Salmonfly Update Sunday Morning – June 15, 2014
June 15th, 2014
A relatively strong emergence of adult Salmonflies has emerged in the upper part of the river. The best concentration appears to be in the Beyer’s Canyon area, down to Parshall. Below the confluence with the Williams Fork, flows are much higher and colder, and we haven’t been able to find as good of a distribution of adults in that stretch.
Our best luck has been through the Paul Gilbert and Lone Buck State Wildlife Areas. Beyer’s Canyon itself is very narrow and steep, perfect water for Salmonflies to emerge. However, with this year’s big water the wading is very limited and quite a challange. The action just below the canyon has been solid, with good enthusiasm for dry flies.
Further down stream, Saturday saw a renewed interst in adult Salmonflies below Kremmling once again. While the hatch is definitely on the wane through the stretch from Gore Canyon down to State Bridge, we are still seeing decent numbers of adults present.
Those bugs that remain seem to favor any of the steep canyon stretches rather than the wide open valley areas. Such as the area from the Pumphouse boat ramps down stream to Little Gore Canyon, where there were almost no signs of flying Salmonflies at all. However, as soon as you make the turn into the canyon, there are plenty of bugs overhead. Gore Canyon, Little Gore and even down in Yarmony Canyon are still holding populations of adult Salmonflies.
It continues to be a methodical endeavor, requiring a lot of casting to bring fish to the surface but, the reward has been worth it, with some very nice fish being caught on adult imitations. Flows are holding steady this morning at 4,600, with about 2 feet of clarity.