SOUTH FORK OF THE SNAKE RIVER

Idaho’s South Fork of the Snake River

Add it to Your Bucket List!

Photo Credited: Bureau of Land Management

It was the rumors of a mythical tailwater where mysis shrimp mixed with salmon flies the size of your thumb, and the waters boiling with the heads of feeding cutthroat trout that first put the South Fork of the Snake River on my bucket list. After a spring of pulling oars down drought-shrunken Colorado Rivers, my friends didn’t have to ask me twice when they invited me to join them for 4 days of dawn to dusk fishing on the Snake below Palisade Dam in Idaho, so I packed my fly boxes, hitched up the

by Peter Stitcher

raft, and headed West. Believe me, it was difficult to drive past some of my favorite rivers (including the Poudre, Green, Wind River, and North Platte) on my way to the Snake, but now that I’ve fished it, I would do it again without hesitation! Here are 6 reasons the South Fork of the Snake needs to be on your fly fishing bucket list as well!

A Tailwater Like None Other

Flowing between 9000 – 14000 CFS from below the Palisade Dam, the South Fork of the Snake benefits from a steady inflow of high protein Mysis Shrimp that in turn grows massive tailwater trout! The size of the trout is where its similarities with other Mysis tailwaters end, however. In most low-flow tailwaters, fine sediment pulled from the bottom of the upstream reservoir clogs the bottom of the riverbed for several miles downstream, excluding freestone-loving invertebrate such as stoneflies and green drake mayflies. Due to the high, clean flows pouring from Palisade Dam, stoneflies are able to inhabit the entire reach of the river, creating a high-calorie surf and turf menu for trout all the way up to the dam!

Unparalleled Beauty

Photo Credited: Bureau of Land Management

As the channels meandered through the wide river valley, Golden Eagles, Osprey, and Bald Eagles regularly glide overhead while Sand Hill Cranes and Moose emerge unannounced to wade along the graveled river banks. Massive cottonwoods and walls of willow shade the margins of the river, providing cover for lurking trout, while tall fir trees loom above the slope as a majestic reminder of how small I am in the shadow of the Teton Mountains. I have fished many rivers across the US, and few can match the grandeur and wild beauty of the Snake!

Choose Your Own Adventure

Your options for how you fish the Snake are almost limitless, and with public fishing access up to the high-water mark, hundreds of braids and islands, and boat launches every 8 – 12 miles, you could fish and easily float the same 30- mile section of river every day for a month, and never fish the same water twice!

Hatches of Biblical Proportions

I have made a career sampling aquatic insects on waters across the United States, and have rarely—if ever—seen such diverse and abundant hatches as I witnessed on the Snake and its surrounding rivers! I am not exaggerating when I say 200 yellow sally stoneflies would fall off a willow branch when I shook it. Salmon flies were splashing down on the water throughout our 30-mile daily floats, and the clouds of black caddis were enough to choke you after dusk! The Snake is one of the most abundant and rich fisheries I have ever been to!

Big Fish & Plenty of Them

Home to the Yellowstone Cutthroat trout, Rainbow, Brown, and Cutbow Hybrids, every time your line fly disappears in a violent splash and your drag starts to sink, you might not know which species you have on the end of your line, but you can be assured that it will be a healthy, vigorous fish! The fish in the Snake are abundant and Big! 16” is pretty standard across the board, and you have a very real chance to boat a 22” or larger fish multiple times a day!

Your Chance to Break Out the BIG BUGS

Leave your Platte River and San Juan tailwater midge boxes at home, because the trout on the Snake

Photo Credit: Bureau of Land Management

Photo Credit Idaho Fish & Game

are feeding on the insect equivalent of Prime Rib! Throughout the summer months, plan on going BIG with your dry flies, casting size 2-6 Salmon flies, 6-8 Chubby Chernobyls, and size 10-14 Green Drakes and Caddisflies. Tungsten beadhead droppers and nymphing rigs are the norm on this river, and will help you get down deep, so make sure you’re loaded up with a good selection of Duracells and other tungsten or Euro patterns before you launch. Finally, if you are going after the true kings of the river (trout over 24”) you’ll have plenty of opportunity to fish your big articulated Gonga, Sex Dungeon, and Sculpzilla patterns!

Easy Miles to Improve your Oar Skills

High flows, gradual slopes, lazy meandering channels, and the distinctive lack of mid channel boulders and obstacles make the South Fork of the Snake a great river to improve your skills on the oars. If you have never rowed a raft or drift boat, you might just fish on your first day on the river, but after that the perennial rule of “If you don’t row you don’t go” comes into effect. The Snake below Palisade Dam is without a doubt one of the best rivers to gain confidence and experience on the oars.

So, whether you are coming from Colorado, California, Wyoming, or Montana, I encourage you to continue to look straight ahead as you head to the Snake. Yes, you will pass other storied and named fly fishing waters on your way, but the South Fork of the Snake is a truly special water and one worthy of every angler’s bucket list!

About The Author

Peter Stitcher is an Aquatic Biologist and owner of Ascent Fly Fishing. Originator of the Biologist Crafted Fly Selection, Peter and his team build their clients’ fly selections specific to the bugs in the waters they fish, when they fish them. You can contact Peter or restock your fly box at: www.ascentflyfishing.com.

Island Acres 38339 US Hwy 50 Gunnison, CO 81230 970.641.1442

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