Highway 50 Canyon Report
I spent the last three days fishing/guiding waters in the Highway 50 canyon. The South Fork American is still running high but is currently dropping. There are spots that are fishable from Riverton up to Kyburz, but it is still pretty high and tough to fish at 700-800 cfs. If you do hit it up, be careful as the water/rocks can be deceiving. There are still people whitewater Kayaking the river if that gives you any inidication of the flows. I did manage to pick up several trout on dries (all browns/7-10 inches) in the upper section above Camp Sacramento near the ski resort.
Sayles Creek is still very high and the road leading back into the tract home area still has water running down the middle. It's safe to say that this creek is a couple weeks out until it's fishable.
Strawberry Creek is in shape and fishable. I was up in the headwaters a couple of weeks ago and there were still 5-6ft snow drifts on the road so access up high near the trailhead could still be an issue.
Alder Creek is in shape and fishable down lower near the South Fork as well as up higher in the watershed off of MIT. We managed to pick up a couple fish on Friday down lower, but I've caught a bunch of fish up higher over the past couple of weeks. It's on the drop so the water temps in the higher sections will probably be on the rise within the next few weeks. I try not to fish the upper sections as the fish can get stressed as summer progresses.
Plum Creek is done for the summer. It's low and water temps are on the rise.
And then there is Silver Fork American. It amazes me how fast water can come into shape. On Friday, it was pretty high with a few feet of visibility. I picked up several fish but had to move fast and cover a lot of water to find fish. Mostly along the banks, but a few of the slower runs produced some fish on dries/nymphs. By Saturday (mid-day) the clarity improved dramatically and the flows dropped. I'm aware of the diurnal flow regime with the daily snow melt, but it looks as though it's on a downward trend. I took a client out to a couple different beats yesterday afternoon till dark. The afternoon was slow, but fishing was excellent for the last few of hours of daylight. There were a lot of bugs. Primarily mayflies, yellow stones, a few golden stones and caddis. I saw the biggest golden stone that I have ever seen (~3 inches in length). This river is fishable and producing at this point in time.
Caples Creek and Upper Silver Fork flows should be dropping into shape over the next week or two and the fish will be hungry.
I'm having some work done on my website over the next few weeks but I'll be updating the blog role on the home page if you're interested in beta on the waters in the Highway 50 Canyon. I guide a variety of trips in the canyon and I'll be starting to run backcountry trips into Caples Creek/Upper Silver Fork in the coming weeks if you're interested.
I'm always happy to share any information I have whether you're looking for a guided trip or not. Summer fishing has begun in the Highway 50 Canyon.......stay tuned for updates!
All the Best,
Todd Gillihan (owner/guide)
West Slope Outfitters
530.417.1218
tjgillihan@gmail.com
www.westslopeoutfitters.com
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks