Jackson Hole Fly Fishing Report 12.07.08

We’ve been blessed with some warmer than average days over the past month. I’ve made the most of it and fished when I could. I made it to the South Fork on a beautiful 50 F day and caught a handful of browns on #18 Green Copper Johns and Olive Slivey’s Sculpin Leeches. A solid day of fishing overall…

Today was unseasonably warm for Jackson Hole in December, so I took advantage and headed to the river. The goal is to catch a cutthroat on a dry fly every calendar month, and I needed to try and knock December off the list.

I fished south of town where hatches tend to be better this time of year. The truck thermometer read 48 F at 1pm! No fish were rising when I arrived, so I tied on a #12 North Fork Special and #18 red Zebra midge and nymphed for awhile. I caught a few whitefish and a couple decent trout to 14″. About 3pm, I finally saw a cuttie come to the surface. I quickly switched my rig and knotted on a #20 Zelon Midge and landed two scrappy trout to 12″. Success!

Happy Holidays!

South Fork brown

Gorgeous weather!

Teton sunsets are amazing in the winter!

Jackson Hole Fly Fishing Report 11.10.08 – Crescent H Ranch

Cutthroat in the Snake River are still eating dry flies in the afternoons. Midges and BWO’s continue to be the hatches of the hour, with the midges coming first and then the BWO’s come later. The density of the BWO hatch depends on how nasty the weather is, cloudy days with intermittent rain/snow showers being the best. The hatches below the dam are the most consistent right now and still have every fish in the river on the surface, even a few browns. #20 BWO cripples and the Zelon Midge produced numerous cutties 16-18 inches this past weekend. I’ve decided to challenge myself with catching trout on dries every month of the year through this winter, so stay tuned to see how it turns out…

Midges are tasty!

Jackson Hole Fly Fishing Report 10.26.08 – Crescent H Ranch

We have had some winter storms push in and coat the mountains with snow with seasonably warm temps in the 50’s between them. BWO’s have been strong during cloudy, stormy days later on in the afternoons. Water temperatures have dropped to daytime highs of about 46F in the past few days. With this drop, the cutthroat on the Snake River have been focusing more on the midge hatches but will still eat #20 BWO Sparkle Duns and such. I’ve been using a #20 Zelon Midge as my dropper on 5x Flouro and the fish are crushing it in every riffle. Nymphing has also been productive with a double nymph rig – #12 Black North Fork Specials followed by a #16-18 Flashback PT or Lightening Bug.

Fish Creek is still fishing well and is seeing very little pressure. Cloudy days have produced some enormous BWO hatches. BWO Cripple patterns have rarely been refused!

Trying to get over to the South Fork on the next cloudy day to fish streamers for big browns…

Blue skies and cutties on dries!

Jackson Hole Fly Fishing Report 10.10.08- Crescent H Ranch

The weather has been great the first ten days of October! Warm afternoons are still producing good BWO and Mahogany hatches starting about noon and lasting until the sun hits the mountains around 6:30pm. #14 Red Quill’s and #18 Para Adams in the riffles have produced some really nice fish to 19 inches. The fish are holding in their winter holes – look for large riffles in the main stem of the river. There are a couple of side channels with enough water to hold a handful of nice fish as well. Streamer fishing is picking up, especially early and late in the day.

I did get a chance to sample the Trico hatch below the dam a few days ago. The bugs got started at 9am sharp and lasted until around 5 pm. Unbelievable! Ed Wiand, Josh Hanna and I helped tag fish for Chris from MSU in Bozeman who is working on her thesis project to determine migration patterns for Snake River Finespots. She is inserting transmitters into smaller fish and tracking them using radio telemetry. Fish over 13″ receive minor surgery and get a PET tag similar to the ones used for recent bonefish and tarpon studies.

Looks like an early winter storm is rolling in today and through the weekend…

Chris performs surgery for a PET tag.

Jackson Hole Fly Fishing Report 9.30.08 – Crescent H Ranch

The golden hues of mature cottonwoods punctuate the Teton skyline.

