Thank you for checking in on this week’s fishing report. Lots of good things to report on this week and one weird thing. Let’s get weird first.
Weird: Yesterday morning the flow out of Palisades went from 16,000 cfs down to 5,000 cfs and then back up to 16,000 in a matter of hours. We were getting calls and texts from people asking “What’s going on?” It turns out that the Bureau of Reclamation had to do emergency work on the dam. We don’t know much else but if we learn more we’ll add it to the comments below. One of our guides, Buck Leonard, was on the river guiding during the flow changes and reported the fishing was quite good when the water was low but as the flows went back up fishing got tough.
Good News: There is just so much to look forward to it’s hard to find a place to start. Thinking back to last year with the crazy high and off color water and seeing what great condition the river is in now you can’t help but get excited. It’s going to be a great year on the South Fork and it starts now!
The water is stable at 16,000 cfs and if conditions play out right, the B.O.R. says we’ve already seen the highest flows of the year. The message is…get out on the South Fork and enjoy. We won’t see much in the way of dry fly fishing until later in June but the nymphing and streamer fishing will be a real treat until then. If you’re really diligent you could encounter fish rising on midges, B.W.O’s or even the Mother’s Day Caddis hatch this year. Our guides are already planning on this season being one of the best Salmon Fly hatches we’ve seen in years.
Fly and fishing recommendations haven’t changed since last week, with the caveat that the streamer fishing should be getting better each day with the warm weather. We’ve got an epic new streamer selection in the shop so swing by and check it out. The shop’s open Mon-Fri 9-4 right now.
All the best and have fun fishing!