Jackson Hole Fly Fishing Report- September 10, 2013

The post One Fly report for me is humbling and once again confirms how wonderful this treasured sport of fly fishing truly is. Before the weekend the region had been gripped by summer like conditions, fairly hot for early September and fickle, up and down fishing. Daily the windows for good action were small and inconsistent. On top of that flows on the Snake River remained higher than normal(4500cfs @ Moose) and set the stage for some challenging conditions. To make matters worse for some, better for others the storms rolled in Friday and by Saturday morning the Snake River was beginning to become off color from nearby tributaries. 

Dan Fox showing off his fine cutthroat.

My One Fly section was again on the Dam to Pacific Creek(second season there), a true tailwater section of the Upper Snake River in JH. Throughout the season this section can produce wonderful hatches and some pretty impressive trout(my best was a 29" lake trout of 9lbs, a 24" brown trout and a 23" cutthroat). To be honest, the main reason for favoring this short and gorgeous section of river is due to its technical aspects and most importantly, the chance to sight cast to these large trout. With all that said the One Fly delivered a particularly challenging experience this year.

Chuck Campbell setting the hook!

Day 1- Our fly choices were a #14 mahogany emerger(Scott Sanchez tied) and a #10 mohair sculpin(Scott Smith tied). I thought the emerger looked buggy and could be confused as an ant or beetle, or more likely a trico cluster. The streamer is a tie that I have done quite well with and I wanted to know what would produce better for Sunday's choices, dry vs. wet! Both flies came out of the gate doing well but right away I noticed tentative strikes from the trout and the better fish were coming un-buttoned! It was almost unexplainable, good solid hook-ups but then the fly would simply let go, NOOO! Have these darn fish figured out a way to let go of hooks? Our best application was to keep the fish below the surface and stop the cutty death roll. 

Day 2- I shook off a frustrating day 1 and just wanted to do my best to help the contestants put up a good score for their teams. They wanted to stay dry so I offered up a #16(olive) and a #14(black/rust) foam power beetle that I tie and have complete confidence in... this was going to be a fun day head hunting with terrestrials. Again the perplexing un-buttoned cutthroat syndrome inflicted us right away and I thought WTF! The day got better as we applied different hook setting and playing techniques but overall we might have dropped 500 points! My point is this sport can always open your eyes to unchartered territory and provide anglers with an ever changing scope of challenges.

The latest from the field is get going because the post One Fly bite is heating up with the changing weather. Our fall hatches are cranking up, mahoganies, hecuba drakes, tricos and BWO's are all making an appearance lately as cool nights and shorter days become a strong force. 

Recent rains have flushed some streams and the Green has a fair flow again in some upper sections near Daniel. Lastly, the South Fork is in a late season funk due to the low lake levels, yet good streamer anglers are finding some hefty trout on bunnies and the nymphing can be quite good in some areas.

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