously thought about heading for home. Decided to give it a little more time. Good decision. Between a little after three and 4:30, I landed three browns and somewhere around fifteen bonefish. Plenty of action and some pretty nice fish.

Two of the browns for the day went 14-15" and the other two were around 17". Most of the bonefish were pretty routine. But one was one of the larger whitefish I have caught in the South Fork - went over 20", and he really pulled when he took off. If whitefish had the staying power of trout, people would target them as a matter of routine.

John

7

Thought I would try another place and a different approach today. The place I had in mind more often than most others will have rising fish. Took my 3 wt ( Winston Ibis 7’6" ) instead of the 5 wt thinking about fishing dries or maybe some smaller nymphs.

The route to that spot looked decent, despite all the snow. But there was still a lot of snow on the high banks, and it is a steep 20-25’ down to the water. Decided wisdom is the better part of valour, and moved on. The next place I checked had a fair number of rising fish, but they looked like whitefish. And there was quite a crowd ( 5-6 guys well spread out ), so I moved on again.

Ended up at the access to my home water. Okay, so instead of big nymphs with the bigger rod, I’ll try dries with a small nymph trailing. Started fishing about 2:00 p.m. Delightful weather - clear skies, no breeze, and temps approaching 40 F. Tied on a griffith gnat with a t.c.t.k. trailing. Didn’t take long to figure out the unweighted midge larve was not getting down. Changed to a bead head two tone ( olive and black ) copper john. Right choice. Over the next hour, I landed around 15 to 20 bonefish and two browns, and lost another really nice brown.

Tried a rust colored copper john for a while, got a couple bonefish but the fish didn’t really seem to care for it, then a bead bodied goldent stone, which also wasn’t on the menu. By the time I went back to the olive and black c.j. it was about 4:15. Picked up some more bonefish and a couple more browns. At 4:30, I decided to give it until 5:00. The bonefish quit hitting, but another couple browns were willing. At 5:00, I was standing just down from some really nice water and extended my stay for “one more cast.”

The third or fourth “one more cast” got a nice trout, most likely a brown, but he went bye-bye. The honest to goodness “one last cast,” a couple minutes later picked up an ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS 19" fine spotted Snake River Cutthroat in full spawning colors. No point to fishing any more after landing, reviving and releasing that fish.

Quite a day with the 3 wt. Besides the big cutt, landed two browns that went around 16-17" and lost one that was probably bigger than that. The other browns were more like 14-15", and the bonefish, with one exception, were pretty routine.

8

Is this over by Lorenzo?

9

Closer to Heise.

10

Fished my Home Water section a couple days ago. Pretty good action with about twenty whitefish and five brown trout over three hours from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Went back to the 5 wt and the brown rubber legs, with and without a small nymph trailing. Most of them took the r. l. Both the browns and the bonefish were are pretty routine. Nice weather, nice water, nice time.

Today, I fished a section I call the Trestle Run, several miles downstream from the Home Water stretch, from about 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Trestle Run is a wide, medium depth, moderate current run which I have only fished a few times - once with a small dry and dropper early last fall for small whitefish and cutts and twice with streamers for browns in late fall. I had some really nice browns there on the streamers.

Beautiful weather again today. Mostly sunny, a light breeze that kicked up once in a while enough to blow the cast off target, and temps in the low 30’s. Started with the brown r. l. trailing a t.c.t.k. Caught a nice 16" brown on the t.c.t.k. in the first few minutes. Then it was just kind of slow and steady, picking up mostly whitefish and a couple more browns over the next two and a half hours, enough on the r. l. that I dropped the dropper. One of the browns went about 20" and the other was around 18". The whitefish were consistently bigger than those from the Home Water section, averaging around 15-16".

Late afternoon, the whitefish usually stop feeding, or at least really slow down, about the time the browns get a bit more active. No exception today. In the last hour or so, I picked up another five browns - landed three and lost a couple. Two were in the 18" range, one that I lost was probably that size, from the way he looked when he jumped and the way he pulled, and the other two were around 15-16".

