a taste of the Green…
Had the pleasure of taking Jamie and Taylor fishing on the
Green the other day. Here’s a recap…
Archive for month: July, 2013
Different waters, different fish..
I’ve been fortunate to fish some great folks on several
different waters over the past couple weeks. For those looking
for a challenge and the potential for a big catch, the upper
Green has been hard to beat. We’ve hit the road early,
ensuring that we get fishing before the heat of the day slows
the activity. Hatches of Grey Drakes, Yellow Sallies, PMDs and
caddis allowed clients to fish dries in many of the riffles,
surprised to find how high up fish will lie in the shallows,
picking off bugs. When smaller dries faded, we switched to
larger attractors or short-lined various nymph patterns. While
the fishing could be challenging, the solitude and calm, clear
waters made the Green a fun destination.
Other folks wanting to stay closer to home have been
fishing the Snake with me. And while flows out of Jackson
Lake have made the river higher than normal, the fishing has
been pretty darn good. Most of the fish we’ve been catching
have been in slower side channels and in shallow riffles. The
fish haven’t been huge, but their spunk and hard charging
attitude makes up for their size. We have started to see
bigger fish though, including a monstrous Cutt that ran my
client into his backing, eventually breaking off down stream,
and a big yellow-belly who rose along a fast bank to inspect a
foam creation yesterday. This is a great sign and hopefully
each day on the Snake will yield more and more bigger fish….
Additionally, I had some folks wanting to get off the
beaten path and chose to fish with me over near Dubois, in
the Shoshone National Forest. There, I put them on a favorite
small stream of mine, where brook trout and Yellowstone
cutthroat rose without hesitation to various attractor patterns
and we didn’t see a sole all day. Now that July is almost
finished, I expect to fish more hopper- type patterns. Hoppers
are buzzing along the banks, and with some windy afternoons,
the resident fish will start keying in on them. Flat Creek on the
Refuge also opens soon (Aug. 1) and it’ll be fun to take folks
out and stalk the weary, trophy cutthroat that feed selectively
along its banks. Hope everyone is getting out and enjoying
summer.
One of John’s Dubios trout…
A Brown from the upper Green…
July’s heating up
The past week offered up some great fishing around here in Jackson Hole despite the near record-breaking heat. Additionally, Forth of July festivities brought TONS of folks to Jackson, eager to fish, raft, hike and enjoy the great concert and fireworks display.
Lately I’ve been spending a fair amount of time fishing clients on the Green, pursuing its resident trout with dries and nymphs. Small, grey stimulators proved to be the dry fly of choice, doing a good job mimicking the smaller stoneflies hatching down there. Additionally, we picked up some nice fish in slower pools with Grey Drake spinners.
The Snake continues to run higher than normal due to increased releases from Jackson Lake dam. Idaho irrigators own the water rights to the water stored in the lake, and with another dry winter in their neck of the woods, they need water and are doing their best to draw the lake down as low as it’ll go. Ah, all for the love of potatoes….. That said the Snake is starting to fish well, particularly in the side channels and slower backwaters. Caddis, PMDs, and Stoneflies can all be seen buzzing around and I’ve seen the first hoppers of the season along the banks. As we get into the height of the summer, grab your attractor patterns and take advantage of the great dry fly fishing that this area is known for.
Chris and his lady, Sassy, fished the Green like champions and were rewarded with some good fish via dry flies……
