Current Fishing Report:
Monday May 12, 2008

{To enlarge photos double click on the picture.}

Sight fishing big browns at Newton!

Big rainbows sight fishing at Luce reservoir!

Wiggler strikes again!

Breaking out the boo!

Real nice Snake River Cutthroat!

Bighorn in Wyoming!

Killer fishing necklace!

These cutts are about to pop!

Current Fishing Conditions:   Big browns are chasing on the edges!

May is upon us! The temperatures are  up and down as is the fishing! Lakes are picking up. Rivers are adjusting to the higher flows.

The Lower Shoshone  is now running at 1600cfs. As of May 12th the lower Shoshone is slightly off color due to the start of irrigation season and fishing is fair at best!  Most of the salad has stopped. High water means the fish will be pushed to the edges. As the temps rise, streamers will become more effective. I fished May 6th and got a couple on a brown conehead bugger with a sow bug trailer! The fish took it dead drift and on the swing. Fish are starting to spawn at the mouths of feeder creeks and side channels. Los Jue'vos on Cinco de Mayo!

The Shoshone  canyon is  clear and fishing good! I fished on the 8th and caught 15 or 20.The fish are starting to settle in to their new spots. The fish will take a Black Zebra fished about 4 foot below the surface! Fish are in tight to the edges and in the eddies.  I had some fish come up and take a #6 dry at the tops of the runs. Look for the fish to start spawning soon. The average size seems larger this year and got a couple 16" to 17" !

 The Corbett section is off color but fishable. Water is moving!  Dark  Streamers would be a good choice here as well.

Willwood is now off color but still fishable. Streamers, Streamers, Streamers

The North Fork is now closed for fishing from the reservoir to Newton creek.  Temperatures in the 70's this weekend have the flows at around 1200cfs and some fish are above the closure. The water is muddy as of May 12th. Got some good ones this past weekend.  The fish can be caught at the mouth of feeder creeks and in the deeper slower water. Get it on the bottom and let it swing at the end of the drift! That is all you need to do for the North Fork early in the spring. Big stones, buggers, eggs, sow bugs and of course, the world famous Wal-mart wiggler will catch fish. There is no defense against it!

The Newton lake is starting to turn on. The water is just starting to warm and fish are starting to rise on a ton of midges. The legendary BAH BEHR is starting to work its magic! I caught 20 or so today May 6th on a #18 black zebra midge in a couple hours. Midges are now the hot fly!  A few callibaetis are starting. We have not had a good mayfly hatch since 4 years ago when they started diverting water from the canal but if they do come off the fish are on them! I caught several nice browns on a sparkle dun on Friday the 2nd. Steve Paynes Green Meany has still been good! A few rainbows are already starting to stage on the gravel. The cloudy calm days are best. . The fish are huge and in prime condition this year.

Luce Lake and Hogan Reservoir are open and starting to fish! We fished on May 1st and had a good time. Lots of deer and antelope and even a bald eagle! The water is slightly off color but we could still sight fish the cruisers tight to the bank.  An olive scud, a black beadhead zebra and the World Famous Wal-mart wiggler did the trick. Water is still cold so hits are subtle.  The fish are big and healthy! Hogan had a good midge hatch but you will need a flotation devise of some kind to get to the fish. Those cutts are looking good!

The Lower Clarks Fork is now open for business. The water is off color due to snow melt on May 11th. It is starting to come down . Mostly midges right now. A few caddis are starting.  Saw a blizzard hatch of small mayflys in Montana. You can find some huge browns in the deeper runs that have held over in the lower flows from the spawn last year! Get it deep!

Wind River Canyon   The flows are up to 950 cfs as of the May 9th. We fished the Bighorn thru Thermopolis on the 19th of April. The fishing was good, however, I have never seen so many boats float this section in one day before. 12 to 15 boats on the town section. We still caught fish but the numbers of people had the fish down and dirty. We won't be fishing here on the weekends any more. Midges in the morning and a sparse BWO hatch mid day. The fishing will only get better on the overcast days. Most fish between 16" and 20".

The Wind river canyon is warming up and the browns are starting to take streamers. Even a few on dries when the bugs are hatching.  Some real nice fish are being caught!  Licenses are up to $85 this year for Wyoming residents. Still a heck of a deal for 22 miles of big fish water! Enjoy!

John says Fly Fishing is EASY!

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Hooked up at Luce!