All in all, a really good day fishing this stretch. Ended up with eight nice browns and around a dozen whitefish. I had the feeling it might be decent, with bigger fish, and it turned out that way. Definitely will be headed back there next week. (366)

11

Spent an hour and a half at casting practice this afternoon at Trestle Run. Had a stonefly nymph on but not much action. Eight whitefish. No trout. Colder today, ice in the guides for a while at least, and kind of dreary.

BUT - I did land the biggest mountain whitefish that I’ve had yet. Just at 23". He pulled hard enough to put most browns in the South Fork to shame, but not for as long as trout do. Couldn’t hardly believe it when I lifted him out to release him - almost as long as my arm.

AND - just as I got back to my truck, a fellow was stringing up a spey rod. He was headed down to the river for casting practice, too. Really - he is one of our local spey rod gurus and was just out to work out some kinks and select a rod for a demo he is doing next week. Watched him for a while - 100’ of line with the flick a wrist, well two wrists and some arm movement, too.

Not a great catching* day, but a good day to be down at the river.

  • Found out this morning, 3-16-08, that the Idaho State Record for Mountain Whitefish is 22.5".
12

Got in an hour and a half on my home water late this afternoon. Temps in the high 30’s, overcast, very little breeze, and a short period of rain. Lots of midges on the snow on the way in, a few in the air, and an occasional rising fish, mostly whitefish taking whatever they were taking.

Went with the brown r.l. nymph trailing the midge larva. Surprisingly, a lot of whitefish for this late in the afternoon. They went about half and half for the stonefly and the midge - maybe ten on each. Picked up one smaller brown on the midge mixed in with best part of the bonefish.

Then I hit a slot where some browns were holding. In the space of six or seven minutes, I had four browns, all over 20", with the biggest right at 22". Two of them came on back to back casts. The browns split the stonefly and midge two and two.

After that burst of action, caught a few more bonefish before heading out. Lots of action in 90 minutes. And chances are, its going to get better over the next few weeks.

13

Been thinking about getting a higher weight rod since I have been fishing bigger water more often lately. Maybe a 7 wt to handle the water, wind, and double nymph rigs under an indicator, which some days seems a bit much for my medium action 5 wt.

Jimmy gave me a demo Sage TCR 9’6" for 6 wt ( overlined to 7 wt ) , with his assurances that it would outdo a lot of 7 wts I might consider.

Early afternoon, the wind picked up. Seemed like good conditions to test the TCR. Got my gear together and headed for my home water. Got to the water about 2:30. Of course, the wind was hardly blowing at all over there. But I rigged up the usual r.l. stonefly nymph under a good size indicator and went at it. The rod felt rather heavy, especially after fishing my little 3 wt yesterday, and the big reel didn’t help.

Took some getting used to, but finally got a feel for the rod. So far, so good. Then all hell broke loose. The other day I went out to catch fish and ended up doing some casting practice. Today I go out for casting practice and all I can do is catch fish. Maybe I should have not used the stonefly nymph ??

By 5:00 I had hooked well over 30 mountain whitefish and landed most of them, and landed 8 or 9 browns. The whitefish were pretty routine, except for a couple bigger than usual specimens. The browns ranged from 14" to 21". The big one was a really fine example of what happens around here on a good day. Fat and sassy and full of p… and vinegar. The last brown, about 16", took the fly in some pretty fast water and when he came to the surface he tail walked for about five feet. Then he hit the water, but only momentarily before he jumped a couple more times before settling down. Definitely the most acrobatic brown I’ve had so far this year.

So much for casting practice. And making any judgements about a given rod, when the first thing you do with it is catch a 17" brown. Guess I’ll have to go over to Trestle Run tomorrow to see if I can give the TCR a reel test. If I get lucky … Maybe I should take a camera.

14

35F, winds steady out of the SW at 20mph, gusting to 25, wind chill about 25F on a completely exposed section of the South Fork. This is why I went out there today - to see how the Sage TCR 9’6" for 6 wt ( lined 7 wt ) would handle some adverse conditions. With these conditions and only my medium action 5 wt to fish, I most likely would have stayed home.

Fished from about 2:30 p.m. to 4:30. Planned to stay a while longer, but my leader broke in the butt section, and my feet were soaked from wearing my old waders while Simms is refreshing my new ones, so I just packed it in and headed for home. I think the leader must have weakened at the point where I tied on the indicator - it just popped on a back cast and was gone. First time that has happened to me.

