Sun Valley Fly Fishing
Big Brown Trout Expert Max Blume always shows up when the Mouse Fishing is HOT!
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Sun Valley Mouse Fishing Report - August 17, 2016
Chi-Towns own Hanley Dawson fished with Picabo Angler tonight. Yes, the Mouse fishing is getting good!
Sun Valley Fishing Report - July 29, 2016
The Big Wood River is a great place to be on a hot day. The shady canopy always offers anglers a respite from the sun. The best way to stay cool though is to fish Patagonia style. Meaning fish early and later.
The moment it is light enough to move about the river is the moment you want to be fishing. Start your day with Streamers or Hoppers as you await the morning hatches. This is a good time to fill your lungs with cool morning air and let it into your pores. Trico action starts after the first rays of sun hit the water and the air temperatures get to 70 degrees.
Siesta and lunch are the second activity of the day while the temperatures climb and the fish also go into a "siesta" mode.
Start your day back up in the early evening. Again start with Hoppers and have your Caddis and Rusty Spinners ready for the evening rise. If you've saved enough energy and your feeling really fishy, head to the Creek with your Mouse Flies!
John
Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - Opening Day Forecast, 2016
Listen Idaho, you can hear the sounds of tailgates slamming shut and the hiss of float tubes being aired up. You can hear the slow click of reels as line gets strung through rod guides. You can hear the crisp snap of a fly box being closed. Under those tones you can hear muted noises like oars being shuffled into place and strapped into boats, and the distinct crinkling of waders as they come out of a bag totally dry for the first time this year. Soon these sounds will be replaced by the swish of legs in water and whisps of casts placed far over the water. Opening Day is upon us!
Silver Creek is the place to be for Opening Weekend! Join Picabo Angler on Friday night for the Picabo Premiere of Hank Patterson’s “Mystery of the Cuttyrainbrown Trout.” Showing in our airplane hangar at 8:30 p.m. Bring a camp chair and your hardiest laugh! Saturday the festivities continue with our Opening Day BBQ! Starting at 11:30.
If you are fishing Silver Creek this weekend plan on seeing a few hatches. Callibaetis have been the most prolific as of late. Baetis is always a possibility especially if we see a lot of cloud cover and have a few P.M.D. patterns just in case…
Regardless of the hatches you can count on Terrestrials caring the day. Be sure to have plenty of Ants and Beetles in a variety of sizes. Large Chernobyl patterns can be good in adverse weather, and smaller flies like Flying Ants and Crowe Beetles will be effective if the water stays glassed over.
Anglers sticking around for the night fishing will find Mouse Patterns effective, and Brown Drakes will be coming into the mix soon enough. Probably not this weekend, but probably not far behind either. Anglers that don’t want to be out late can opt for getting up early and fishing Streamers in the gray morning light.
The South Fork of the Boise will also be fishable on the opener. The river is at driftboat levels and Nymphing with big flies like Girdle Bugs and Salmon Fly Nymphs is your best bet. Smaller nymphs like Copper Johns and Hares Ears are also excellent choices.
Plan on run-off effecting most of our rivers over the weekend, which will make places like Silver Creek busier than normal. Please remember to be kind and share your experiences as best you can with your fellow anglers!
Happy Opening Day Everyone!
Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - August 3, 2015
August is upon us, and after a quick heatwave, this week’s temps are looking very comfortable. This is great news for fish and angler alike. We still have low water conditions in most areas, but this is the norm in August. This simply means we have slightly more technical fishing than the rest of the summer and the daily windows push toward the low light of dusk and dawn.
The Trico spinner fall continues all over the Sun Valley area and is fishable on almost all our waters. Silver Creek is the epicenter of the Trico and the mornings when it is not showing in large numbers, other insects and hatches are taking its place. The Baetis has been prolific in the mornings and if you don’t have Hatch Matchers in your fly box, you may be missing the single most important pattern on Silver Creek this season. The P.M.D. activity remains sporadic with some very intense hatches lately.
