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 - May 18, 2016

There is less than 2 weeks before fishing season opens. With spring run-off on our local freestone rivers expected to last into the first part of June coupled with a likely showing of the Brown Drake on Silver Creek will mean the Creek could be a busy place for a few weeks. With that said, and with not a lot to report on just yet, we’d like to take a minute and chat about a “busy” Creek.

First off let’s remember we are all brothers and sisters of the fly rod. That means at our core we fish for a lot of the same reasons. Fun, adventure, to reduce stress, to hang with friends, to search for quarry. Mainly we fly fish, because we love it and it speaks to us. It may be something slightly different that we get from the sport, but we can all agree to respect it, and each other’s reasons for doing it.

So when you encounter your fellow angler on the Creek there are two courses you can take. We can choose to be quiet and standoffish, which could lead to tension and no fun at all. The other route is to say hello, be outgoing and communicate with one another. Despite the stigma of a “solitary” sport, we still need to take a few minutes prior to that emersion to address our fellow anglers to make sure we maximize our time and fun as well as theirs!

Do you want to be the angler that stands in the sweet spot during the Drake and ropes one fish after another while those around you are getting skunked from being in the wrong place? The flip side is you could be the angler that catches a few really nice fish and then says to a complete stranger, “Hey, come on over here and make a cast!”

At the end of the day, the first angler can go brag and thump their chest about being a fishing hero, or they can be the second angler content in the knowledge that they caught great fish, and also made someone else’s night, or week, or month, or lifetime. Being able to catch a nice fish on the Creek is not easy. During the Drake it can be. It is worth sharing. You never know how your 2 minutes of grace can make years of someone else’s life better, more exciting, and full of fish tales! It is the right and kind thing to do.

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - May 6th, 2016

The sunny side of spring is upon us! This means big, muddy waters, dangerous currents, and limited fishing. The good news is the rivers are getting a long overdue scrubbing from bottom to top. The elevated waters should go a long way toward removing more of the ash from the fires in our recent past.

Reservoir fishing remains strong and anglers heading to Magic, Little Wood and Anderson Reservoirs will find some nice sized fish willing to eat flies! Be sure to watch the weather for the wind forecast so you don’t get caught in the wrong place in your float tube or small craft. The evenings of the reservoirs should be getting really productive, really soon.

The mountain lakes have iced off on the valley floors. Stanley Lake and Redfish hold a few nice sized fish for anglers willing to play the war of attrition. You never catch a lot of fish in these lakes, but if you work hard, you can catch some big ones.

The higher lakes aren’t open yet, as most of the trails are still being used by backcountry skiers instead of day hikers. Once the trails get mostly open it will be time to have a peak. At the rate we are going that could be mid-June!

The Lost River remains open for fishing, although the flows have been cranked up. They may come right back down to decent levels for fishing, but keep an eye on the gauge. Go to the water data portion of the USGS website for up to the minute flow graphs.

When all the rivers reopen, keep in mind that spring runoff should still be occurring. Make your opening weekend plans in advance and plan on fishing Silver Creek, the South Fork of the Boise from a boat, or maybe the Lost River, depending on flows. Spring Creeks and Tailwaters should be your focus as the month moves forward.

If you are looking for something to do the night before Opening Day, Picabo Angler will be showing Hank Patterson’s latest movie “Mystery of the Cuttyrainbrown Trout” at the shop May 27th at 8:30 p.m. Bring your beach chair for viewing and your tent for crashing on the banks of Silver Creek after the event! Tickets are $5 at the door.

We are only 3 weeks away from Opening Day of the general fishing season in Idaho. It will go fast, so make sure you are ready for it.   

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Overlooked Fun!

Several times a summer we like to take a night off from Trout fishing and pursue Bass. Carey Lake, found just a few miles from Silver Creek is a super easy place to go do this. The Bass are not big, but they love to hit poppers fished on the surface, stripped hard with lots of noise and bubbles. They demolish these pieces of cork and feathers and each one will make you laugh harder than the one before. A canoe or drift boat is all you need. Motors are not allowed on Carey Lake. Fish poppers or frog patterns on a 5 foot 1X leader. The lower the light, the better the fishing. Mornings could be good as well.

Carey Lake is actually divided between the “Lake” and the canal system, which is where we fish. To reach Carey Lake, drive to Picabo, continue on Highway 20 until you reach the town of Carey. Take a left. Go through town and as you leave town on the right you will see signage for the lake. Turn right and drive 40 yards to the boat ramp, which is a small concrete ramp. There is also a pit toilet there. Don’t be discouraged by the moss and algae you see, there are many opens places to fish once you leave the boat ramp area. Fish any of the canals and have a great time!