Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - October 19, 2015

True Fall came in with the weekend and it looks like it plans to stay until winter takes over. We have heard many an angler frustrated by the lack of consistent hatches, but that should all have changed by now. Not to sound like a broken record, but the Fall Baetis hatches should be significant as we head toward November and Mahogany Duns continue to both frustrate and inspire anglers on a day to day basis.

The angler numbers in the past week have dropped to a season low, meaning you can fish to your hearts content while still experiencing the last hatches and spinner falls of the year. Spawning Brown and Brook Trout are dropping eggs into almost all the river systems, often making Nymphing a better choice than fishing the dry even when the hatches are on! When this happens it becomes an angler’s personal choice if you are going to fish the top or the bottom.

Some great opportunities also exist this week a bit farther from Sun Valley, as low flows make for some exciting fishing and easy access on the Lower Lost River and the South Fork of the Boise. Both are great places to fish Baetis this time of the year, and on a pretty fall day the drive is worth it as much as the fishing.

IF you are headed to the South Fork of the Boise and you are an Upland Hunter don’t forget your shotgun and your bird dog as the Chukar population in areas above the river seems to be coming back strong since the fires of a few years ago. This is a great cast and blast opportunity. We like to go early and hunt while it’s cool and once it’s warm enough for the Baetis, normally about 1:00 p.m. we drop to the river corridor and start looking at our favorite runs for rising fish.

Fishing windows are short these days so try to maximize your time by arriving early and staying late. The afternoon and early evenings will be more productive than the mornings as the nighttime temperatures reach the freezing mark in many places. So by early, we mean sometime around 10:00 a.m. and by late we mean fish until sunset.

If things get too cold out there come into Picabo Angler and check out the new fingerless KAST gloves. They are a local Idaho Falls company and are producing some of the finest cold weather gear in the industry! We are proud to sell their gear in our store!

Happy Fishing and Hunting Everyone!

Distinguishing A Male From A Female Trout

As a guide, I am often amazed at the look of someone's face when I comment that the fish he or she has just caught is a male or a female. "How can I tell?" they immediately ask while examining the underside of the fish for an obvious visual cue. Below are a couple of images that explain the difference. Note, it is often more difficult to determine a trout's gender when it is still a juvenile, ie under 9 or so inches.

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Here is a female Brown Trout caught recently on the Big Wood River below Magic Reservoir. Note the size of the jaw in relation to the size of the fish. Also important to note is the rounded shape of the jaw on a female trout. While hard to see in this image, the anal fin on a female Brown or Rainbow Trout will be slightly concave and a male's anal fin will be slightly convex. Looking at the jaw generally does the trick though and the short rounded jaw on a trout is the tell-tale sign of a female.

photo: john huber

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Here's an example of a male Brown Trout. Note the elongated jaw and even the convex anal fin. Males also often have a slightly longer lower jaw. The jaw on the male brown is not short and rounded at all... An elongated jaw on male trout and male salmon as well is called a Kype. The older the male trout becomes, the more elongated Kype it will have. The above image was taken on Silver Creek.

photo: nick price