Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - September 7, 2015

Fall is upon us. The leaves are changing, chainsaws are heard in the timber, elk are bugling, gardens are being harvested and autumn hatches are here!

On the Big Wood the Western Red Quill is out and about, driving the fish crazy! This BIG mayfly is a mouthful for a fish and a great way for fish to fatten up before winter. Couple this with the enormity of Fall Baetis hatches and it’s apparent that this is a good month to be a trout in Idaho! Expect to see both of these insects during bankers hours and with quite a bit of overlap as well. Trico on warm mornings is still a possibility and Hoppers are going to continue to take fish until they are long gone.

Expect a lot of the same thing in the Upper Lost, with a lean toward Ants and Hoppers. Although the Upper is fishing well, the water is low enough, be prepared to cover a lot of ground! The fish are holding in the deep water and under the slick foam lines. Look for this water type and you will find fish.

The Lower Lost continues to fish well when flows are reasonable. It looks as though they may stay at fishable levels for the duration, but keep an eye on the CFS. If it remains below 350 CFS, you are in business and the trip is worth it. Skating Crane Flies is the most fun way to angle, with Trico and Baetis also bringing fish to the surface. If nothing is happening, fish with red colored nymphs and Zebra Midges.

Silver Creek remains excellent, although with shorter fishing windows. Expect the morning activity to start late, sometime around 10:00 a.m. and even later on cold mornings. The afternoons are becoming more and more productive and the early evening has been really good. If you fish the Creek, have Baetis, Callibaetis, Hoppers, Ants, and Mahogany Duns. Expect to see the Mahogany Dun any day now, as the cooler weather should bring this bug to the forefront.

The South Fork of the Boise remains around 600CFS, making some wading possible, and some boating possible. Hoppers are the way to go if you head down there, with a residual Pink Albert on a hot day and Ants a great fly in the slowest water!

Hunters can expect to see a few northern Doves making their way into the valley and the Grouse hunting remains solid. Be safe and enjoy the hunt!

Happy Fishing and Hunting Everyone!

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - August 17, 2015

August continues to provide dramatic weather and excellent fishing! Although, upon first glance at the Wood River Valley, first time visitors may see the Big Wood running dirty and smoke in the air. This is simply “smoke and mirrors” trying to hide wonderful fishing everywhere else!

Silver Creek continues to put on epic morning shows that consist of Trico Spinner Falls, but each morning other bugs and sometimes all the other bugs join in. Don’t head to the river without Trico, Baetis, P.M.D. and Callibaetis. In the afternoon the game is Hoppers and Callibaetis. The evening brings back all the bugs except Trico, and the Mousing remains as god as we’ve ever seen it. We’re only a few short weeks from Mahogany Duns, so get your patterns now. Most area fly shops stock very little of this fly, so the best patterns to be had are available now, and may be hard to find in a few weeks.

Trico continues on the Lower Lost as well, but don’t leave your Hoppers, Crane Flies, and Ants at home! The flows have been sporadic, but mostly fishable. Expect to see plenty of your fellow angler, but a weekday and an early start will get you on the fish.

The Big Wood continues to run muddy, then clear, then muddy, then clear…I’d continue but “word count.” When it is clear, Hoppers, Streamers, Rusty Spinners, Caddis and Trico are all must have flies.

The Upper Lost is fishing well if you are willing to walk. The falling water levels make the holding water spotty and far between. Small Attractors, Hoppers, Ants and some Trico will continue to take fish.

The South Fork of the Boise remains relatively quiet. Pink Albert is the hatch and some excellent Hopper fishing can be had out of a boat. Water levels remain near 1800 CFS, which is excellent for boating, although new rapids remain in place, so scout the river once if you haven’t been down since the fires there.

A word about Ants. This must be the most prolific Flying Ant year we have ever seen. Take this bug on any body of water right now and you are in business. We can only chalk this up to some natural / cyclical event. In any case we don’t care why it is happening, just that it is. Fish that seemingly won’t come to the surface, have been rocketing off the bottom to ingest size 16 /14 cinnamon and black Ants!

