When to Come and What To Expect:
Fly Fishing: Outside Yellowstone National Park – August – South Fork of the Snake River
The South Fork of the Snake fishes very well in August. The best August fishing is usually during the last couple of weeks but fishing can also be great the first two weeks. It is one of the best cutthroat trout fisheries in the nation.
The water drops around the first to the middle of the month, making wading and dry fly fishing great. The caddisflies are in full swing all month. Although there are a large variety of them, the spotted sedges are most plentiful. They produce exciting late afternoon and early evening catches all month.
The Pale Morning Dun is the main mayfly attraction in August. It will be around all month. The Mahogany Duns will start hatching around mid August. They too can produce some nice dry fly fishing.
The most used flies for August consist of terrestrial patterns. Imitations of ants, beetles and grass hoppers are popular and work very well all month.
You can both wade fish and fish from a drift boat in any of the three main sections of the river. You can cover lots more water in a drift boat but that don’t mean you can’t also catch plenty of trout wading. Wade fishing lets you fish several different areas of the river during a day, so you can actually move around quite well to test new water. Be careful wading. The South Fork is a very strong tailwater and the discharges are not set in stone. The water level can change fast although normally, it is fairly consistent during the second part of August.
Rainey, Fall, Bear, Pine and Palisades Creeks also fish well during August. They can be waded and plenty of trout taken from their waters.
You should put the South Fork on your list of August waters to consider for certain.
Copyright 2012 James Marsh