Picabo Angler

Pee-Ka-Boo is a Native American word meaning "Shining Waters."

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Filtering by Tag: green drake nymphs

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!

Big Wood River Fishing Report

Just a quick update for the Big Wood River: The Wood has dropped to 620 cfs and should drop even more as cooler weather moves in. While the Wood is fishable now, it should be far easier to wade in another week or so about when the Green Drakes should happen. This really should be one of the better Green Drake years we have had in recent times on the Wood due to the lower/fishable water levels. Stuff your boxes now and stay tuned. Meanwhile, there are a ton of Green Drake nymphs in shin deep water up and down the Wood and the nymphing has not been bad despite the swift water. Below is an image of a small sampling of Green Drake Nymphs found in the Big Wood River yesterday near Hailey, Idaho. Our favorite Green Drake Nymph pattern is Umpqua's #12 Epoxy Back Green Drake Nymph.

Green Drake Nymphs. Big Wood River, Idaho.