The rivers are hitting their stride now! Waters levels have come down, temps are at good levels and our summer weather has arrived. The Clark Fork is still high at 12,800. It has gone from a dirty brown to a clear green. We will start guiding in 2 weeks. If you are interested in a trip give us a call. The NF of the Coeur d Alene rivers levels have been creeping down. This can be good news and bad news. As the levels come down the water temps go up. This is also good news because the fish will start to concentrate in the deeps pools and runs. We are still seeing good hatches coming off daily. You can expect to see golden stones, PMD's (though tapering off) green drakes, yellow sallies and caddis. While not a hatch, try Throwing some ant and beetle patterns as well. My suggestion is to ignore the lower river from mile post 16. Below mile 16 the giant bikini, beer and rubber tube hatch is going off daily. Head up river instead. You have over 30 miles to explore and fish. Reports from the St. Joe point toward some very good fishing. Like the NF CDA the best fishing can be found above Avery away from the giant bikini, beer and rubber tube hatch. Again you have mile and miles of river above Avery to explore and probably have to yourself to fish. Moon Pass and the pass from St. Regis are now open. The hatches on The Joe are basically the same as the NF CDA, but about 2 weeks behind. The water level is down to a manageable level. But do be cautious. I also had a report from a camper on the NF of the Joe that it was fishing well. Besides matching the hatch try some foam and some "classic" attractor patterns like Trudes and Royal Wulffs. NF of the Coeur d Alene. Flows 992 CFS Cataldo, 460 Enaville & 194 Prichard Hatches Golden Stone Green Drake Yellow Sallies PMD Caddis Suggested Flies UM Butt Yellow Sally Goulds Half Down Sally Rogue River Golden Henry Fork Golden Bugmiester Golden Ants! Black Cinnamon and Flying Pats Rubberlegs, Kaufman Stones and Galloup War Birds as droppers Sledgehammer caddis Ballonhammer Caddis Championship Caddis Jakes Green Drake Christianena Green Drake Travis Green Drake Purple Haze Grumpy Frumpy South Fork Chernobyls PMX Love this fly! Jakes tiger Belly Evans Baby Foam Red. St. Joe Flows 1,910 Calder Hatches Golden Stones Yellow Sallies Green Drake Brown Drake PMDs Caddis. Suggested Flies - See above but also try St. Joe Special - Tied by local Shuana Hillman Copper Johns Brassies PMD Cripple Brittens Golden Stone nymph Serendipity If you enjoy this report and find it helpful support our shop in Wallace Idaho
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We spent Sunday and Monday up at the Kit Price campground on the North Fork of the CDA fishing and generally have a good time. The conditions all along the river are ideal right now. Hatches have been coming off fairly regularly throughout the day. The salmon flies have faded, but golden stones, yellow sallies, green and brown drakes, pmds and caddis were strong throughout the day. The heat of the day slowed things down in the afternoon, but picked back up in the early evening. I was seeing more caddis than the week before. There were a lot of caddis cases on the rocks. My daughter had a lot of luck swinging an "ovulating caddis". Caddis will probably be one of the main hatches for the forseeable future. I tried 6 of our shops golden stone patterns throughout the 2 days. All the flies brought fish to the net. I had a success rate of 4-1 if the fly was presented half sunk vs flies floating high on the water. A half submerged, struggling or dead stone fly is a much easier target for the cutts. Foam attractor patterns such as "Evans Baby Foam" and "South Fork Chernobyls" in #12 have done well also. Fishing the deeper pools and seam lines next o the fast water produced good size fish. It looks like we are going to have some great weather for the next 10 days. The fishing should be great! Get out and enjoy it.
