Snake River - Jackson Hole, Wyoming

April 1 marked the official start of trout season though, as many of you know, the Snake River has been open year round since 2004. However, catch-and-release is required of all trout caught between Nov. 1 and March 31.

Fishing this time of year is, as always, a hit or miss proposition. The weather has been somewhat cool & wet leaving the trout relatively unharassed (is that a real word?) except by the most dedicated of anglers. The warmer weather forecast for the next three days should bring about an improvement in catch rates.

Some of the usual springtime hatches are present: Midges and Little Black Stones. We have yet to see the Blue Wing Olives or the Skwala stoneflies however, though I'm sure they'll be popping off any day now.

For dry fly patterns try Griffith's Gnats and Black Elk Hair Caddis both in 16's and 18's. When the BWO's show up a Parachute Adams should do the trick. For the Skwalas I like a #10 Brown Turck Tarantula. The Skwalas like to run around on the surface of the water so don't be afraid to twitch your fly, particularly on warm days.

If there's no hatch and the trout aren't looking up to searching patterns go low and slow with streamer patterns like the Woolly Bugger and JJ Special. When all else fails try dredging the deeper pools with various nymphs like the Prince, Pheasant Tail and caddis imitations. Also, don't overlook midge pupa in these situations.

Keep in mind that normally, the good dry fly fishing will be very time-of-day dependent. The water temperature needs to be in a fairly narrow, and relatively warm, range for the fish to start looking up. That translates to slow dry fly fishing early since the water is too cold, good dry fly action for about 2 hours on the nicer days and a slowdown at some point in the afternoon as the meltwater enters the river and once again lowers the water temps.

As of this writing, the Snake River Basin snowpack stands at 75% of normal. The upper Green is in a little better shape at 83%. Jackson Lake is only 18% full with Palisades at 43%. Fortunately, the rest of the Minidoka watershed is in fairly decent shape though, after so many down water years, it may not be good enough. Flows out of Jackson Lake are holding at the winter norm of 280 cfs. We're all hoping and praying that the BuRec sees fit to give us somewhat normal flows this summer (unlike the recent past). That will go a long way in determining how good the fishing is this summer.

All in all, the season is shaping up to what we may come to know in the near future as a "normal" year. It's been a long time since we've seen the year-after-year heavy snowfalls that we became accustomed to in the 70's and 80's. Whether it's a natural climatological pattern or a consequence of human activity and global warming we have to at least consider the possibility that a new norm is developing.

That's not to say it's all bad, just that things are different in these low water years. In low water years we get to fish the tremendous caddis and stonefly hatches of June on the Snake River. Then things slow down quite a bit by the time late July and August roll around to be followed by excellent fishing when cooler fall temperatures return. Will that happen this year? It wouldn't surprise me a bit.

Until next time,

Guy Turck
High Country Flies