Sun Valley Fishing Report - November 11, 2016

A Hoppertunity lost is no Hoppertunity at all. The forgotten bug of the Fall is almost always the Grasshopper. This bug, which is generally associated with hot, windy days in the summer is a hardy insect and the chance to fish this big bug is always given up on prematurely. Here we are in November, and many of our desert rivers continue to flow low and the hatches have begun to dwindle, yet go walk the South Fork of the Boise, Silver Creek, or the lower Big Wood. What you will see is a plethora of Hoppers still.

Throw in cooler temperatures and now you have a very vulnerable insect. One that would normally hop into the water to avoid birds and other predators would normally swim (kick) back to the shore. Now though, the Hoppers hit the water and are all but comatose when they do. Making them an easy target for fish and also giving anglers a clue as to how to treat the fly on the water. No reason to twitch the fly when the real thing is frozen in time.

The list of bugs that seemingly go unnoticed also includes the October Caddis. This bug, much like big Salmon Flies on the Big Wood or the Green Drakes on Silver Creek, is not one you see massive hatches of…instead the bug trickles off all Fall long under our noses, and the fish love them! You can find October Caddis on the Big Wood, Silver Creek, the South Fork of the Boise, the Lost River and pretty much everywhere you fish trout in the west. Just don’t go looking for skies filled with orange bodies Caddis, instead think about searching the water much the way you would fish a Hopper pattern.

Finally the Crane Fly is the last insect I’ll mention here in the list of forgotten Fall bugs. It is never going to show in huge numbers and it’s most effective over smooth water, but a long riffle is also an effective place to fish this fly. The Crane Fly is one of the most entertaining bugs to fish as anglers generally skate the fly on the surface downstream of where they are wading. This makes for explosive takes more akin to a Bass than a Trout. The end result is the fish miss the fly quite often, but watching them explode on it is worth the price of admission! When they don’t miss it – Even Better!

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley Fishing Report - July 28, 2016

A hot day today had the Silver Creek spinner falls and hatches transitioning quickly between Trico,  Baetis, Callibaetis and even Damsel Flies. Expect more of the same in coming days as the weather should remain hot. 

Watch the banks closely on the morning if you want to fish to the biggest risers. They like to tuck up into shadowy lies and sip as discretely as they can. Move slow and approach the fish slow. The fishing is not easy this time of the season, but if you get all your ducks in a row, play a game of stealth, fish a soft rod, and don't take any shortcuts with flies and tippets, you can land big fish with tiny dries. 

Fishing these bank sippers on Silver Creek may be the pinnacle of the Trico season, and the season in general. It is certainly an image that will burn in your mind when it all comes together. 

We have an Orvis Superfine rigged and ready to fish at the shop. This is the right tool for the right job when it comes to fishing small dries on Silver Creek. If you are passionate about this time of the year, make the investment. You'll be happy. 

John

Sun Valley Fishing Report - July 20, 2016

Anglers, we are entering another transitional time of the year again. The waters are dropping fast and the rivers that were barely wadable a few weeks ago are now approaching levels where stealth and fly pattern are important. With the coming heat we can expect the fishing windows to also become early and late. The good news is we are starting to see the beginnings of a really good Hopper year. This will keep the afternoons interesting!

Silver Creek is fishing very well with Trico and Callibaetis right now. There are some PMD opportunities still, but the Trico is heavy in the early morning and lasting until 11:00ish. The Callibaetis is also showing in the morning and can be a game changer on Kilpatrick Pond. In the afternoon hours, Streamers in the pond or Hoppers in the river are the main players.

The Big Wood is about to go into the August doldrums, meaning it is also going to start fishing early and late. If you head out in the evenings the Caddis activity will build and the Rusty Spinner fly can be your best friend for the next 2 or 3 weeks. During the day, think about fishing Hopper / Dropper combinations. Dave’s Hopper is the best Hopper on the Big Wood. Fish a Prince or Hares Ear Nymph underneath it.

