Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - August 10, 2015

August means two things to most South Central Idaho anglers; fishing at low light periods and Hopper fishing! With the desert winds blowing and Hoppers fully grown, we are entering an 8 week period where the Grasshopper becomes a mainstay in the trout’s diet.

Some thoughts on fishing the Grasshopper  

*To kick or not to kick? That is the question and it’s a good question. The answer is simple. Some days yes and some days no. That is not much of an answer, but it does tell you one thing – It’s almost always either or. They all want the fly moving, or none of them do. Switch back and forth between techniques until you lock in on what they want that day. Personally, if I’m fishing buckets in the middle of the river I move the fly so that it looks like a kicking Hopper. If I’m fishing the bank, I try not to move the fly (if I don’t have to) so that it stays pinned on the bank.

*The splat is where it is at if you want to catch Big fish on Silver Creek with a Hopper. It is no secret that the biggest Brown Trout on the Creek live under the cut banks in the bright light of August. Making your fly go “splat” is telegraphing to the fish under the bank that it is there. They can’t see it land when they are tucked, but they are certainly listening. You can always tell when this happens, because the fish will come out from the bank at a perpendicular angle instead of rising parallel to the fly. The splats where it’s at!

*Foam flies or fur and feathers? No clear answer on this, but without question the fish on the Big Wood love traditional Dave’s Hoppers and fish on Silver Creek and the South Fork of the Boise love to eat Big Foam flies!

*Tippet size…Fish about to eat a Grasshopper DO NOT care what your tippet size is. Fish heavy tippets to protect against fish teeth sawing through your line. Fluorocarbon is also a great place to start. Fishing a 9 foot, 2X Leader is about all one needs.

*Let them have it – then let them have it! This is the technique anglers want to use when fishing adult sized Hoppers. Simply let the fish eat the fly and take it under the surface, before you let them have it with an aggressive hook set. Hoppers have large hooks that you want to bury with force!

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - August 25, 2014

When was the last time you broke out your fingerless fishing gloves, a neck gator and a hat when you were fishing Idaho in August? Who would have thought it would come to pass this season? Ideally we are trending back to a more normal August this week, but at this point we could have a snow-nado for all I know!

So, short of a Snow-nado, forest fire, flood or some other trick Mother Nature has rolled up her sleeve, perhaps we can get back to some summertime hatches and world class fishing. Silver Creek has benefited a great deal from the cloud cover and the extra water in the system and with the return of the sun we can expect the return of the Trico spinner falls, the Hopper action and Callibaetis afternoons. This may ramp back up slowly, but the fish should be hungry and ready to take advantage of some lighter conditions and more consistent hatches.

For those of you with guns and dogs, the beginning of the Upland season starts this week. Grouse opens on Saturday and the word is that there are a lot of Grouse this fall! This is a great bird to hunt in the cool forest early in the morning while we wait for temperatures to come down. Hunters can avoid rattlesnakes and overheating dogs by taking advantage of this time of the day at this time of the year.

Dove hunting opens on Monday! If you haven’t checked yet, Idaho Fish and Game announced this:

The Fish and Game Commission has approved liberal limits in response to new harvest strategies for North America's most abundant game bird. The daily limit for mourning doves will be 15, and the possession limit will be 45. The season will last 60 days, from September 1 through October 30.

The new harvest strategy approved by the Pacific Flyway Council is designed to conserve mourning dove populations while minimizing annual regulatory change. While this may be confusing to Idaho hunters in the first year, in the long run the goal is to provide more consistent seasons and limits in the future.

Great news for Dove hunters and foodies alike, as Dove is certainly one of the best tasting game birds out there. We are coming quickly into the finest time of the season for outdoors people in Idaho. So get out there and cast and blast this weekend. Be sure to have all your licenses updates and be sure to have your migratory bird stamp for Doves!

 Happy Fishing and Hunting Everyone!