Fishing Reports

O.K., we're hanging in there at 9,500 cfs.  Nymphing is very good from the boat, as you might expect, but wading can very difficult right now.  The water temp is climbing into the upper 40's, so it's not prime time for San Juan Worm fishing, but it's getting close.  We're still finding mostly sowbugs in the fish, and I've been more consistently successful throwing "Soft Hackle" or "Ray Charles" type flies than with anything else.  Starting to see some Mother's Day Caddis buzzing around the lower river, but nothing much is happening with 'em.

Flows will almost certainly have to go up in the near future in order to accomodate the inflows, and the lack of available storage space for the water.  I'll keep you posted as we go along.

Muddy water from the feeder creeks has become far less of an issue, and you expect fishable banks all of the way down the upper sections.  Also, the spring moss is far less of an issue as well, but never completely dissapears.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy

Well, from now until the end of July my main job will be to update the flow status, so here goes.  We're at 8,000 cfs right now, but we're heading to 8,750 cfs at 4 P.M. today (Wednesday, March 26th), and 9,500 tomorrow at 4 P.M.   The Spring rains have continued to come, and there's still a whole season's worth of snow waiting to come off.

What does this mean for the fishing?  The dry fly fishing of the spring is pretty much over, although you'll see a few baetis out most afternoons.  Nymphing can be good when you find the fish, but it'll be increasingly vital to have a boat to get around.  The fish are mostly full of sowbugs, and a couple of different patterns are about all you need.  I'm also getting them to eat a little olive midge pupae pretty well.

As the river comes up, the water's going to warm up, so this signifies the start of summer fishing, and the "worm hatch".

Where will the inflows will end up, I don't know, but hold on!

O.K., lots of flow changes to catch up on here.  The river's on it's way up to 5,000 cfs after several days of steady rain, and a pretty big increase in snow pack.   The graph shows that it's still at 4,000, but was supposed to go up in 500 cfs increments last night, and today.  I believe this ultimately will happen by tomorrow. 

I  took the water temp at around 42 yesterday, so it's right there where it needs to be.  The river's pretty busy, and with the limited clear water (Soap Creek and Mountain Pocket are still pumping mud), a lot of people are double floating, or just staying on the upper 3.
The nymphing can be pretty good when wading, and the boat fishing isn't bad either if the flows could settle out for a day.  Still seeing good hatches coming off, but we'll need to see the flows stabilize in order to see good dry fly fishing again, too.

Always an enjoyable trip with the Collins boys, they did very well.  Imagine how they could do if they could cast.

Over the course of the week, the river now risen to 3,250 cfs.  Short term, it's made the fishing slower, and less predictable.  All the snow melt, and the rising river teamed up to drop the water temp back below 40 degrees.

Yesterday we finally had a relatively calm day, and a good baetis hatch, but really no fish up to speak of..  I think it's going to be a few days before everything settles out, and fishing improves.

Because of the snow on Thursday, Mountain Pocket  and Soap Creek are still pumping mud, and probably will for several more days.

Just a quick note to let folks know that the flow is going up to 2,500 cfs tomorrow (Tuesday, 5/3/10), and will also be increased on Wednesday (5/4/10).  These flows are thought to be sustainable throughout the runoff season, and are a response to recent precipitation above Boysen Reservoir (WY).  I'm willing to bet that the flows end up going higher, but it all depends on how fast that snow pack comes off.  We'll see.

Water temp is slowly climbing.  Bugs (midges and baetis in the afternoons) are still coming off in good numbers, but the weather's been brutal (windy every day, and very little sunshine).

With the rains, Mountain pocket has created some water clarity issues below the club on the right side, and Soap Creek is blown out.  I'd expect it to be for at least the next week, as we're expecting  more rain.

Nymphing is improving, although we're still battling the spring moss.  I've seen Rainbows showing some color, and you're able to find bigger fish right now.  Also encouraging is that you're finding fish in a little more variety of water when they climb up into some of the shallow faster stuff during the heat of the day.  The flow is 2,250 cfs, and if the snow pack continues to increase with these Spring storms, we may actually look at the possibility of some higher water.

Fish are getting a little wiser when dry fly fishing, but still attainable for the above average angler.