So. Fk. Boise River??

[garyk]

How about a little discussion on this gem of a river?

Seems like it's been facing two big challenges -

1. Boise's exploding population. It must be getting pretty crowded at times compared to 10 or 15 years ago.

2. The drought. I've heard that region has been really hard-hit for successive years. At one point, Anderson Valley Reservoir was supposed to have been fully drawn down, is that true?

So, bottom line, how is the trout fishery holding up?

[Mojo]

Good questions. Boise's population explosion has had an effect. The numbers of fishermen from out of state (and out of the United States) has risen dramatically too(lot's of good articles in fishing magazines about the SFB lately). The river is crowded from time to time. The fishing report network pretty much dictates the crowds. Funny how that works...

Actually Anderson Ranch has never been empty. It (at the worst) was about 25% full. The biggest problem was last spring/summer when they were working on the generators. They spilled warm water (up to 70 degrees) for almost a month and a half. It damaged the invertebrate populations horribly. There was almost no pink cahill hatch last year. The caddis hatches that last all year normally, were pretty thin. The later hatching bugs like the Flavs came off, but not in the numbers we normally see. I'm just praying the Stones will arrive on schedule this year.

There are still lots of fish in the river. It's fishing really tough right now (but that's normal for early season on the SFB). The Midges and BWO's hatched all winter, so there is food available for the fish. Will the Pink Cahills recover this year? Well that's the million dollar question. I feel the fishing could be as good as it ever was (if the hatches rebound). The numbers of fish per mile are probably down, but the size is up. Is it still a Blue Ribbon fishery?...YEP. Am I going to fish it as often as I have in the past, probably not. It is handy... 30 minutes from my driveway, I just don't need the crowds. (It is a nice after work get away though.)

[garyk]

Mojo, since you're a SFB regular...

Have you ever experienced a summer morning with that crazy cranefly mating dance? The one where they get hooked up and then tumble upstream, eliciting slashes from big trout?

That event sent us running to our vises trying to make something like the worlds biggest bivisible, that we could then dap or try to skitter.

I've never seen that anywhere's else, on any water, period. Pretty unique.

[Mojo]

Oh Yeah! In 1979 or 1980, my brother caught what was probably a world record whitefish on a cranefly skater I tied. It was HUGE! Pretty funny watching that pea mouthed fish trying to catch a fly the size of a golfball. The Craneflies up there are pretty big.

I'll post a picture of a great skater pattern later tonight.

[Mr. BrownTrout]

Its funny, I have only fished this river once since living here and did not catch a thing. Maybe its because I spend too much time on silver creek and bear valley creek.
Maybe some day I will venture back there????

[Mojo]

Charles,
It can be a very tough nut to crack. It gets better as the season progresses. October can be stellar. June can be really bad. :wink:

[Mtn. Basser]

I hear June is terrible on all Idaho rivers. It'd be best if ya'll stay home and let me try to figure 'em out.
:dance:

In all seriousness, I have never fished the SFB. Maybe this is the year.....

Josh.

[bllelk]

Mojo:

Is the fence the BVFF put up years ago still standing?

If you have a good raft, floating down through the canyon used to get you into some much better water and eliminated a lot of competition.

Tight lines

[Mojo]

Bllelk,
Yep, still standing after all these years. You may be interested to know the brush is doing quite well along the banks there. Quite a change from 25 years ago.

[Mr. BrownTrout]

I bet mojo is chasing them on his favorite carp stream in Oregon. One of these days am going to follow him and try to learn that place. Mojo is da man