The Little Wood has fewer mosquitoes then a few weeks ago, but by all means still go there prepared for the onslaught, no matter the time of the day. Be fully covered up and have spray. Short of that and it’s not worth the agony. If you get a bit of a breeze and you are prepared it is doable.

The South Fork of the Boise is fishing O.K. with Caddis at night and Pink Albert action building during the days. If you are fishing Pink Alberts pay very close attention to the shallow water and also know that the Pinks emerge with their wing fully exposed before they swim off the bottom of the river. Have flies to match this accordingly.

The Upper Lost is still fishing very well with large attractors and Hoppers. The Streamer fishing is also very good, but decreased flows should knock that action back a bit. Plan of Little Yellow Sallies and Flying Ants to become the main hatches this coming week and beyond.

The Lower Lost will come on strong as the waters drops moving closer to the fall!

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley / Picabo Fishing Update - June 17, 2016

A super cold and windy day sure made fishing tough yesterday. The only anglers that saw great hatches were the ones that fished the last hour of light. Things are returning to normal today. Temperatures are supposed to be near 80 degrees. 

Warmer temps should bring back the Green Drake and Blue Damsels on the Creek, giving afternoon anglers something to imitate. 

Baetis Spinners, PMD, and Callibaetis also remain big players along with Ants and Beetles. Anglers willing to stay late are going to catch more fish as the afternoon hours seems to be where it is at this season! 

The Wood and Lost are still dropping and clearing. Higher temps should bring them up a touch, but they may be fishable in a few areas. If you try the freestone rivers this weekend, PLEASE BE CAREFUL! Wading belts should be mandatory, fish with a friend and be sure to let people know where you are going. Most importantly - LEAVE YOUR DOG AT HOME - until the water drops to manageable flows. 

Have fun, but be safe.

John

Sun Valley / Picabo Area Fishing Report - June 15, 2016

A massive hole has been left in the Sun Valley fly fishing community. Dave Faltings from Silver Creek Outfitters passed after a hell of a fight against ALS. Dave will be entered into fishing lore as a true legend. A guy that could bring Steelhead to his dry fly, while the rest of us tried to get a strike any way we could. If Dave met you, he knew you and remembered you each time he saw you. His prowess as a fly angler only being surpassed by his prowess as a kind hearted friend to many. If you knew Dave, take some time this week to catch a fish in his honor then sit quietly and reflect on how we can all be more like him. We may never get there, but people like Dave are rare, and anything we can do to emulate him will make us, and the people around us, better.

Silver Creek was loved dearly by Dave. If you go to fish this week, plan on cooler temperatures bringing the Baetis hatches and Spinner Falls to the forefront. Hot weather bugs like the Green Drake, Callibaetis, and Blue Damsel may come into play, but it will be late afternoon before temps are right for these insects. PMD action should continue to show late in the day and some in the morning. Ants and Beetles are still hot patterns and should remain so for the better part of the summer. Expect the action to move toward the Ant and away from the Beetle as summer progresses.

The Big Wood is dropping in a hurry and the cool temperatures this week should provide us a fishery! Plan on Stimulators with Prince Nymph droppers, or Colorado Green Drakes with Epoxy Back Green Drake droppers. If the water clears and stays clear the Green Drake action should explode with the warm days forecast for Sunday and early next week.

The Upper Lost is following the same path as the Big Wood. Normally the Lost would clear after the Wood, but with the higher elevation and cold nights this week, we can probably plan on some fishing up there by weeks end.

The South Fork of the Boise should be coming on this week. Salmon Flies and Caddis are due on the river and the current Cicada situation looks very good! Midweek fishing will help you avoid the crowds on the weekend. If you have a strong skill set on the oars, start on the lower river. If not, stay up high.

