Jackson Hole Fly Fishing Report- May 30, 2018

Another high water season is in full swing but the fly fishing forecast looks good!

Jackson Hole Fly Fishing report for late May into June can be summed up in two words, lakes or Idaho! Right now our best fishing is on area lakes and the reports are good from the Henry's Fork in Idaho where the salmon flies are stealing the show and have advanced up near Riverside.

High water years seem to be becoming the norm, is this good or bad? Well, for now I think it is good to have more water than not enough but if an epic flood were to happen we could lose hatches, fish and perhaps property or life. In 1996/97 the Snake River experienced a big winter and like many years the spring was cool holding the snow up high to near 150%, then suddenly it warmed dramatically and then rained on the deep snow pack causing extreme runoff conditions and flooding. I can imagine another year like this is looming with an even bigger snow pack. Fortunately the Bureau of Reclamation is managing the lake levels well in both Jackson and Palisades so mitigating the worst case scenario should prevail.
Our lakes are fishing quite well with Lewis and Yellowstone icing out last week. We are finding lots of small lake trout(mackinaw) in shallow water and these fish are great on a fly rod. Try small leeches, nymphs or minnows. The sight fishing is very good when the sun provides good light, give it a try! Jackson Lake is our local trophy lake trout fishery and with lots of time invested your rewards can be significant. I finally shattered my personal best with a 20#'er last week (conventional gear) but now I need to have that fish eat a fly, this could take some time.

Current snow pack is just over 100% so we are looking good for an average start to the season here in Jackson Hole. South of here other drainages are even lower but to the north in Yellowstone Country levels are still high, 130%. It is a safe guess that we could be fishing the Snake River proper by July 10 but maybe even a few days sooner, we'll see!
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