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South Fork of the Snake River Fishing Report 5/23/24

Angler holds South Fork of the Snake River Rainbow.

Welcome to your South Fork of the Snake River fly fishing report for the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend.  It looks like a mixed bag of weather is here for the weekend with rain and snow today, sun tomorrow, and then showers over the weekend.  Memorial Day itself is looking quite nice with sun and a high of 64.  We’ve all seen worse Memorial Day weather, am I right?

The river is running at 11,141 cfs and has been consistent at that flow all week.  Cooler weather has slowed run off in the tributaries, keeping water clarity very good.  With this cool weather I think water clarity should be decent through the weekend.  The flow at Heise is 12,461 and 6,170 cfs at Lorenzo.

As for fishing, the focus is still on the big and the ugly down deep.  Stonefly Nymphs trailed with a Duracell, San Juan Worm, or an egg pattern are the norm.  The rainbows are spawning so they are eating eggs as are other fish in the river.  If you’re into keeping rainbows now is an excellent time of year to target them.  Streamers are also working if you keep at it, the action may not be red hot but anglers are moving enough fish to make it worth it.  A handful of times I’ve seen a Mother’s Day Caddis hatch in the Canyon on Memorial Day weekend, these have happened on warmer sunnier days so if you’re in the Canyon on Memorial Day itself keep your eye out for caddis mid-day.

As always, if you need any flies, tackle, licenses or some last minute fishing tips go see Brody in our Swan Valley shop.  We also have some availability for lodging and fishing guides.  Give us a call 208.483.2222.

Have a great weekend on the river!

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