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley / Picabo Area Fishing Update - June 14, 2016

Clouds and wind have made the Creek anyone's guess today. A slow morning should be followed by a great afternoon. Yesterday's biggest hatches began around 5:00 p.m. Although most anglers show up on the Creek in the morning, the afternoon hours have had the best fishing ever since Opening Day several weeks ago. 

If you have the time, show up on the Creek around 3:00 p.m. and stay until dark for the best fishing of the day. If you are restricted to morning and afternoon fishing then load up on all the options; PMD, BWO, Ant, Beetle, Green Drake, Callibaetis and Damsel Fly. 

The Mouse fishing is as good as ever if you plan to stay past dark! We'll see you in Picabo!

John

Sun Valley / Picabo Idaho Area Fishing Update - June 13, 2016

A cool week ahead should provide plenty of afternoon action on Silver Creek. Baetis and PMD will continue to be the mainstays. The Mouse fishing is unaffected by the lack of heat, so that action should stay strong. Expect Green Drake and Damsel activity to resume Sunday when the heat comes back up.

The Big Wood and Big Lost are dropping quickly, mostly due to nighttime temperatures dropping below freezing at altitude. They should be fishable by this time next week, although the volume should remain high.

The South Fork of the Boise should unlock this week, or with the return of the heat on Sunday! It’s a great time of the year to be fishing! Get out there and have fun!

John

Sun Valley / Picabo Area Fishing Update - June 10, 2016

Silver Creek continues to be one of the only games in town for anglers. The good news is the fishing is still great! The wind yesterday kept the hatches from bringing a lot of fish to the surface, but anglers in the Sloughs did well. Guide Chad Chorney put some of his guests on beautiful Rainbows despite the wind. 

The weekend should be cooler on the Creek. Expect more Baetis and a continuation of PMD madness! The Green Drakes are showing more and more as well as the Blue Damsels. 

Ants and Beetles are still your best friend when things get tough on the river. 

Our other local rivers remain high, off color and dangerous. Hopefully  cooler temps will brig the flows down and we can be fishing these rivers sometime next week. We'll wait and see and report back on Monday.

Have a great weekend. Be safe. Be kind. Have fun!

Brown Drake Update - May 31, 2016

A strange Drake season continues to baffle us. The bugs are here but the hatch is moving up river in the most condensed fashion I've ever seen. Anglers in the right zone are reporting epic fishing, while anglers that may be 1/2 mile a way are seeing very little.

There was a medium to fair Spinner Fall in the Picabo Bridge area last night, until one big gust of wind put an end to it. The lower Creek never really saw "The Show" that we are used to seeing. INstead a slow 4 or 5 day trickle of insects was the new norm. 

The Hatch epicenter was without a doubt the bottom end of Point of Rocks (Silver Creek East) last night. A major emergence took place in that area. Without question there will be a big Spinner Fall at Point of Rocks and the lower end of the Willows. This will be the true "Show." 

Picabo Angler will be open until 8:00 p.m. We have plenty of Drakes, Beer, Ice and Food!

Brown Drake Update - May 30, 2016

The Brown Drake emerged with some vigor on the Creek last night. A fair spinner fall was followed by a very late emergence on the lower stretches. Expect the Drake action to peak sometime in the middle of this week. 

Point of Rocks saw some Drakes last night, but the center of the action remains slightly down stream. This could change tonight as a hot day is going to turn the river into shuck stew at dark. I don't think there is going to be a bad place to be tonight. 

Like always, we ask that everyone please be kind, communicative and generous with fellow anglers. It's a great chance to back log some great karma!

Have a ton of fun!

John

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - Opening Day Forecast, 2016

Listen Idaho, you can hear the sounds of tailgates slamming shut and the hiss of float tubes being aired up. You can hear the slow click of reels as line gets strung through rod guides. You can hear the crisp snap of a fly box being closed. Under those tones you can hear muted noises like oars being shuffled into place and strapped into boats, and the distinct crinkling of waders as they come out of a bag totally dry for the first time this year. Soon these sounds will be replaced by the swish of legs in water and whisps of casts placed far over the water. Opening Day is upon us!

