Sun Valley / Picabo Area Fishing Update - June 14, 2016

Clouds and wind have made the Creek anyone's guess today. A slow morning should be followed by a great afternoon. Yesterday's biggest hatches began around 5:00 p.m. Although most anglers show up on the Creek in the morning, the afternoon hours have had the best fishing ever since Opening Day several weeks ago. 

If you have the time, show up on the Creek around 3:00 p.m. and stay until dark for the best fishing of the day. If you are restricted to morning and afternoon fishing then load up on all the options; PMD, BWO, Ant, Beetle, Green Drake, Callibaetis and Damsel Fly. 

The Mouse fishing is as good as ever if you plan to stay past dark! We'll see you in Picabo!

John

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - June 29, 2015

Green Drake madness continues throughout the Sun Valley area! Valley wide we are seeing great hatches and spinner falls of the Green Drake. On the Big Wood expect to see the Drake hatching strong mid-valley with a push up into Ketchum and North by weeks end. The timing of the hatch this year is generally 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. The Drake loves to hatch in the heat of the day, and with all the “extra” heat this summer the timing of the hatch has moved to an earlier time. Normally 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. would be more like it. The Green Drake can also be found first thing in the morning, before the sun gets on the water. Look to fish the spinner fall of Drakes over very fast, choppy water. One of the best techniques for fishing the spinner fall is to drown your dry fly at the bottom of the heavy water where you see them flying. Fish it with an indicator or sight fish it, looking for the flash of the fish eating just under the surface.

Anglers will also find Green Drakes on the Little Wood River and the Upper Lost River, as well as Silver Creek. On the Little Wood and the Lost, expect to see some bugs, but not like you would find on the Big Wood. Our favorite flies for this event on all the rivers except Silver Creek is the Colorado Green Drake and the Cripple. On Silver Creek the Green Drake is brighter in color and the fish really prefer the Harrop patterns like the Last Chance Cripple or even a nice extended body fly.

This is really a fun time of the year as we can finally rig up big, bushy dry flies and wet wade the rivers, searching for fish as we go! It is a brief amount of time that we can do this, so get out there every day this week, every evening after work, or whenever you can squeeze a few moments on the rivers.

The “other” hatch that is happening right now, and not being talked about as much as the Drake is the Damsel Fly action. This has really been gaining momentum on the Creek the past few hot days and this action should last well into the summer. Coupled with the morning PMD, Callibaetis and the first few sightings of Tricos, the Creek is about to come into the summer season in all its glory, and with all its awesome challenges!

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - June 22, 2015

A great week is ahead of us as we experience a plethora of water opening up and becoming fishable for the first time this season. Brown Drakes are officially replaced by Green Drakes, and the Greens can be found on The Nature Conservancy portion of Silver Creek, the lower reaches of the Big Wood and the upper Lost River.

The Green Drake on Silver Creek is a bright colored bug, so have something to match it that isn’t the dull Green colors we would use on the Wood and Lost Rivers. We have Drakes for all the rivers and have a lot of the Colorado Green Drake that works magic on the Wood now and again when the Western Red Quills arrive in the fall. This fly matches both hatches wonderfully.

Silver Creek continues to percolate with Baetis, PMD and a lot of Callibaetis. Despite having excellent hatches and spinner falls the timing of these events has been the hardest part of fishing. Anglers willing to stay from 7:00 a.m. until total darkness will find great fishing at multiple points during these hours, but whether the best fishing is morning, noon, or night, is anyone’s guess. Anglers willing to stay until darkness will find that we are having one heck of a good mouse fishing year!

The Big Wood and the upper Lost will fish this week, but like we keep saying – Please leave your dogs at home right now. There is too much volume in the river for our four legged friends to fight. Pease wear a wading belt, or better yet, wet wade. Fish with a friend. Use a wading staff. Be Careful out there!

Beyond the Green Drake plan on seeing a lot of Stoneflies and Salmon Flies in the coming weeks. Stimulators in a variety of sizes and colors are a must have. They are also great flies to use when fishing a dropper. Droppers can be simple bead head Prince Nymphs and Hares Ears.

