Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - September 8, 2014

While we begin to string clear and temperate fall days together it becomes easy to get lost in the rhythm of them. It is not a stretch to think they will last forever and winter will never come, but she will. One morning you’ll walk out to your porch or truck and you will pick up your frozen wading boots. You will notice that day while fishing, the afternoon just won’t quite warm up. You’ll go to sleep that night thinking the hatches weren’t very strong. The next morning you’ll awaken to 4 inches of snow. You’ll probably shrug and head to the tying bench to start cranking out Midge patterns for the rest of the winter.

We’re not there yet! We are just at the beginning of these great fall days. The cool days this week and the warming weekend could produce a change in our insects as we await the Western Red Quill on the Big Wood, the Mahogany Dun on Silver Creek and the Fall Baetis on every river in the Rocky Mountains! Be sure you have all these flies in your fly box over the coming days and weeks.

The greatest show in the Valley these days has been the Callibaetis hatches on Silver Creek. This noon time insect is causing quite the buzz as anglers are starting to plan their days around this speckled wing mayfly. The best part is we are seeing this incredible fishing on the slow waters of Silver Creek and especially in Kilpatrick Pond where all the restoration work happened last Fall and Winter. Anglers were worried that the hatches may be diminished after the removal of the silt, but alas, this has not been the case. In fact the hatches are outstanding and we can’t even imagine how good this Callibaetis hatch is going to become in the years to come, as the pond settles into a seasonal natural rhythm!

Don’t forget that Hopper season is still upon us and despite less than stellar fishing on the lower part of the Creek, big fish are still taking this fly from the desert stretch of the Little Wood all the way through the Silver Creek Preserve. Fish this fly with confidence and attrition and you’ll most likely be rewarded with your biggest fish of the season! We love to fish big foam Hoppers on the Creek and 2X or 3X fluorocarbon tippets!

Happy Fall 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!

June 10th Sun Valley Fishing Report

Update: We saw a few things yesterday that we want to update here in the Sun Valley fishing area. First and most important, a very small, size 18 Hopper came bounding through our fly shop office yesterday afternoon. This is significant, in the fact that our door is a few hundred yards from the Creek.  Once the Hopper hatch starts it progresses quickly. With the dry conditions we can also expect to see Hoppers riverside very soon. We have some incredible Baby Hopper patterns in the shop this year. The Hopper hatch is often overlooked, but with the prevailing wind conditions thus far in May and June, expect the Baby Hopper to be a major food source for Silver Creek trout in the next few weeks!

The other thing we saw in the heavy wind last night was a plethora of Miller Moths being blown into the Creek from streamside bushes. The fish were on them quickly when they hit the water. We have some Spruce Moth and big Caddis imitations that should cover this insect. If you are on the Wood or other freestone stream, think about a big Gray Wulff!

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Baby Hopper Patterns