Well that magic window of great Spring fishing is coming to a close. The river is on the rise as the Bureau of Reclamation increases flows out of Palisades Dam to make room for Spring run-off a.k.a. flood control.
Flows are expected to rise to 18,000-20,00 cfs by the third week of May to simulate Spring runoff, which triggers the cutthroat to head to their spawning tributaries and also disrupts the rainbow spawn. Hopefully flows will be back down into the 14,000 cfs range by June 1oth or so and then we can get the Salmon Flies rolling!
Good news for the summer is that fact that April precipitation was 140% of average and the cool weather so far in May has held a lot of snow in the mountains. What does this mean? Lots of cold, clear water for the summer. The longer the water stays cold the better the fishing will be.
We will keep you posted as we learn more.
Chris “jigidy” Jensen