Hi all! Just back home after a week in Jackon Hole, fishing the Snake, South Fork and local spring creeks. Had a blast, a variety of weather and fishing conditions and met lots of great people. If it weren't more expensive than Seattle, I'd probably move to Jackson in a heartbeat. On Wednesday, my brother and I fished the Pacific to Deadman's section of the Snake with Ed Wiand from Crescent H. We had a big cold front move through in the morning (break out the rain gear and fleece!) and this keyed a huge mafly hatch in the afternoon. This made for phenomenal fishing, with my bro and I landing probably 75-80 fish, most in the 11-14" range, several well above 18". A terrific float and one of my best river days ever. I fished a #12 red royal humpy that was torn to shreds by the end of the day and still catching fish as we beached at Deadman's. Thursday my Dad joined us and we fished Crescent H Ranch's spring creeks, which feed Fish Creek and eventually the Snake. Had classic spring creek sight-fishing, crawling to clear waters and using 12 foot 6x leaders and small (16 and 18) parahoppers and adams. Everyone took fish, from my two (one 18 incher) to my brother's 13 fish. Lots of fun, as that private water gets maybe 20 to 30 rods a summer. Friday my Dad and I floated the same stretch of the Snake from Wednesday, with the same guide, but with much less interesting results. Still had a great float, but the wind came up strong and made casting tough and kept bugs and fish down. Took some fun fish and got lots of sun, and the humpy held true for me. Even fished the very same one for a couple hours until it just fell apart. Saturday began the One Fly, and I had a pretty good draw - Moose to Wilson. Since my humpy had been a jewel, I selected that as my one fly for the day .... bad choice on the windiest day of the year. My boat partner, a woman with the Nature Conservancy Cutthroats took a green bodied parachute adams that mimicked the small green drake hatch well. I had a good day with 12 fish landed and four measured (17" highest), but Sue knocked 'em dead with a couple dozen boated cutts and a nice 18 incher. Great fisherwoman. There were some great scores, the highest off the Pacific-Deadman's strech from a Kiwi guide in my brother's boat, using his biwing grey wolf. He booked 750+ points, if I remember right and ended up winning the Top Gun award for the highest two day score by a Pro. Sunday was BRUTAL for everyone. If it wasn't windy, it was sterile. I fished from the dam down to Pacific and we hardly saw a fish and only one bug. Of the three boats on that strech, I think less than fifteen fish were landed and only two or three measured. Very frustrating and I barely boated four fish, and only one scored more than 2 points (12"). Tough day, but I kept my fly again so the extra 25 points was appreciated. The rest of the river was similar as far as wind and tough fishing goes, although the a couple stretches of the Snake and the South Fork produced some good scores. Our team (New Mexico Connection) finished mid pack, around 18th or so, as did I as an individual. Top scores were low, around 900-1,000 points. I don't remember the team high score, but it wasn't amazing. A tough couple days, but it certainly separated the wheat from the chaff. Interesting, though, that this was the first year in a long time that the Snake outscored the South Fork. Typically the S. Fork is a bummer draw because of the early drive over the pass, but a bonus due to the size and number of fish. This year, though, the Snake is producing lots of 17 and 18+ inch fine spotted cutthroats and is fishing much easier, and the scores showed it. Long time JHole guide Gary "Wedge" Wimot was high point guide. I fished the Snake on the way back to Idaho Falls for a couple hours near the New Bridge, with no action. All in all a terrific week of fishing, friends and fun. Looking forward to next year. Good fishing to all! Patrick [EMAIL PROTECTED]
