Anglers,

If you’ve paid any attention to our forecast, you might have seen a massive temperature drop and some blustery winter weather. We woke up with a trace of snow in town, and thick snow in the high country. A fantastic shot of cold, clean water before summer kicks in for good.

I’m a day late on the report because I wanted to see what would happen once it started warming back up. Although it did seem to kill off some bugs, we are still seeing the usual suspects post-freeze.

Salmon River: The Salmonfly and Golden Stone hatch is working its way back. We had a boat out Sunday, and in the cold, cloudy, and drizzly weather, we had dry fly action the whole float! Temps will continue to climb over the next week, and we anticipate fishing to go right back to reallllly good. We are fishing the same bugs as last week—sizes 6, 8, and 10 in the golden and salmonfly patterns. Chubby Chernobyls and Water Walkers are where it’s at.

North of Stanley is fishing, but still on the slower side. Once the stocking starts in that area, I’ll let you folks know.

Lakes: The lakes around Stanley are continuing to fish fair. The hatchery has started its stocking program in some, but not all, lakes. Capehorn Lake #1, Perkins Lake, Hatchery Kids Pond, and Dredge Pond #1 and #4 have been stocked. (Same as last week.)

Alpine Lakes: High elevation lakes are continuing to thaw. There’s still patchy ice, but we’ve seen a pretty significant decrease in the last week. The fish are sitting pretty low in the lakes. Unless you’re there around sunset, I’d stick to balanced leeches and woolly buggers. Fish them with split shot and jig the drop-offs.

Middle Fork: Our Rocky Mountain River Tour guides came off the river last week saying the Middle Fork is starting to fish great. Water has dropped to more fishable levels and is running cold and clear. The cutthroat are hungry and aggressive after a long high-water season. The top of the MFS is seeing Salmonfly and Stonefly activity, while the middle and lower sections are starting to see and hear grasshoppers.

Sorry for the day late report,  but I needed Monday’s beta to report with confidence.

Tight lines!
Joshua
Stanley Fly Shop