As I am on our local Sun Valley area rivers almost daily, I have decided to add a fishing report or rather, a "conditions report" to this blog.  It is a report based on regular observations of water flows, hatches, temps, anamolies, wildflowers and subtleties, etc. I'll note any regulation changes here as well.

First, as opening day is just behind us and this spring has been cold and a bit wet, the rivers have a ways to go prior to hitting any peak flow.  Today hit fifty degrees in Hailey with some hail showers for good measure.  Overnight lows are still cool in Ketchum making for a delayed runoff.  Tonights low in Ketchum is slated to be around 30 degrees which should bring the Big Wood River down even more.  The current flow on the Wood is 1,040 cfs with some clarity, like 2 feet.  The historic mean flow is 1540 cfs.  Here's the link to the Big Wood Flow.  What does this all mean?  Well, for one the Wood is fishable but high.  Side channels and braided water and any soft water on the sides should work.  Keep your eye on the water flow as it's looking like it should warm up on Sunday which will translate to higher water levels...  Enjoy it while it lasts...  Could be a while, like around or after July 4th, before we see wadeable water on the Big Wood.

Silver Creek between gusts and hail storms, is the best, easy to get to option at the moment.  Hatches are sporadic with some baetis and PMDs popping off here and there over the course of the heat of the day.  The PMDs are at their biggest this time of year and will slowly get smaller and smaller into early July.  You can check Silver Creek's streamflow online AND the up to date water temp as measured at the upstream section of the willows.  That's just downstream from the highway 20 bridge.  Here's the link that includes the very useful temperature chart:  USGS Silver Creek Flow  Also, brown drakes are likely to show up in a couple of weeks, and that's just around the corner and one of the most amazing and prolific "big bug" hatches around...

The Big Lost is flowing at 395 cfs with the historic mean at 888 cfs.  That makes the river fishable, very fishable.  There are still a few baetis and on cloudier days the dry fly fishing could be really good.  If you are thinking of heading over there, go soon, as the reservoir is near capacity and the flows should go up within a week or so and make it unfishable for quite awhile...  Here's the Big Lost flow link.  Trail Creek Summit is now open to car travel.

 

A few more images from Yellowstone:

Late Spring Bulb On Slough Creek

Neverending Telephone Poles.  East Of Arco, Idaho

Power Line And Alfalfa Field.  Idaho Desert

Clouds And Desert And Alfalfa.  Idaho Desert

The above image is a 16 image pano taken handheld with the Nikon 35 f2 lens.  See my pano section on my galleries page to view this image larger.  I am still using Adobe Photoshop CS5 and the photomerge tool for generating panos.