Silver Creek Pano

East Oxbow Pano. Silver Creek, Idaho 2011

Silver Creek Drake Update:

Still cool here but the Spring-green is happening and so is the brown drake frenetic mindset.  Catching the first night of the drake emergence is the best.  First, there's the payoff after many hatchless nights.  Sunsets are great, but giant prolific mayflies and hungry trout and a sunset is better...  The first strong night is in no other words, amazing.  The fish simply go nuts as they have not had this type of opportunity in a long time.  The bloated stomach thing doesn't seem to start, understandably, until after the first or second massive meal.  No, nothing to my knowledge has happened in the way of drakes yet, but those large acrobatic mayflies are on many of our minds.  The above pano was taken last night, June 9th.  Mosquitoes and prairie caddis signal to me the "imminence" of drakes and I have yet to witness either.  Once we get either or both mosquitoes and prairie caddis--which is a large and erratic flying but IGNORED caddis-- we'll be close...

Oh, and the Lost...it's been knocked DOWN to 280 cfs...

 

Sun Valley Area Fishing Report

OK..., the Big Wood has just about doubled in volume since I last reported here.  It's flowing just under 2,000 cfs and is OFF color.  It's essentially unfishable...  More rain and cooler temps in store for Ketchum.  The amount of rain we get will dictate just how much runoff the Wood will see this year.  It's really anyone's guess as the weather continues to be volatile and anything but predictable.

The Lower Big Lost is hanging in there and has at least for the short term dropped down to 340 cfs.  That water flow will not last for long.  If you are thinking of hitting the Lost anytime soon, you should head over within the next couple of days.  The Mackay Reservoir is nearing capacity and will any day now hit the tipping point, especially as the upper river has seen a good bump in volume and is contributing a lot of water to the reservoir.

Silver Creek of course is not really affected by high water and will be for much of June our local trump card.  Expect PMD's and baetis throughout the day and cloudy windless days should be the best.  Brown drakes are just around the corner...

Mt. Haynes & Lone Madison River Fisherman

Lamar Valley Looking West

Sun Valley Fishing Report & More Yellowstone Images

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.

Lamar Valley Wolf & More...

A yearling Lamar wolf.  We watched a prohghorn buck run this wolf out of the pronghorn's turf.  Pretty amazing how the pronghorn stood its ground and actually charged the wolf.  The wolf relented and ran around the pronghorn...

Blue Grouse In Spring Regalia

"Raccoon Face"

This sow grizzly had apparently just lost its cub...  Near Grizzly Lake on the west side of Yellowstone.

Soda Butte Grizzly

The bear activity in the park and especially in the Lamar River Valley was unbelievable.  We probably saw 20 bears in 4 days and when we were not seeing them their tracks littered the trails we walked.  While we were there a rock slide prevented any incoming and outgoing traffic from the Lamar Valley which made for the most uncrowded and enjoyable experience I could have imagined.  As the elk start to drop their calves over the next few weeks I can only imagine the bear activity will increase.  May is certainly the best month of the year in my perspective in the park.

Slough Creek

Lots of great stuff today on Slough Creek. As the road from Mammoth to the Lamar Valley is closed indefinitely due to a rock slide, there are incredibly few people here in the Lamar Valley at the moment which has been a fortuitous accident. The Lamar Valley, where we are based, is a ghost town people wise but has been absolutely crazy as far as the number of bear sightings we've had. We saw 6 different bears today. Four grizzlies and two black bears. The trail up Slough Creek was littered with bear and wolf tracks. All of the above images were taken with an iPhone camera. More to come...

Yellowstone National Park

The attached image is of my favorite cattle guard east of Kilgore, Idaho. I took it with the iPhone camera on my way to Yellowstone. It has snowed about 5 inches so far this evening in Cooke City where I am staying... The rivers here are blown but the wildlife component couldn't be better. I came across 3 different grizzlies today. More to come...

Silver Creek Slideshow

A Season On Silver Creek, Idaho from nick price on Vimeo.