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!

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 - August, 18, 2014

This has certainly been the most interesting summer we’ve had to write about in a long, long time. A little bit of everything from too little water and too much water. We’ve had fire and rain to beat the band. Mother Nature has been challenging fly anglers all summer. The one consistent has been the quality of fishing in Silver Creek. With the Big Wood blowing out seemingly weekly, and with the South Fork of the Boise turning into a big question mark, it has been nice to see the best hatches in a decade on the Silver Creek!

The Trico spinner fall is as good as we’ve seen it in many seasons. This seems true of Silver Creek, the Lost River, the Big Wood and just about anywhere fish swim locally these days. Anglers can expect several more weeks of this, and with the steady weather expected over the coming weeks, we may finally get into a pattern of fishing, more akin to what we are used to seeing. Fishing the Trico is fun, rewarding and an event that will keep anglers coming back over and over.

If you haven’t fished the Trico on Silver Creek, try and come this week. You will see a show that will make you want to master the art of fly angling. The Spinner Fall has been starting about 8:30 and fish are eating them soon thereafter.

To review: Spinner Falls are different insect events than Hatches. The Spinner Fall is the event that takes place after the insect hatches from the water. The insect heads to the river bank, shucks a layer of skin and within a few hours to a day the bugs return to the water. They will mate in the air over the water commencing the Spinner Fall. Once they have mated they will fly like a quickly moving cloud up the river. Eventually they run out of gas, they lay their eggs in the water and die at the surface. This is when the fish key on them, vacuuming the dead bugs from the surface. It is a must see event for all fly anglers.

Looking forward, it’s time to stock up on Hoppers, Mahogany Duns, and the tiny Fall Baetis. This can be a tough fly to find at many shops toward the end of the season. A size 24 can be hard to find and hard to see, but they are the key to a good day fishing in the cool of autumn!

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - August 4, 2014

Anytime you have a sport where the rules are dictated by Mother Nature you will have to learn to take the good with the bad. What is happening this week with the weather is a great example. If you love to fish Silver Creek then you can look at the cooler temps and the rain and rejoice in the flows coming up, better oxygen levels for the fish, and cooler water. This all spells great fishing this week and even into next week. Now, on the other hand if you love to fish the Big Wood, than this weather is making things a bit hit and miss. Mainly, is the river going to be fishable or not after one of the many thunderstorms we have been experiencing?

Not a terrible dilemma having to choose between two wonderful fisheries, and if you can’t make that decision, then stop trying and just head over to the Lost! The upper and lower Lost River systems are at their peak right now. Big fish are being caught above the reservoir, although you need to be willing to hike a lot of water to catch more than one or two. Small attractors are all one needs. Parachutes, Trudes, and Stimulators are a good starting point. Have some good sized PMD patterns as well. The fish are often keying on a variety of yellowish mayflies and a standard Thorax PMD will fill the bill for almost all of them. 

The lower Lost River is fishing well when the sun gets the Tricos going. Baetis and Crane Flies are also on the menu below Mackay Dam. Expect this action to continue for most of August. If you do go to match these hatches, be ready to small. The Trico in the next valley over is tiny! Size 22 and 24 Tricos are not out of the ordinary here. We have purchased quite a few patterns here at Picabo Angler specifically for this Lost River dilemma. Stop in next time you’re fishing the Creek and we’ll show you some.

With the Creek coming up to near normal levels we are expecting the return of the hot weather to bring us the first really solid Hopper bite of the season! Be ready with your favorite foam patterns once we get back into a rhythm of sun and wind.

Bird hunters, it’s time to get your gear out. GO over everything and fill in what you need. It is also time to go bust a few clays at one of our local gun clubs. Hunting season opens at the end of the month!

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - July 21, 2014

Expect another great week of fishing, as flows remain high enough in most rivers to provide excellent opportunity prior to the low summer flows that will eventually bring many fisheries to a more technical point.