North Fork Coeur d Alene Flows; Prichard 240 CFS (Cubic Feet per Second), Enaville 525 CFS, Cataldo 1,260 CFS Water Temputure Enaville 58 degrees, Kit Price Campground 56 degrees Hatches; Golden Stones Yellow Sallies PMD Brown and Green Drakes Caddis Suggested Flies; Britten Golden Wilson Little Golden Norm Wood Golden Henry Fork Golden Ovulating Caddis Ballon Caddis Sledgehammer Green Caddis Struggling Green Caddis Sledgehammer Hares Ear Galloup Tilt Wing PMD PMX 10-16 Travis Extended Body Green Drake Jake Drake St. Joe has also been fishing very well. Drake hatches were coming off fairly heavily above Avery last week on overcast days. Golden stones and PMDs have also been hatching regularly. If you are looking for solitude the ST. Joe has it. The pass from St. Regis is still closed. But if you hear otherwise please give us a call. Moon pass is open. If you are taking that route stop by the shop in Wallace. Flows; 2,860 CFS Cataldo Water Temperature 58 degrees in Avery Hatches; Golden Stones, Yellow Sallies, PMDs, Green and Brown Drakes Suggested Flies; Britten Golden Bugmiester Golden Rogue River Golden Wilson Little Golden Flying Ants Stimmies (orange) Swisher "Original" PMX Grumpy Frumpy Jakes Drake Christinas Drake If you find this report helpful support our shop! Shop local where you fish! I spent last Thursday, Sunday and Monday fishing the NF of the Coeur d Alene. It was some of the best fishing I have encountered in the last 2 year on the NF CDA. The river levels are perfect, water temps are optimal and we have great weather. If your local rivers are still in runoff ( Montana) head this way you will not be disappointed. We camped at Kit Price on Sunday and Monday, so we experienced the entire day and evening of hatches. PMDs were coming off in the morning, followed by Golden Stones, Yellow Sallies, Drakes then PMDs. We saw caddis, but not in large numbers. Low riding Golden Stone patterns worked well as did PMDs and large Klinkhammer patterns. In the early morning and between hatches I tied on some large ant patterns and they brought cutts up from the depth. The river fished well throughout the entire day tapering off at dusk. If you have been waiting for the flows to come down, now is the time to get out there.
NF CDA Flows, 290 CFS Prichard 54 degrees, 1,500 CFS 55 degrees Suggested Flies - This just a sample, stop by the shop to get the full picture Kings CDC Golden Stone - This fly was working hard on Sun. & Mon. Rogue River Golden Norm Woods Golden Brittens Golden Sofa Pillow Jakes Yellow Sally Flying Cinny Ant - another fly that was working hard when nothing else was hatching Black Foam Ant Jakes Drake Western Green Drake Klinkhammers Galloup Tilt Wing. PMD - of all the PMD patterns I used this was the best. Royal Trudes, Royal or Lime South Fork Chernobyl- 12 or smaller PMX - 14 or smaller St. Joe River 3,200 CFS Calder no temp While not at optimal flows The Joe is fishing very well right now. The river is uncrowned so this should be a great time to go. Moon Pass from Wallace to Avery is now open. The pass from St. Regis is still closed. If you hear that it is open let me know. Golden Stones, Yellow Sallies, PMDs, & Drakes are all coming off now. Ants are also working. Suggested Flies Cinny Flying Ant Sofa Pillows Wilsons Golden Bugmeister Goldens Travis Green Drake PMD Cripple Grumpy Frumpy PMX If you like this report and find it useful stop by the shop and support us. Thanks, Gregg Well it looks like the fly fishing season is starting to get into swing. The NF Coeur d Alene and The St. Joe are fishing very well right now. The ingredients have come together for some great dry fly action. The water temperature as of this morning on the NF CDA was 52 degrees. Flows are on the Jt. Joe while not optimize are very fishable. The NF CDA are perfect. We are seeing some strong and diversive hatches throughout the day. Our weather for fishing should also help. We are going to be cooling down with temps in the high 60's to mid 40's at night for the next 10 days. Mix this all together and you should have a stellar day on the water.