Jackson Hole Fly Fishing Report 9.15.08 – Crescent H Ranch

It has been busy since I last posted. The annual One Fly event happened and was a great success! I guided from Deadman’s – Moose and had good fishing on both days with mayfly patterns, such as Hecubas and Mahoganies. Burkholder’s #10 Hecuba Cripple and Sanchez’s #12 PFD were the two best producers. Unfortunately, we left the Cripple in a 20 incher on Saturday and then measured three fish over 17 inches after we were no longer scoring. Sunday was slow to start and then picked up in the afternoon after water temperatures increased. It was a flurry of activity for me just for the bell with three fish measured in the last ten minutes of the competition! All in all it was a great weekend – Thanks to all who put it on!

It was right into a busy week with Ray Cohen’s group of 18 anglers in house on Monday and Tuesday. They had great fishing both on the creeks and out on the Snake. On Monday morning, we landed a 21″ cutthroat just above Spring Creek #1on a stonefly nymph. What a beauty! The afternoon proceeded with more large fish on big dry flies such as the #12 Parahopper and #10 Circus Peanut. Tuesday was great fishing as well on the creeks with Ray and Tom Mattioni. We caught numerous fish on Tricos, BWO’s, hoppers, and wooly buggers including one that went to 18 inches. We enjoyed having this group in house and look forward to seeing them again next year!

On Wednesday, it was out to the backcountry with the Parks. We went backinto the Gros Ventres and were greeted with rain and hail accompanied by 30 mph winds. Sweet! Fishing was tough in these conditions, but we managed to land a few nice fish and these guys were rewarded with beautiful weather on Thursday for their float on the Snake.

This past weekend we had the Trout and Salmon Foundation in house. This group funds on the ground conservation projects around the country for cold water fisheries. Thank you for that guys! We had great fishing on both the Snake and our spring creeks with BWO hatches in the mornings and terrestrials and caddis in the afternoons. It was great to fish with a group that collectively appreciated our native fisheries and the Finespots were in fine form eating off the surface regularly.

Oz Gutsche of the Trout and Salmon Foudation holds a 20" beauty from the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park.

Trout and Salmon Foundation Chairman, Tom Donnelley, enjoys a dry fly caught 18" cutthroat.

Flows have been reduced out of the dam here in Jackson Hole to 1800 cfs and this should only make the fishing better for the last two weeks in September. Look for the fall mayflies to continue and terrestrials on sunny days. Tight lines!

Jackson Hole Fly Fishing Report 9.03.08 – Crescent H Ranch

Fall weather has arived in Jackson Hole.  We have received a good rain over the holiday weekend that added some color to the Snake River and surrounding waters.  Not enough to blow it out, but enough to give it a green tint.  There is more weather forecasted for this coming weekend, but it doesn’t look terrible and should make the fishing even better. 

Green Drakes have started hatching on local backcountry creeks and rivers and the cutthroat are all over them.  The attached photo is of a fish from the Gros Ventre drainange that ate a Green Drake

Cutthroat are thriving in local Jackson Hole waters due to a high water year.

and shows the true colors of our native Snake River finespot cutthroat.  Bring your favorite #12 Green Drake pattern or a Parachute Adams will do.  

I floated the Snake in GTNP again yesterday with cabin guests Meg and Scott Sims and the fishing was stellar!  The cutthroat responded to Hecuba patterns with upright wings in the morning, but the best flies were Mahogany Dun patterns in the riffles and Classenia stoneflies in the heavy water.  Fishing was best in the afternoon after water temperatures got above 55F. Air temperatures reached 62F.

Welcome to the new Crescent H Ranch Fly Fishing Report

The Crescent H Ranch has finally joined the many bloggers out there!  On this page you will information on fishing trips, current conditions, and the latest general info on fishing in and around the Jackson Hole valley. 

This past week I floated the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park twice from Deadman’s Bar – Moose with clients from two corporate groups, Howard Weil and Celanese.  The fishing proved to be good despite the windy conditions on both days.  The Finespotted cutthroats were looking for both the fall golden and classenia stoneflies, especially in the mornings.  As the days progressed, hopper/dropper combinations were the ticket.  #8-10 Circus Peanuts with #16-18 Red Copper Johns were very productive.  The Snake still has plenty of water in it for this time of year.  The fishing should be outstanding through the fall!