But I did get in a couple hours of good casting experience, although standing almost hip deep in the water and fighting the wind at the same time pretty regularly threw the casting stroke off. Nevertheless, between times I was ducking that rather erratic r. l. stonefly nymph, I did get in some fishing, and caught some fish.

About a dozen pretty routine mountain white fish.

That takes care of the routine. Had one smaller, like 16", brown. But he was a fiesty little cuss. Had one cutthroat that was pushing 20". Felt more like a log when he took the fly, didn’t hardly move for a couple seconds, then let it rip. After playing around for a couple minutes, he just kind of hunkered down and waited. That was another advantage of having the 6 wt - much easier lifting him.

The “cookie cutter” brown trout today was about 19", give or take half an inch or so. Six of them. And all were fat and healthy, and all but one were real acrobats. One stayed down, the rest all went airborn almost immediately after feeling the hook. The most memorable one cleared the water by a good foot and a half on his first jump, and followed it with another almost as high. The others all got up and out, but none quite so spectacular. And, of course, they all did the “I,m gonna splash around here until you let me go” routine when brought in close.

All in all, another great spring day on the South Fork.

15

Sunny, no breeze at all, and ice in the guides the whole time ( from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. ) on my Home Water. Must be spring in Idaho.

Pretty slow day, especially for trout. Picked up a dozen plus bonefish in the first hour or so, then they went for a siesta.

After the bonefish quit hitting, I landed one 15" brown, had a big trout on that I thought was going to take me to my backing before it threw the hook ( or broke it ? ), and got an 18" brown right up to my foot before it escaped.

That is the third time in a couple weeks in almost exactly the same place that I have hooked into a BIG trout that has headed for the middle of the river at top speed as soon as it feels the hook, and lost it - either I’ve lost three big trout the same way, or I’ve lost the same brown three times ?? ( I did see a brown the first two times. )

The thing that struck me today, just after losing the big one, I hooked and almost landed the third one. When I checked the fly right after the third one, the hook was broken, far enough from the tip that there was no point, but not so far that there wasn’t enough hook to hold a fish while it was under pressure. I wonder if the big one broke the hook and thus escaped rather than throwing it.

One of these days …

16

Hate losing fish to a broken hook. It sounds like the steel might be weakening when you pinch the barb. What kind of hooks are you using? When you quit reporting ice in your guides, I may just work up enough enthusiasm to get out amongst them. There are Browns in that river that die of old age, just cause I’m not there to cause them a heart attack. On second thought, maybe they would give ME a heart attack. I’ll add that one to my list of reasons to stay in out of the cold.:stuck_out_tongue:

17

Lew -

That is the mostly likely cause of the broken hook. For all the flies tied in the past four years and all the fish caught, I’ve only lost a couple fish due to a broken hook.

John

18

Got in a couple hours on my Home Water today from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Close to freezing, cloudy, and not as much wind as forecast. Had occasional breezes up to 20 mph or so, but a lot of the time there was hardly a whisper. When it did blow, it was coming from downriver, from my left, so it did not interfere with casting at all.

Lots of bald eagles around. Have seen quite a few more this winter than the past few years. A good sign.

Fished the brown r.l. stonefly nymph. Had a couple dozen mountain whitefish on and landed most of them. Landed a nice 15" brown, and lost one that was somewhat larger.

Pretty routine day, EXCEPT, I caught a 15" rainbow, a real jumper and fighter. There are very few bows in this part of the South Fork. Then I caught a 19" bow. Was that ever a surprise ?!

19

John, nice report and a great day of fishing!
I, know, it’s way north of you and I DID read your informative post on Idaho’s winter water situation, but have you heard any first hand reports as to how The St.Joe is shaping up so far this Spring?
It’s my “old home waters” so always curious about it. Used to be, quite decent this time of year!?!

20

Paul -

Nope - haven’t really heard anything about any of the rivers outside the southeastern part of the state.

Considering what is happening up there with overall precipitation and snowpack, I would be very suprised if they are not having a good winter and expecting a good summer.

John