On Silver Creek, the fishing remains incredible in the mornings and right on into the lunch hour. The Silver Creek Preserve remains closed to fishing until 10:00 a.m. but the rest of the river is open and the hatches and spinner falls have been fabulous. The mornings are bringing varying degrees of Trico activity, followed promptly by Baetis and PMD flurries. Once this action ends, anglers can immediately cut back their leaders and tie on Blue Damsel patterns. This has been a very good fly in the late mornings and afternoons.

The Big Wood and Upper Lost River are fishing very well right now, with a slight lean toward becoming low light fisheries. The mornings and evenings are producing rising fish and the afternoons become a time to search with big dries and maybe a dropper underneath.

The Lower Lost is fishing well and earlier in the season than mot years. The low flows mean easier access for anglers. Small nymphs like Pheasant Tails and Red Copper Johns are producing nicely. Have a variety of sizes in Parachute Adams if you go as well. Skating Crane flies is another exciting way to fish the Lost. We are carrying the new foam bodied Mackay Special here at Picabo Angler, and if you haven’t fished it, we recommend you give this a try!

The Little Wood is a river we haven’t written about much this season, as the recent fires and low flows have made the desert stretch a non-event and the upstream waters above Little Wood Reservoir have a seemingly small population of fish this summer. It’s still a great place to go for some quietude and to cast big dry flies to fair sized fish.

The South Fork of the Boise has been fishing very well. The Pink Albert hatch has been coming on stronger and with a few stoneflies, hoppers and cicadas, the banks are fishing well on some days. There is still no camping allowed and the access points are different and dictated by new rapids, so fewer anglers are floating than in years past. The weekdays can be a very good time to explore the South Fork. The float from the Village Put In down to Indian Rock has been a good bet. If you go, be safe and scout the water before you float it!

Happy Fishing Everyone!

July 14, 2014 Sun Valley Area Fishing Report

Sometimes the fishing around here is so great, there just isn’t enough word count for a good report! Here we go anyway! TRICO! The heat and the cyclical nature of the Trico hatches and spinner falls over the years have met perfectly this summer. It is safe to say the SHOW is back in the Creek. Many an angler has seen the Trico madness on Silver Creek, and many an angler has decided to make the Sun Valley area their home because of it.

If you have not experienced the Trico Spinner Fall on hot summer mornings on Silver Creek, this is the time! The volume of insects can be comparable to the Brown Drakes, only smaller in size. Almost every fish in the river comes to the surface to eat this tiny mayfly, couple the intensity of the fish mopping the surface of bugs, with the technical side of trying to get them to eat your offering, and you have a recipe for fly angling at its highest level. If you want to learn more, come on down to Picabo and visit with Bob, Nick or John and we’ll set you up for a crazy morning of fishing! If you’ve been at it for a while, and need a “better” fly than the one your casting, we have a few staff favorites that will help get the deal closed on some of the Creek nicest fish. Expect a solid month of this activity. Now, would be a good time to ask your boss for an afternoon shift. Once the air temps hit 70 degrees, its game on!

Looking elsewhere, the Big Wood and the upper Lost are putting on their own morning show, with a variety of spinner falls. Green Drakes, PMD, Trico, Little Yellow Sally, Golden Stones, and more are all present on most days. Expect the action to start around 8:30 and last a solid 2 hours. After that, big flies like Cicadas, Turks Tarantula and Stimulators will still bring fish up. Normally, we’d suggest a dropper fly, but with fishing this good, anglers may want to take advantage of the fish looking hard at the surface this time of the year.

Finally, the South Fork of the Boise is fishing pretty well and we’ve seen a few rafts tackling the new rapids below the boat launch. We still haven’t seen a hard sided boat go down, but we’re sure someone has tried it. SCOUT IT FIRST! Wear you vest, and Please be safe. Oh, and take your Pink Alberts.

Happy Fishing Everyone!

