We have definitely entered the low-light time of the season for fishing. The hot summer days and bright sun have made the best fishing happen first thing in the morning and again at dusk. There is still fishing in the afternoon, but this is mostly searching for fish as apposed to finding actively feeding fish.
Silver Creek is in the middle of the Trico spinner fall action. Anglers are seeing a lot of bugs recently, with a few complaining that there are sometimes too many! That’s a good problem for a fly angler to have. The Trico are getting started when the air temps hit 70 degrees, so be ready to go first thing in the morning. Being on the water by 7:30 is not too early. The Trico is followed immediately by the morning Baetis spinner fall. Once that is done, things go quiet on the Creek until evening. There are some Callibaetis on the pond in the afternoon and the fish are actively searching out adult Damselflies as well as big Hoppers.
In the evening, there is a smorgasbord of flies that the fish will key on. Have Baetis spinners, Callibaetis spinners, PMD spinners and a bunch of Rusty spinners. It is also never too late in the day to fish a Grasshopper and sometimes the evening can be the best time.
Hot summer nights also mean Caddis time on the Big Wood River. The canyon sections of the river hold the best Caddis hatches. This is a rare time for anglers in the Sun Valley area to fish something other than Drake or Mayfly hatches. A size 16 tan Elk-Hair Caddis is a great choice in the evenings on the Wood.
The upper Lost is finally in shape and fishing well, although the river system is seeing a lot more anglers than it normally would as the season in the high country has been condensed by the early-season high waters. If you go, think about Hopper Dropper setups as well as fishing small attractors and flying Ant patterns. All the forks are fishing, so don’t hesitate to explore new areas if you see people in all the obvious places.
Finally, the South Fork of the Boise is fishing with Hoppers and Pink Alberts. The flows are high enough to float a Hopper from a drift boat, allowing anglers to cover miles of water.
Happy fishing, everyone!
