Today’s fishing report is coming to you a day early as I’ll be out on a fishing trip of my own this week. The big story this week on the South Fork is the drop in flows. Last Thursday, the flow was at 5,100 cfs, and as I write this, it’s down to 2,200 cfs. The flow has dropped steadily each day. Any change in the flow has the potential to slow the fishing down. I often tell my clients that it’s like someone rearranging all the furniture in your house—it takes the fish some time to adjust.
Fortunately, with good hatches of Blue Winged Olives each afternoon, the fish can’t resist feeding, and you can count on a few hours of very good dry fly fishing daily. Streamer fishing is still effective, but it seems the smaller fish are more willing to bite than the big ones. I expect that to change as soon as the flows stabilize a bit. Nymphing with Blue Winged Olive nymphs and emergers before and after the hatch will likely be more productive than streamers, but it’s worth experimenting with both.
The water level is expected to drop over the next few weeks until it reaches the winter flow of about 900 cfs. At these flows, there are nearly unlimited wading opportunities. For floaters, keep in mind that a float that would take only a few hours in mid-summer might now take all day. Also, watch out for obstacles that may emerge with these low flows.
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