June 30, 2014 Sun Valley Fishing Report

Oh, how we love fly fishing around Sun Valley in July! It is a magical month around here. We are finally free of Spring’s high water and we are not yet to the low flows of August. It is safe to say, at least this season, that July is the perfect month to fish! Add to this the fact that we are at the beginning of our Summer hatches as well, and an angler can quickly deduce that now is the time to be on the water.

On Silver Creek, the Prairie Caddis and the Trico are starting to steal the show in the morning. The Trico has been spotty as it continues to ramp up, but if you are in the right place, you should be seeing fish starting to rise by 8:30 in the morning. They could rise even earlier on a really hot day. The key is be on the water when the air temperature hits 70 degrees. Anglers can start the season with larger Trico patterns like a whopping size 18 CDC Biot Dun. If the Caddis are still out, try using a Goddard Caddis or Hemingway Caddis and fish them in a skating fashion.

During the afternoon on the Creek the Damsel action has been pretty good, and the Baby Hopper is now out in force. With the recent hard winds blowing fish could easily key on the Baby Hopper for a day. Don’t leave it out of your fly box.

The Big Wood continues to drop and settle into a Summer flow, but we’re almost there. The Green Drake is putting on a show up and down the river and Stoneflies are active also. A note on Stoneflies, we don’t see huge hatches of Stones on the Wood, with the exception of Little Yellow Sallies, but they are there in frequency and in variety. So, even if you don’t see huge hatches, the Stimulator, Turk’s Tarantula, Sofa Pillows and like flies will work very well as searching patterns on the Wood. This can also be said of the Big Lost. There are better hatches than Stoneflies, but there are few better flies to fish!

We still haven’t made it down to float the South Fork of the Boise at the new higher flows. If you have and would like to help report your findings (mostly related to how the boating is) we would love to hear from you and put your findings on our blog. You can help keep your fellow angler safe on the water! Please send your comments to info@picaboangler.com

Happy Fishing Everyone!

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 Area Fishing Report, Sept. 4th, 2013

The hatches on Silver Creek the past few days have been less than spectacular, but this is being made up for with spectacular afternoon Hopper fishing. We’ve been waiting awhile for the fish to really lock on to these terrestrials and it seems as though they finally have! The key to fishing the Hopper on Silver Creek is to cover water, fish BIG foam patterns and use a stout 2X Fluorocarbon Leader measured to 9 feet. The other terrestrial that is getting a lot of attention lately are large black ants. The fall is the time to see large numbers of flying ants, so we expect this action to continue and get even stronger!

The Big Wood is beginning to fish well, with all the access opened back up. It’s not a bad thing that the fish received a few weeks of rest in the middle of the summer. Now it’s time to get ready for excellent fall fishing with the Western Red Quill, the October Caddis and the Fall Baetis. All of these insects should begin to show up with cooler nights ahead. In the meantime a Dave’s Hopper fished in the fast water is an excellent choice. *NOTE: The Big Wood blew out today 09/02/13 from the ash left from the Beaver Creek Fire. Expect these conditions to last at least a few more days.

The Lost River is still the best game in town, with Trico and Baetis swapping turns as the dominant hatch of the day. The afternoons are primarily Nymphing time with some opportunity to cast Hoppers in the seams and skate some Crane Flies.

The South Fork of the Boise below Anderson Reservoir remains closed by the Forest Service, due to the recent fires. In any case, this is a great time of the season to be fishing. School has started and the weekdays are very quiet out on the rivers. Take advantage and make sure you gear up for the coming autumn hatches: Red Quill, Fall Baetis, October Caddis, Mahogany Dun and Flying Ants.

The past weekend was the opener for Forest Grouse and Doves. The Forest Grouse population seems to be very strong with large coveys of birds being reported. The Dove opener went well with many hunters reporting limits and near limits. The warm days may keep a few of these birds around, so what is normally a two day season for us, before the Dove head south, may last longer this year! We are certainly off to a good start to the season!

Happy Fishing and Hunting Everyone!