The Brown Drake on Silver Creek had come and gone with the hot weather. Now we are blessed with cooler days and cooler water temperatures. This should preserve our fishing and keep our populations healthy. We still all need to do our part to handle the fish gently. This is best done by not handling them at all. Come see us and we’ll show you how to use the Ketchum Release Tool so you can let them go unharmed. Anglers can also beef up their rod sized and tippet sizes in order to land the fish quickly.
With the uptick in flows this past week, we should see a nice spike in the fishing as nature has hit the reset button since the opener at the end of May. The flows will drop fast, but hopefully the cool days remain.
The Green Drake should be the next big hatch we see. Expect this on the upper Nature Conservancy waters, the entire Big Wood River and the Upper Lost River as well. If you are fishing the freestone streams right now, like the Big Wood and Upper Lost, think small yellow flies. PMD patterns as well as small yellow Stimulators are great choices.
If you continue to fish on Silver Creek, the Prairie Caddis is coming out in bigger numbers during low light periods. The PMD and Baetis continue to make up the morning show and the Callibaetis is slowly starting to pick up steam. Ants and Beetles are always in the mix on Silver Creek and we have seen a few baby Hoppers in the grass!
The Salmon River is going to be a great place to be in coming weeks as the flows begin to decrease locally. The snow pack on the other side of Galena Summit was much better. The Salmon should be seeing an increase in Cutthroat as the season progresses. If you go, try lots of big flies like Stoneflies in a variety of colors as well as Green Drakes. You can also drop nymph under these big flies. Copper Johns are an excellent choice as well as Epoxy Back Green Drake Nymphs.
The Lost River system is still fishing and anglers can find fish nymphing in the shallows where sight fishing nymphs can make for a great challenge! Anglers also float nymphs under Chernobyl patterns, especially big black foam bugs.
Have a great time and please be kind to one another and the fish!
Happy Fishing Everyone!