The South Fork of the Boise should start producing Salmon Flies this week, if not already. The Caddis activity should also be ramping up! If you have the itch to fish from a driftboat, look no further. Our other driftboat river, the Salmon, is also fishing well and getting better by the day. Big dries and droppers are all you need up here. If you go to either river, boat safely and enjoy all the sights and sounds that come with these wonderful day trips through Idaho canyons!

Happy Fishing Everyone!

June 26, 2014 Fishing Report Weekend Update

The weekend should be a fun one for fly anglers around the valley. A little bit of cloud cover should make the fish a bit bolder on Silver Creek and should also ramp up the BWO activity. The Callibaetis is really starting to come on strong as well. Things to expect would be small Trico spinner falls and a lot of fish focusing on Damsel Flies! The fish have been slashing at Damsels for several days now, so we expect this action to continue.

On the Big Wood the Green Drake is coming on stronger and stronger. This is a super fun fishery when this hatch is on. The fish aren’t Silver Creek size, but they are eager to eat the Green Drake! Sunday may be a better day than Saturday as the weather should be hotter and the Drakes love to hatch in the heat!

So, if you plan to fish both days, think Silver Creek on Saturday and the Big Wood on Sunday. Have a great weekend and come see us in Picabo!!!

Sun Valley Fishing Report June 16, 2014

The rain and the wind and the clouds are making for some uncomfortable fishing right now, but the fishing remains good. Bigger fish are on the prowl under the low light of the heavy clouds, so fish accordingly. Streamers and Mice are great choices.

Temperatures will be returning to normal this week and subsequently the fishing should follow. This is not to say the fishing has been bad, quite the contrary. The fishing in the cloudy and sometimes damp weather lately produced a lot of big fish, it just didn’t produce big hatches. Perhaps the colder, windy days will “reset” the season and our hatches will begin coming off a little less early!

On the Creek this week, we are expecting our fist small Trico spinner falls mixed with Baetis. If you see temperatures getting over the 80 – 85 degree mark, this is a real possibility. The Baby Hoppers should also begin coming into play on all our area waters this week. When we say Baby Hopper that means a size 14! That is small for a Hopper, but big compared to all the other food the trout are eating.

The return to sunshine should also mean a return of stronger PMD action as well as Baetis. The mornings are a great time to fish, but be sure this season on Silver Creek the best rising fish action is taking place during the magic hours before dark.

The waters across the area continue to fall as river after river comes into shape, ever so slowly. The Big Wood and Upper Lost Rivers are fishable in some areas, and less so in others. Fish with big bushy dry flies and bead head nymphs dropped under them. The Green Drake should also begin to show in decent numbers this week as falling water and hot days are the perfect recipe to see this hatch!

On the other end of the spectrum we have rising water on the South Fork of the Boise. This is endlessly interesting as we’ve known what to expect on the South Fork for the last 25 years. This year, we know very little. Not many boaters have been over there yet, as we have zero reports. The forest fires created so many slides into the river the boating is not at all like it used to be. Those of us that have rowed the river with one eye open for the past few decades have to relearn and pay very close attention to the river now. If you go, take Salmon Flies, Caddis and Cicadas, but make sure your first trip is more about safe boating than catching a whole bunch of fish. Get comfortable with the river, then get to fishing!

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley Fishing Report – June 13th, 2014

There is plenty of change happening out there today and it’s all good for anglers! Silver Creek is continuing to percolate and the flows have increased enough to cover a lot of the mud bars and shallow zones. This trend should continue, although slowly, it is at least heading in the right direction.

The South Fork of the Boise is also seeing change this week, as the waters are brought up from the dam we will get our first real look at how last year’s fires have affected the floating. If you go, take nothing for granted, and if you float scout the river by car first! Expect Salmon Flies, Cicadas and Caddis.

The Big Wood continues to drop slowly and clear up a little. The flows are still strong, but our guess is that we are a week to 10 days from great Green Drake action on the river.

The Upper Lost also continues to drop and anglers looking for quietude may find a few places to cast a line, but we’re far from seeing the first - best fishing up here this season.

The Lower Lost remains high and only fishable in a handful of high water spots.

It’s a time of change with a lot of fisheries just opening up for the first casts of the season. Get out there and enjoy it!