A season on Silver Creek with two short time lapse clips. The images in this slideshow were captured over the course of many trips to Silver Creek for the past 3 years. From brown drakes near the season opener to casting in the snow on the final day of the season in the Nature Conservancy section, this piece offers a glimpse of a season on Silver Creek.

www.nickpricephotography.com

Music by Walker J. Price

 

Budding Maple Leaf & Really Right Stuff Macro Rail

Budding Maple Leaf

Here's an image from my front yard.  I shot directly into the light with the Nikon 105 2.8 and extension tubes.  Taken on a tripod with a Really Right Stuff macro rail.  The macro rail lets me fine tune the focus without having to move the tripod which makes close-up/macro photography much easier.  You can even stack two macro rails to fine tune the left and right axis in addition to the fore and aft...  Cool stuff but much harder with moving subjects like mayflies.

Silver Creek Wild Flowers And Current Sun Valley Conditions

Upland Larkspur--Taken at The Silver Creek Preserve With The Nikon 105 2.8 Lens

I drove down to Silver Creek yesterday and spent the morning shooting.  The skies were gun-metal gray and it rained on and off lightly.  Raptors were perched here and there on fence posts and telephone poles.  The soil was damp and it finally smelled like early summer despite the cool, wet weather.  There was not much going on in the way of hatches--I was hoping to see a few baetis or PMD's.  It really feels like everything is almost two weeks later this year.  The Big Wood water flow has essentially dropped to half the flow of 4 days ago--it's roughly 1,000 cfs at the moment with about 3 feet of clarity.  That won't last for long though...  By next week the daytime highs are supposed to be in the 70's and depending on how warm it stays and for how long and how warm/cold our overnight lows are will tell the story of just how big the Wood will get this year.  Add to that a little rain and well, we'll just see.

The Big Lost has DROPPED back down to 214 cfs.  Again, that could change any day but at the current level it should be nothing short of stellar!

The one promise of Summer, though, that I discovered walking around the Nature Conservancy were a few of the wildflowers which had emerged here and there.  Phlox and Bluebells & Upland Larkspur littered the trail from the cabin down to Silver Creek.  The light was perfect for wildflower close-ups.  Here are a few more...

Upland Larkspur

Phlox

Bluebells

Bluebells 2

Underwater Jellyfish Footage

Monterey Bay from nick price on Vimeo.

 

 

Here's a short piece I shot in Monterey a week or so ago.  I used A Go Pro video camera and Eye Of Mine Housing and mounted the camera on a boom and stuck it underwater...  I have lots to learn but it's a fun process and a memory eating process as well.

On the fishing front here, the only thing going at the moment as far as moving water goes is the Lower Lost which is still really really good.  Watch the water level if you are thinking of heading over as it should come up quite a bit in the next two weeks.  The cold weather has knocked the Big Wood flow from around 2,000 cfs down to 1,500 cfs over night.  Cold weather is forecast for at least the next 3 or so days and should delay runoff even more.  It snowed in Ketchum two nights ago and yesterday as well...

Big Lost River In May And More...

Lots to post here...  Here are 3 images from a recent day on the Big Lost River.  The water flow is about 445 cfs at the moment and could any day go beyond fishable.  It's still clear though and enough baetis to make the purist smile.  The moody skies of May are here too.  Probably my favorite month of the year to shoot.  Clouds and contrast and sometimes thunderstorms and wind and snow up high and budding trees and the prevalent cottonwood stench by the water.  We are FINALLY starting to see some green on our trees and the recent warmer temps--supposed to get a bit moody again through the week--have brought our freestone water much higher.  The Big Wood is blown and flowing at the moment just under 2,000 cfs.  Should be a substantial runoff year. 

Big Lost River Rainbow

 

I was just asked by a talented Swiss fly casting instructor, Christopher Rownes, for my permission to use a few of my images on his site.  It's a great site with lots of underpublished black & white images.  Black & white is so many things yet infrequently used commercially in the fly fishing world.  It's without a doubt my favorite medium.  Check out his site and a few of my images along with plenty of other great images HERE. 

On another note, and an inspirational one too, I just came across an incredible slideshow of underwater wave photography.  It's really a must see as it's evocative and captures moments most never see.  It's called The Underwater Project and it's by Mark Tipple.  Here's the Link: The Underwater Project

Waves & Sky & The Alma Rosa Winery

Image taken from a boat launched from the Monterrey harbor.  This rock and wave was about 1/2 mile offshore...

I spent an afternoon wine tasting near Buellton, CA.  The image above was taken at the Alma Rosa Winery which is a favorite of mine.  The setting is spectacular and the buildings are humble yet tastefully done.  The wine speaks for itself...

Alma Rosa Moment

 

A view into the Alma Rosa tasting room