Ice Age 2011!

Daffodils emerging from a light snow, April 27... this has been a common morning occurrence this spring.

I regret to post that our snowpack has reached record breaking depths and could easily grow deeper over the next week. Our weather pattern is stuck in a consistent cool trough with ample moisture and as of this morning the snow water equivalent in our current base, measured at various stations around the drainage, is a massive 163% of normal. The silver lining at this point is that Wyoming's drought is over for now and area water agencies have learned hard lessons in the past from similar seasons and are dumping water from local reservoirs to help make room for the inevitable... flooding! Best case scenario is that the flow of precipitation stops soon and temperatures slowly climb maybe 5 degrees/week but night time lows remain cool. This will minimize the severity of the flood when it occurs, and it will. Worst case scenario is another month of cool, moisture laden weather over the region, preventing runoff to start gradually. Furthermore, turning from the cool 30's & 40's in the mountains to a sharp contrasting 60's & 70's in a week or two could be troubling.

Ok, enough doomsday talk. There will be some fantastic summer & fall fishing this year and the stillwater show is going to be the ticket later in May & into June. I love fly fishing lakes so stay tuned for good lake updates from JH & Western Wyoming. I guided a fun day with Philip Harris and his friends from Memphis last week on the Snake River. The flows are high and cold and it could be considered some of the most challenging conditions possible for the Snake. However, with the right mindset and a few beers the day can only end well. We found some very nice trout on streamers but it took a lot of work and focus.