The afternoons on the Creek are still dominated by Damsel Fly activity, although the Hopper action is really starting to pick up. Callibaetis are still the mainstay of fish in the sloughs as well as ants. The Flying Ant action valley wide has been epic this past two weeks and we see no reason it shouldn’t remain our best bug.
The evenings on the Creek are the normal smorgasbord of all the bugs, and if you are lucky and stay late enough you can witness the Trico emergence. You’ll know you are seeing it, when the fish are going nuts on what looks like a surface devoid of insects. We also cannot say enough about how good the Mouse fishing is this season. It’s the closest we’ll get to all out “Mouse Hatch” conditions.
Elsewhere, the Big Wood continues to fish well early and late. Small mayflies in the a.m. are complimented by decent Caddis in the p.m. If you plan to fish in the afternoon, it’s a Dave’s Hopper with a Pheasant Tail dropper. Streamers have also been effective for taking bigger fish, but anglers need to also use this technique when the light is low.
The Lower Lost continues to be great with Trico and Crane Fly activity. This activity, coupled with wadable flows makes for a great experience, but you had better get out of bed early to make the drive worthwhile!
We love fishing in August! Dust off your Hopper Patterns and get ready for an epic month of casting flies!
Happy Fishing Everyone!
Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - July 7, 2015
Trico time is upon us at Silver Creek! Couple that insect with fantastic afternoon Damsel Fly activity, then sprinkle in some late night Mouse fishing and anglers are set up for some great spring creek fishing! We love that the Trico is happening early this year. The peak activity can be found in the S-Turns on the Nature Conservancy property and by weeks end we can expect to find this Spinner Fall up and down the entire river. When the Trico “feed” begins to taper off, expect to see PMD and Baetis for at least another hour or so before the afternoon lull. Once you are done fishing the morning hatches and spinner falls, come on by Picabo Angler for some lunch at our Grill and the head back out for the banner year of Damsel Fly fishing we’ve been having! If you still aren’t sated after that, look to hang in there until dark and try Mouse fishing. The Big Browns have been eating Mouse Flies better than ever this year!
On the Wood and Upper Lost Rivers, the Green Drakes are well up the systems and should be wrapping up for the season by weeks end. Fishing Stonefly and Salmon Fly imitations remains viable on most rivers, especially the South Fork of the Boise where the Salmon Flies are making their way to the dam! This is the week to fish if you want to hit the Salmon Fly on this awesome river.
The Salmon River is fishing very well and is another great place to go cast big attractor flies at nice sized Cutts and Rainbows. Floating the river is the best way to fish it. If you don’t have a boat and want to see the river up close and personal, let one of our great guides row you down and put you over these hungry fish.
The Lower Lost continues to fish in spots with nymph and double nymph rigs. Wading can be tough, but jumping from spot to spot by vehicle can be productive. Copper Johns are a great way to go, and if you need to fish dries, try skating a Crane Fly. We have some excellent imitations in the store this year.
Over all we can expect another great week of fishing throughout the Sun Valley area. Temps should be more comfortable for fish and anglers alike, and the water conditions and hatches are as good as it gets right now!
Happy Fishing Everyone!
10 Great Reasons to Visit Picabo This Weekend!
#10 Breakfast at Picabo Angler is really good and the closer one eats to the Silver Creek the better Everything tastes!
#9 The Trico spinner fall has begun and the fish are in pods eating them!
#8 The Picabo Flee Market / Garage Sale is this Saturday!
#7 It’s always 10 degrees warmer here than up in the Valley!
#6 From Picabo you can fish Silver Creek, the Little Wood, and the Big Wood all in the same day!
#5 Lunch in Picabo means the best Burgers and Pulled Pork in Idaho!
#4 Wildlife Viewing; Moose, Deer, Elk, Beaver, Otter, Waterfowl, Insects, Birds of Prey, Wildflowers…
#3 Fly Fishing, Birding, Painting, Photography, Canoeing, Hiking, Picnicking!
#2 Brown Trout on Mouse Flies!
#1 Sunrise and Sunset!
Picabo Angler Nick Anderson with a Mouse caught Brown 2 nights ago.