BWOs and rising trout

The past couple days here in Jackson have been a blast.
Fishing and weather have conspired to offer up some of the
best fishing of the year around the valley. After a summer of
higher than normal flows (thank you Idaho), the Snake River is
down at winter flow levels. The result is that trout are podded-
up and side channels are easily wadeable. The Blue Wing
Olives have been popping in the afternoons and the trout
aren’t too shy about eating them.

a view of the river-bottom…

With guiding trips drying up, Jamie and I have been able to
get out on the water together lately. Sunday, our neighbor and
friend, Taylor, joined us for a walk-in trip on the Snake. The
sun was out, enhancing the yellow and orange river-bottom
colors. We fished a stretch of the Snake in Grand Teton
National Park; open again after the childish Washington
bullshit. On the hike in we saw a healthy momma moose who
let us pass without incident.

Too many fish to count were caught and at the end of the
afternoon we walked out with big grins, realizing we
experienced some awesome dry fly fishing; the kind the
Snake is known for.

Yesterday I walked out on the Elk Refuge with my friend
Matt. Trout Unlimited is doing some great work out there;
improving habitat and flow on the upper part of the stream. As
some of you may know, water above the hatchery tends to
meander extremely slowly and while the upper end holds a
good number trout, it pales in comparison to its lower stretch.
The habitat enhancement looked good, with added bank
structure and some selectively placed rock that will no doubt
make Flat Creek even better than it already is. In addition to
checking out the stream work, we caught some fish
on…..streamers…..yes, dry fly purists, we cast streamers and
were reward. Definitely fun to get out! Over the next few
weeks, I’m hoping to swing streamers for colorful Brown trout.
Should be fun and at some point I’ll be sure to post a report.
In the meantime, hope folks are getting out and enjoying this
great weather!

tracks in the sand; lots of gizzly prints..