Blackfoot River Fly Fishing Report - July 1

The heat wave pummeling Southeast Idaho took its toll on fly fishing on the Blackfoot River as the day wore on but early in the day, fishing was excellent. My dad and I each caught around 10 fish with the super majority of fish in the 16-20" range. I lost a couple of fish and nipped a few more that were in the 20" + range. Although we didn't catch a lot of fish, the overall size of fish was above average for the Blackfoot River.

Here's a couple of photos of the cutthroats we caught yesterday:

We caught the majority of the fish on black bead head wooly buggers and bead head prince nymphs. Later in the morning I started catching some big fish on blue damsel flies. Even with low water the fly fishing was great on the Blackfoot River. Surprisingly, I also caught a pure 18" rainbow trout - the first rainbow I have seen on the Blackfoot in years.

Idaho's Blackfoot River

Last Friday our group of 4 caught over 30 fish on the Upper Blackfoot River. It wasn't the best day but each of us caught one fish over 20". My sister-in-law landed a 23 inch Cutthroat. Regretfully we didn't have a camera at that moment.

Hot flies:

1. Bead head prince/hare's ear nymph (size 14-16)
2. Blue Damsel Fly

Grasshoppers are starting to get thick!

Here are some pics:

Blackfoot River Report

The water in the Blackfoot has fallen another 3-4 inches and is flowing significantly lower than usual. Last year's abundance has not carried over into this year. The water temperature is also increasing. As a result I caught around 10 fish all in the 8-12" range. The big fish seem to have vacated the river heading back to the deep cool waters of the reservoir. I only saw one bigger fish that rose lazily at a hopper but really made no effort to take the bug.

Regretfully the Blackfoot may have to be scratched for the rest of the summer as high temps and low water are dominating Eastern Idaho. There are still a lot of smaller fish in the system which will provide some entertainment but odds of catching a larger fish diminish each day.

Fly of the day: A blue damsel fly was again the most productive but I also caught some on a bead head prince nymph and a bead head wooly worm (orange and black).

Here are a few pictures of the Blackfoot:

Looking Downstream

Upstream

Blue Damsel Fly Pattern

Blackfoot River Cutthroat

Here is the 22" cutthroat caught on the Blackfoot River on a size 12 blue damsel fly.

Blackfoot River - July 3 and 4

The Blackfoot River opened up this week and I was able to go fishing on July 3 and 4. Water levels are about 6-8 inches low from normal flow which means that, if the summer heat continues, it may be a short fishing season on the Blackfoot. Overall fishing was pretty decent. I caught around 30 fish the two days. Most were in the 8-12 inch range but I did land two really nice cutthroats, a 24 inch and 22 inch. Below is the picture of the 24 inch cutthroat.

The flies of the trip were black and red (orange) wooly buggers with a bead head (size 4), a size 14 bead head prince nymph, and a blue damsel fly (size 12/14).

 The grasshoppers were just starting to come out. In a few weeks grasshoppers should provide some good dry fly fishing.