Every Thursday afternoon we are here with the weekly fishing report so let’s jump! Today we’ll discuss flows, weather, fishing, and flies.
River Flow: Palisades Reservoir is 100% capacity with an outflow steady all week at 13,000 cfs. Clarity is good and perfect for upcoming hatches.
Weather: A rainy day today will probably result in some interesting hatches on the lower river, more on that later. Friday and Saturday look warm and sunny, also good for the bugs and it sounds like sometime Sunday and early next week we’ll be in a cool wet pattern.
Fishing and Flies: Everyone is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Salmon Flies, and in the meantime, the Green Drakes are stealing the show with some fun, if spotty, dry fly fishing (finally!). Look for the Green Drakes to hatch on the lower river from Cottonwood boat ramp to Lorenzo in the afternoons. We are also seeing a few Yellow Sallies and catching lots of fish on big Stonefly nymphs like Rubberlegs, Cheater Belly Stones, etc. I’ve seen some really amazing Green Drake hatches on cooler wet days like today! (I wish I was out there!)
- Nymphs – Big stonefly nymphs such as Pat’s Rubberlegs or Cheater Belly Stones are the bread and butter right now trailed by a large pheasant tail to imitate a Green Drake nymph. If you’re floating the upper river from the Dam to Conant, Stonefly nymphs will still be effective but we are still catching a lot of fish on small bead heads imitating BWO’s or Midges.
- Dry Flies – As mentioned above we are seeing some Green Drakes hatching on the lower river. Those anglers with lots of patience and willingness to keep a big dry fly where it belongs can catch fish but I would expect the fishing on big dry flies to really heat up in the next 5 days or so.
Please give us a call or come by the shop if you have questions, need some flies or a shuttle. Have a great rest of your week and catch a big one!