A good day on the South Fork of the Boise
The hefty rainbow came out of the deep emerald pool and nailed the yellow stimulator without hesitation.
The fish made a run downstream peeling out line from the fly rod sending out a buzz as the reel spun like crazy.
That's what you like to see on the best drift-boat fly fishing stream in Southwest Idaho - the South Fork of the Boise River.
I talked with several anglers on the river last week and they said it has been a good season. One angler reported catching and releasing more than 300 trout this summer.
The fish looked in really good shape in this trophy trout water below Anderson Ranch Reservoir. We had a good day drifting the river and catching and releasing fish that took hopper patterns, stimulators and PMDs.
I hadn't been on the river all summer and it was my first drift of the season. We sure are lucky to have a river like this within an hour and a half of Boise.
The scuttlebutt is that the flows will soon be reduced, maybe even by next weekend. Don't know for sure. Will find out in time for our river report in Thursday's Idaho Statesman.
The next few days may be the last ones for a float in a drift boat on the South Fork this season. I already heard that some anglers will be switching to small fishing cats to float the river when it gets around 600 cfs.
Anyway, good fishing.
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dam rivers
Zimo says, "We sure are lucky to have a river like this within an hour and a half of Boise."
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AND let's remember it's between TWO dams. IF not for the dams on the Boise drainage, it would be totally different- maybe better, maybe worse dependin on one's perspective.
See, dams are good
Right on. Look at the South Fork Snake below Palisades, Henrys Fork below Island Park Reservoir or the Green River below Flamming Gorge Reservoir.
But, it all depends on the water temperature. It was 58 degrees on the South Fork Boise.
- Zimo
Effects of the dams on the fishery
"AND let's remember it's between TWO dams. IF not for the dams on the Boise drainage, it would be totally different- maybe better, maybe worse dependin on one's perspective."
Agreed. There are confounding effects, some positive (steady flows, favorable winter flows, water temperature usually exceptional) and some negative (loss of natural hydrograph and routing of sediment and gravels through a fluvial system, loss of fish access to upstream spawning and rearing areas).
There's a pretty good video that explains the issues - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HVYmtZ9Ztw
Thanks for the note
With development comes some kind of loss to the natural resource. There always needs to be consideration for the resource.
Zimo
Is better than going North with a South facing stop light.
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There is no life in Idaho...it is a mirror site on god's server. You were dreaming but it is over. Go to your residence and await our commands and THEN we will restore control...
scuttlebutt?
No need to rely on scuttlebutt...you can call Reclamation and ask, or look at their web page. It's at 800 right now. Also.. it's "spun" not "spinned." Also, what's up with keeping score when we fly fish? That flies in the face of everything I love about it. Further, perhaps we could let the wading fishermen have a turn at the river without putting up with a hatch of "cats" all fall.
Keep score and know how the resource is doing
If you keep a journal of how many fish you catch, the estimated size of the fish and the water temperature, you have a record of how the river is doing.
This way if you see anything out of the ordinary, you can alert fisheries biologists on your findings.
Fish and Game needs input from anglers. The agency once gave out fishing diaries to anglers to keep records for fishing.
It's a good conservation practice. Try it, you'll find it interesting.
Zimo
true?
Good point. I hadn't thought about a diary. I wonder if they are truly valuable to F&G or whether they are just anecdotal. I wonder why they quit giving them out. Any fisheries biologists out there?