Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - March 16, 2016

The weather keeps coming and with it comes the water our fish so desperately need all summer! Great news for fish and anglers alike! With nighttime temps in the 20s for the coming week, we should be holding onto this snow until the end of the month.

On the Big Wood anglers should expect a return to winter fishing conditions. Expect exceptional Midge hatches accompanied by the Little Black Stones. Be prepared to nymph and fish the dry. Standard winter patterns are all you need; Zebra Nymph, Brassie, Tie-Down Midge and Griffiths Gnat. If you start before the hatches try Streamer fishing. The pre-spawn Rainbows should be very aggressive right now.

Silver Creek remains closed, but the water levels are to the tops of the banks, giving the Creek a good flush. Expect an amazing Opening Weekend down here in Picabo!

The Lost continues to fish well. Bring all your same Big Wood River patterns and enjoy some of the season’s best fishing near Mackay for the next month or so. Don’t forget the Lost can be a great fall back for Steelhead anglers when the Salmon decides to blow out. That shouldn’t be the case this week as temps remain cold and the forecast isn’t showing a lot of precipitation.

Steelhead should be getting on the move up on the Salmon River with a little influx of moisture and daytime temps warm enough to melt some snow off the banks and giving the fish the sign that it’s time to start moving up the system. Fishing should be better closer to Challis the next few weeks than the upstream portion, but the fish are where you find them!

Anglers fishing the canyon water below Magic Reservoir have been treated to some excellent fishing. It may not be fast and furious, but it is a good place to try for some big fish, both Browns and Rainbows.

Watch the wind in Hagerman for the calm days. Those days are ideal for sight fishing Carp in shallow water. Bring “hook up” patterns like you’d fish for Bonefish. Damsel Flies tied with small bead chain eyes are very effective.

One thing is for certain this time of year, angles have decisions to make! There is a lot to do and a lot of room to do it. Get out there and enjoy yourself this spring. It is a time of year full of surprises and world class fishing!

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - December 29th, 2014

Cold and clear is on tap for the next week of fishing local Sun Valley waters. The fishing should still be excellent, and dry fly activity should continue, but the fishing windows will be much shorter. Instead of getting up and getting to the water around 10:00 or 11:00 a.m. anglers may want to wait an extra hour or two before heading to the river. Nothing wrong with one more cup of coffee!

Take some hand warmers, because you will be picking ice from you guides most days this week. Keep in mind that the softer the rod fly rod you fish the less chance you will have of it turning brittle and breaking in the cold.

Silver Creek will fish well near the Highway 20 Bridge, but expect a lot of frozen water as you get closer to Picabo. Streamer fishing is always a fantastic winter technique on the Creek and a great way to catch the biggest fish in the river most of the winter. Remember, the river is closed upstream of Hwy 20 and open to catch and release fishing only downstream from the bridge.

The Big Wood will have plenty of ice on the banks this week, but the heavy riffles and narrow runs will stay open and fish well. Be cautious out there and remember to ALWAYS bring a change of warm dry clothes with you in the winter. One slip into the river at these sub-freezing temps will bring on hypothermia quickly. Having warm, dry clothes to change into can make a huge difference.  

For longer treks and days the South Fork of the Boise and the Big Lost River are great places to head for and they are also good destinations to think about when we have these blues sky days and no chance of snow. You can count on excellent driving conditions and feel god in the knowledge you won’t be stuck overnight by weather.

Flies this time of the year are the same all over. We want to mainly represent Midges with our flies. Griffiths Gnat, Tie-Down Midges, Brassies, Zebras, and Zug Bugs are all excellent choices. Standards like Prince Nymphs and Hares Ears are also excellent choices. Streamer flies should include Buggers, Sparkle Minnows, Zonkers and Double Bunny Flies. If your line freezes a lot, fishing Streamers with a roll cast is an excellent way to fish without constantly bringing freezing water into your guides!

Happy Fishing and Happy New Year Everyone!

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - November 3, 2014

A week of fall/winter limbo is upon us. The daytime and nighttime temperatures will not budge. The good news for the fish, is at least one more week of temperate conditions. The good news for the angler is the fish will use this extra time to keep trying to fatten up for winter. A seasons worth of “getting educated” gets tossed aside when the fish decide it’s time to fatten up!

Expect a lot of Nymphing when the hatches aren’t present. You can also expect to see quite a few fish holding in the middle of the pools. When the hatches aren’t prolific, the fish have no reason to move to neither the head nor tail of the pools to dine on the hatches that get compressed in the shallower water. With very little food in the waters stratus the fish will favor a holding lie over a feeding lie. This may mean deeper Nymphing than what we are used to.

Be sure to cast your offering well up onto the shelves in the pools and let the nymph bounce the bottom and drop into the deepest parts of the river. This would be a good time for a double nymph rig. Fish your favorite nymphs in tandem with a large size as the lead fly and then drop a smaller nymph from the lead fly hook shank. This adds weight and depth and helps anglers get the flies where they need to be!

Anglers that still want to match the hatch and squeeze every last hour from the dry fly season that they can, Silver Creek should continue to produce decent Baetis hatches. The South Fork of the Boise can also produce some nice late fall hatch activity. This is the infamous Fall Baetis so have plenty of your favorite 22 and 24 sized patterns.

A few more things to keep in mind this week:

*Don’t leave your wet wading boots in your vehicle overnight. If you do, take them in the house and run them under hot water in your bathtub to thaw them out.

*Pack some dry clothes, no matter where you fish. Hypothermia can be very real for anglers this time of the year.

*If you travel to fish, do so with water, food, a full tank of gas, tire chains and a sleeping bag.

*If it gets stormy – Fish Locally! The fishing can be epic under the low pressure of winter storms!

Happy Fishing Everyone!