Fishing Conditions and Hatches: Good-Excellent

Quick update more to follow tomorrow! The Grannom caddis emergence is going off. This is a hatch that only lasts 2-3 weeks and has been going for at least 1 week so if you can get on it now. The downside is that it can be extremely localized so anytime after 11, if you don't see them move on. Forget about your can't miss spot, work you way down from the campground until you hit paydirt. These are bigger caddis #16 and even though you will see explosive rises there most likely eating the pupae just under the surface. A friend of mine took some stomach samples and the pupae that he put  in the sample vial immediately started emerging. The entire cycle runs from around 11 until 2 or 3.

With the warm weather this week the water temperatures went up 5+ degrees and the hatches and fishing took off. With days getting longer and the sun getting higher hopefully this week's colder temperatures won't slow the fishing down drastically. The BWO hatch starting times are all over the place now, in some areas around 11:00-11:30 while other areas don't start until 1:00-2:00. This continues till around 3:00 and the dry fly fishing has taken off. This is the time to key on the riffles, ankle to knee deep. Along with the mayflies the caddis hatch is picking up and the craneflies are already showing up. That of course includes midges all day long.

Those nice deep holes are pretty much empty except for the big backwaters, the fish seem to be holding there and feeding on midges. It's not just the water temperature that dictates fish activity. Stability of the water temperatures is critical, once the water temperature stabilizes for a week or so the fish will become active again even if it's only for an hour or two. So far the water has remained clear but keep in mind that after rain or snow melt the river can be dirty below the Petroglyph parking (#9) from Horton Creek. If you're down below and it's dirty just move upstream until you find clean water. The old winter rule still applies, the colder the night before the further upstream you should start.