Silver Creek is the place to be for Opening Weekend! Join Picabo Angler on Friday night for the Picabo Premiere of Hank Patterson’s “Mystery of the Cuttyrainbrown Trout.” Showing in our airplane hangar at 8:30 p.m. Bring a camp chair and your hardiest laugh! Saturday the festivities continue with our Opening Day BBQ! Starting at 11:30.

If you are fishing Silver Creek this weekend plan on seeing a few hatches. Callibaetis have been the most prolific as of late. Baetis is always a possibility especially if we see a lot of cloud cover and have a few P.M.D. patterns just in case…

Regardless of the hatches you can count on Terrestrials caring the day. Be sure to have plenty of Ants and Beetles in a variety of sizes. Large Chernobyl patterns can be good in adverse weather, and smaller flies like Flying Ants and Crowe Beetles will be effective if the water stays glassed over.

Anglers sticking around for the night fishing will find Mouse Patterns effective, and Brown Drakes will be coming into the mix soon enough. Probably not this weekend, but probably not far behind either. Anglers that don’t want to be out late can opt for getting up early and fishing Streamers in the gray morning light.

The South Fork of the Boise will also be fishable on the opener. The river is at driftboat levels and Nymphing with big flies like Girdle Bugs and Salmon Fly Nymphs is your best bet. Smaller nymphs like Copper Johns and Hares Ears are also excellent choices.

Plan on run-off effecting most of our rivers over the weekend, which will make places like Silver Creek busier than normal. Please remember to be kind and share your experiences as best you can with your fellow anglers!

Happy Opening Day Everyone!

Brown Drake Update - May 19, 2016

Hello Anglers! 

We went and kicked a few Drake nymphs out of Silver Creek yesterday. Here are some photos of what we saw. We did not find a lot of nymphs in the upper stratus of the mud and gravel, so they are still making their way up. You will see in the pictures that the wing cases are starting to turn dark, although you can also see they are not completely dark. Notice the the top of the wing case, you can see a much more opaque color. 

Now, I can't predict a bugs life to the day, looking at these nymphs I would have to think there is no way these bugs hatch before Opening Day, and it could be as much as a week after or even two. I will try to keep this updated and we will look at the nymph again in a week. Stay tuned! Mother Nature could still surprise us! 

Thanks to Rachel Sayre for taking these splendid images.

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - May 18, 2016

There is less than 2 weeks before fishing season opens. With spring run-off on our local freestone rivers expected to last into the first part of June coupled with a likely showing of the Brown Drake on Silver Creek will mean the Creek could be a busy place for a few weeks. With that said, and with not a lot to report on just yet, we’d like to take a minute and chat about a “busy” Creek.

First off let’s remember we are all brothers and sisters of the fly rod. That means at our core we fish for a lot of the same reasons. Fun, adventure, to reduce stress, to hang with friends, to search for quarry. Mainly we fly fish, because we love it and it speaks to us. It may be something slightly different that we get from the sport, but we can all agree to respect it, and each other’s reasons for doing it.

So when you encounter your fellow angler on the Creek there are two courses you can take. We can choose to be quiet and standoffish, which could lead to tension and no fun at all. The other route is to say hello, be outgoing and communicate with one another. Despite the stigma of a “solitary” sport, we still need to take a few minutes prior to that emersion to address our fellow anglers to make sure we maximize our time and fun as well as theirs!

Do you want to be the angler that stands in the sweet spot during the Drake and ropes one fish after another while those around you are getting skunked from being in the wrong place? The flip side is you could be the angler that catches a few really nice fish and then says to a complete stranger, “Hey, come on over here and make a cast!”