On both the St. Joe and NF CDA you'll encounter similar hatches throughout the day, Golden Stones, Yellow Sallies, PMD, Brown Drakes and Ants. The St. Joe still has some salmon flies and the NF CDA is starting to see caddis! I love caddis! We have a large selection of caddis dries, emergers and nymph patterns. I was on the water this morning at 6:00 AM this morning. There were no hatches while I was there but I did land 6 cutts on PMX's size 12-16. Each one came out of the depths to take that dry fly. They must of thought "mmm breakfast". The moral is, even if There are no hatches coming off, tie on something that looks inticing and see what happens. PMX's, Grumpy Frumpy, Chernobyls, Stimmies or Fat Alberts. The Clark Fork is flowing at 23,000 CFS ( down from 33,000 on 6/2) and St. Regis is at 1,460. Give it another 2 weeks and both should be hitting their stride. NF Coeur d Alene Enaville. 1,450 CFS, Prichard 410. Water temp 52. Suggested Flies Jakes Yellow Sally UM Butt Sally Norm Woods Golden Kings CDC Golden Brittens Golden Wilsons Little Golden Black Flying Ant Black Foam Ant Flying Cinny Ant Galloup Tilt Wing PMD Thorax PMD Cripple PMD Black Hi Rider Caddis Cin. caddis Champion Caddis Ballonhammer Caddis Sedgehammer Caddis We have a large selection of caddis - stop by to see them all South Fork Chernobyl PMX Grumpy Frumpy St. Joe 6,000 CFS Calder. Temp 50 degrees Suggested Flies See above, minus the Caddis Flies, also Big Sky Salmon Flies Improved Sofa Pillow King Kongs Large Stimmies Large Chernobyls If you like this report and find it helpful support our shop in Wallace, Idaho. Lets start with the St. Joe (9,200 CFS Calder), St. Regis (1,820 CFS) and Clark Fork at St. Regis (34,000 CFS) all are flowing at runoff stages. Your best bet is the NF of the Coeur d Alene.
The NF of the CDA is flowing at 671 CFS in Pritchard, 2,500 CFS Enaville and 4,200 CFS at Cataldo. The water temps are between 46-50 degrees depending if you are upstream of down stream. Hatches have been coming off in the morning and midday. Salmon Flies are out, but not in large numbers. Yellow Sallies, Golden Stones, PMD's and Brown Drakes are the dominate hatches right now. BWO's are out in smaller number and can be hit or miss depending where you are. There are also report of the caddis hatch starting. The NF of the CDA stretches over 50+ miles from Enaville to its upper reaches.. If a section isn't producing move on. Some areas will be more productive than others. I like the sections above Pritchard. It is less crowded and just plain prettier up there. Fly Fishing is more than just catching fish. Our weather has been improving but can still be a little Helter Skelter. Today is cool temps between 48-58 degrees and possible thunder storms. On Tuesday we hit 90 degrees. With this cloud cover and a little cooler weather we could see some good baetis hatches. The NF CDA is very fishable right now. If you are in NW Montana and your usual river is in runoff it is definitely worth a trip over here to fish the NF of the CDA. Bring your boat even! If you are fishing stones just dress the top of the fly sparingly with floatant. A half drowned stone are more attractive to the trout because they will still be there when the trout rise to take them. Here is a list of suggested flies. Henry Fork Golden Wilson's Golden Norm Wood Special Britten's Golden Improved Sofa Pillow Bugmeister King's CDC Golden - I like this one because it floats very low in the water Jake's Yellow Sally UM Butt Yellow Sally Gould's Half Down Sally - Another great fly tied to float low in the water Adult Yellow Sally Hilda's Spring Creek Mahogany Kicking Klink Special Klink Para Mahogany Cooper Haze Galloup Tilt Wing in Rust, Olive or PMD - Awesome new fly! PMD Cripple, Basic PMD Para PMD Stimmies in orange/yellow PMX - Swisher Peacock and Original (tan body) Chernobyl Trude Coachman Nymph's Kyles Yellow Sally Kyles Golden Galloup War Birds - another productive new fly Pats Rubber Legs Kaufman Stone Double B Stone Black Fly Formally Known as Prince Serendipity If you find this helpful support our local shop in Wallace! Thanks, Gregg |
AuthorGregg Maddock is the owner of Wallace Fly Shop. Archives
June 2018
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