Big mouth!

Killer dry fly on the Shoshone! Check the colors!

Cane is a blast!

Nice Big Brown!

Luce is warming up!

Good bow in the snow!

Kirk Bollinger and I floated the only stretch of clear water in the Cody area today! The Willwood section was still running clear this morning so we decided to take advantage of the last day of clear water before the irrigation water hits. We are also lucky enough to have a private take out so this stretch is no longer a marathon float to Powell. It turned out to be a great situation!

We started early and our plan was to row down to the private stretches and fish the faster deeper runs with streamers. I haven't thrown a lot of streamers this winter so I was looking forward to chunking the meat and getting some of the savage hits they can produce.

The fish were where we expected them to be but several fronts came in over the course of the day making us change our presentation from fast strips to dead drift and sometimes the swing.

This stretch holds my favorite species of cutthroat, the Bear river or Bonneville cutt. They are heartiest of the cutthroat and are acclimated to warmer water temps and poor water quality (perfect for the Willwood to Powell stretch). They have big spots, orange fins and fight every bit as good as rainbows and browns. A very beautiful fish!

The fishing was very good as you can see by the pictures. We got lots of fish, browns, rainbows and cutts. The only disappointing thing was that they were only 15" to 17". I guess we are pretty spoiled when 40 or 50 15" to 17" fish is disappointing but this stretch is known to hold some very large fish and we honestly didn't see very many today. We believe the weather played a big part in this.

All in all it was a fun day, just the two of us fishing (and catching), with the whole river to ourselves. The best part was that with our new take out we were able to thoroughly fish the best water (instead of having to rush) and we were both back home with our families by 500P.M.! If it stays clear we might fish it again tomorrow!  Enjoy the pictures!

John

Fish on!

Another fish on!

Joel's all time biggest rainbow !

Fat bows!

Joel with nice bow!

Killer fishing necklace!

My good friend John Perry is getting married on the 10th of May. Congratulations! Getting married was the best thing that ever happened to me and I wish you and your new wife great happiness!

Johns bachelor party was a couple of days of fishing on the Bighorn in Thermopolis. Friday, John, his brother Mike, Jeremiah Mackmiller, and his buddies Luke and Joel fished up in the canyon for a half day after driving up from Ft Collins. The fishing was tough but they caught some nice fish. Even a few on dries!

I met them Saturday morning at Wedding of the Waters and we floated through Thermopolis.  I got a real nice cutthroat and a rainbow while waiting at the boat ramp which we thought was a good omen for the day.

First let me say that I have never seen so many boats floating in Thermopolis before. I estimate that between 12 and 15 boats floated on Saturday. This is a ton of pressure for these fish as they are not used to seeing boats like on the Bighorn in Ft Smith. This situation called for a whole new strategy.

Mike broke off a nice fish at the first riffle.  The sheer numbers of boats had the fish down so we got out and fished the open riffles when we could find one. Jeremiah got three or four and I managed a couple nice rainbows in the first run on foot. This became our strategy. Get a hole that we knew held fish and nymph it hard!

There were people everywhere so when we came around a corner and saw that John, Luke and Joel had secured one of the best holes on the river we horned in.

We fished two people on each side of an island and began to pick up some real nice fish. John hooked a couple nice rainbows and a cutt. Jeremiah got a couple nice ones on the other side. Joel caught the biggest rainbow of his life and a couple other nice ones as well. Luke picked up a real nice rainbow.  It was a great time for all!

For the rest of the afternoon we fished spots that we new held fish getting one here and there but really just enjoying the day and the company. The weather was warm but the wind kicked up later in the day.

I did have one nice brown come out and take a white zonker in shallow water that made my day! Nothing like seeing an aggressive brown suck down a streamer at your feet!

It was great to see John, Mike, and Jeremiah and fish with them again and to meet Joel and Luke. We used to fish together all the time but they all had to get real jobs and I still live in a van down by the river. I miss those times a lot. All the happiness to John, Jeremiah, I'll see you in a couple weeks. Mike, maybe the drake hatch in Saratoga on the 4th. Joel and Luke it was great meeting you guys and lets fish together again soon. P. S. Send the rest of the pictures!

Bachelor food!

Luke getting advise from the master!

Luke with a nice rainbow!

Great cutthroat!

Soon to be married man nails another one!

Mike with a sweet brown!

Gaping Maw!

Tight Lines!