At the end of the day, the first angler can go brag and thump their chest about being a fishing hero, or they can be the second angler content in the knowledge that they caught great fish, and also made someone else’s night, or week, or month, or lifetime. Being able to catch a nice fish on the Creek is not easy. During the Drake it can be. It is worth sharing. You never know how your 2 minutes of grace can make years of someone else’s life better, more exciting, and full of fish tales! It is the right and kind thing to do.

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report - May 6th, 2016

The sunny side of spring is upon us! This means big, muddy waters, dangerous currents, and limited fishing. The good news is the rivers are getting a long overdue scrubbing from bottom to top. The elevated waters should go a long way toward removing more of the ash from the fires in our recent past.

Reservoir fishing remains strong and anglers heading to Magic, Little Wood and Anderson Reservoirs will find some nice sized fish willing to eat flies! Be sure to watch the weather for the wind forecast so you don’t get caught in the wrong place in your float tube or small craft. The evenings of the reservoirs should be getting really productive, really soon.

The mountain lakes have iced off on the valley floors. Stanley Lake and Redfish hold a few nice sized fish for anglers willing to play the war of attrition. You never catch a lot of fish in these lakes, but if you work hard, you can catch some big ones.

The higher lakes aren’t open yet, as most of the trails are still being used by backcountry skiers instead of day hikers. Once the trails get mostly open it will be time to have a peak. At the rate we are going that could be mid-June!

The Lost River remains open for fishing, although the flows have been cranked up. They may come right back down to decent levels for fishing, but keep an eye on the gauge. Go to the water data portion of the USGS website for up to the minute flow graphs.

When all the rivers reopen, keep in mind that spring runoff should still be occurring. Make your opening weekend plans in advance and plan on fishing Silver Creek, the South Fork of the Boise from a boat, or maybe the Lost River, depending on flows. Spring Creeks and Tailwaters should be your focus as the month moves forward.

If you are looking for something to do the night before Opening Day, Picabo Angler will be showing Hank Patterson’s latest movie “Mystery of the Cuttyrainbrown Trout” at the shop May 27th at 8:30 p.m. Bring your beach chair for viewing and your tent for crashing on the banks of Silver Creek after the event! Tickets are $5 at the door.

We are only 3 weeks away from Opening Day of the general fishing season in Idaho. It will go fast, so make sure you are ready for it.   

Happy Fishing Everyone!

Spring Weather and the Brown Drake

We received the following question through the interwebs today. We figured it was a very good question and one many anglers are curious about. So everyone thank Thayne, for putting this out there:

"I know we are still several weeks away from talking drakes but I was curious how conditions compare to last year for Drake timing. Has your spring been a little behind compared to last? Thanks again!"

Soooo, Drake timing. The big question! This spring Picabo has been more "normal" than it has been in sometime. We are bouncing back and forth between cold, warm, wet and dry. The saying about wait five minutes and the spring weather will change in the Rocky Mts. is spot on this year. Despite the rapid change, we haven't had any crazy events like heatwaves or weeks of rain. 

The past few seasons the Drake has gone off around May 25. Last season it went on the 23rd, then paused two days, then exploded on the 25th or 26th, just after opening weekend. It did trickle off the Friday night before the season opened!

This year the opener is on the 28th. The Drake is traditionally a June 7 - 12 kick off date when things are normal. We are crossing our fingers that is the case this year.

With that said there is no way in hell I won't have Drake patterns in my box the night of the 28th whether we've seen the bug or not. We will have our full selection out on the opener. 

(Don't forget Friday the 27th, Hank Patterson will be here showing "Mystery of the Cuttyrainbrown Trout." at 8:30 in our airplane hangar. Bring a chair! We will also have our traditional opening day BBQ on Saturday!)

Check back with us frequently. I'll go kick some Drake Nymphs up in the next few days and see how mature they look and how high up in the mud column they are. 

With 100% snow pack and a great season last year, things are looking wonderful for the coming year!

See you at the end of the month!

John Huber