With 2019 just a couple of days away, this weekend seems as good of a time as any to reflect on how things were in Wydaho this past year. For sure it was a solid year, but by no means was it great. Here are some thoughts - A Pretty Solid Winter for Streamers and Top Water Our winters are getting warmer. All the stats say so. I would expect the nymphing to be doing what it is doing during those several weeks when water temps are below 40 degrees. But this past winter was really something with the surface action on midge imitation in riffle tailouts and small streamers in slow current side channels. There were days in January and February that matched some of those afternoons we were hav
Snake River Very much the same story on the Snake as it was at the beginning of the month – mostly midges on the surface and below with some action on roe patterns as the whitefish spawn begins to wane (or at least we think it is waning). The best water to target at the moment is slower current margins along eddies and seams. There is also more trout beginning to hold in no-current water in back channels and the mouth of side channels. The vast majority of activity is on lightly weighted nymphs, of course, although there can be surface action from time-to-time in the mid-afternoon hours when conditions are right. Current margins running along riffle pools and tailouts are still producing
I grew up in a world where skiing and fly fishing went hand-in-hand. There is nothing special about this type of privileged lifestyle. Ski towns like Park City, Steamboat Springs, and Aspen are famous for having some of the best of sports. The difference is that in those resort communities, there is very good fishing during the months when the ski hills are going full bore. In my home town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, having both at the same time is a rather new phenomenon. Prior to 2004, our rivers like the Snake and the South Fork of the Snake were closed during the winter months to fishing for trout. There was a “whitefish season” during the winter, but only a handful of fly fishers to
