When to Come and What To Expect:
Fly Fishing: Outside Yellowstone National Park – August – Snake River
The Snake River begins in Yellowstone National Park and flows out of it near the South Entrance into the Teton National Park and Jackson Lake. The area of the Snake River this is about extends approximately eighty miles from the tailwater of Jackson Lake to Palisades Lake.
August is a great time to fish the river, especially the area near Jackson Hole where you have the Teton Mountains in the background. This section of the river can provide some of the most enjoyable float trips there are in Yellowstone Country. Native Snake River Fine Spotted Cutthroat trout and Yellowstone Cutthroat trout make up its population. The trout will range from ten inches to eighteen inches.
You don’t have to fish the Snake from a drift boat but you will enjoy the trip more, catch more fish as a general rule and see more scenery. There are plenty of places to wade along its riffles and side channels. It is standard procedure on some of the sections that are floated to stop and do some wade fishing.
The cutthroat trout are usually not very picky and fly patterns are not critical. You will do better fishing imitations of whatever is hatching, of course, but larger terrestrial patterns and streamers work great for searching the water. Imitations of grasshoppers, ants and beetles will work great in August. It is common practice to use large dropper rigs with strike indicators. Tandem rigs with a large hooper on the surface and a nymph dropper also work great.
There are several sections of water to choose from in its eighty mile length starting just below the dam at Jackson Lake down to the canyon sections not far above Palisades Lake. There are several public boat launch ramps and fishing access points along the way.
Copyright 2010 James Marsh