Snake River - Jackson Hole, Wyoming

If you have been following our fishing reports this season, you already know that though the Snake fished well, larger fish were hard to come by. But as usual with most Septembers, this one too brought out the bigger Snake River Fine-Spot Cutthroats. So far for he 2004 fishing season, September has been the best month for fishing the Snake since early spring. On September 27 the Bureau of Reclamation started lowering the river to winter flow levels and those reductions were completed October 1. Generally, this puts fishing off until the river again stabilizes. This year the Bureau has tried a different method of draw-down: instead of dropping stream levels with one or two drastic cuts a day as in the past, this year they did more cutbacks over the course of the entire day, but with much smaller and abbreviated drops. And actually depending on what part of the river you fished, the fishing held up fairly well.

With the river being theoretically at this level (280 cfs) until next spring, most years, fishing for the remainder of the season stays very good. Though weather can be a determining factor on the Snakes’ fall fishing, normally it won’t be until late October and many years not until November before we see any effect.

Bigger attractor patterns will still play a role in the valley, but as fall is a time change, fall is also a time to change our fishing tactics. The large attractor dry-fly mentality that we have had most of the summer will have to give way to the more traditional Match the Hatch approach. Spring and fall are times of year the Snake produces enough quantities and varieties of insects, that matching the hatch becomes very important. But unlike spring where fishing can get pretty precise, for fall, don’t over-think things. Typically, many of our old reliables will work just fine but you will need to come down in the size of these patterns. Royal Wulffs, Parachute Adams, Snake Drakes, Parachute Hares Ear, Ausable Wulffs, and Mr. Rapidan will all be important imitations. Carry these and other up-right wing patterns in sizes 10 through 20.

Occasionally you will run into a demanding bunch of fish that will require a more exact imitation. So be prepared to have some emergers that mimic Baetis or possibly Mahogany Duns. For those of you familiar with the Snake, you know the locals don’t do much in the way of traditional nymph fishing. When the river drops to these winter levels, fish will have a tendency to pod-up in riffle areas and conventional nymphing can be quite good. You may want to give a Queen Prince in size 10-14 or Morrish’s Anto-May in size 14-18 a try. These are two newer patterns that have been consistently working for us all year and everywhere. If you decide upon this fishing technique, even though the trout can be stacked up, plan still on seeing your share of whitefish. For you Lead-Chuckers, fall is one of the best times for streamer fishing the Snake. Streamer patterns in yellow, black, olive, and combination colors like brown/yellow, olive/yellow, orange/brown, and natural/tan will be good choices.

Traditionally, year after year, fall is the best time of year to fish the Snake. So get out and take advantage of the low water conditions, aggressive fish, and the fabulous Jackson Hole scenery in all its fall splendor.

Until next time good fishing,

Howard Cole
High Country Flies