Blog Moving to JHtrout.com

Hi everyone. This blog will be moving to my new website at www.jhtrout.com. Please check it out when you get a chance. The fishing has been picking up and I'll be keeping up on my local fishing report there.

Spring Fishing 2/15/16

I spent this past weekend doing a little spring fishing with a buddy of mine. We've been having unseasonably warm weather in Jackson Hole and the local area so it felt appropriate to take a break from skiing and do some fishing. The weather was great and the fishing was excellent. We caught a good number of large browns and rainbows on both nymphs and streamers. The best nymphs were midges, san juans, small pink and orange scuds, and small baetis imitations. The best streamers were heavy jig style flies fished slow with a lifting, bouncing motion. We looked long and hard for any surface activity but it still seems to be just a bit early for the dry fly fishing. We did also see a few rainbows starting to build their redds in preparation for spawning. If you do see fish on any light/white gravel areas please do try to avoid walking on those areas and avoid fishing to the fish on the light gravel. This will help to preserve our future trout populations. However, if you drift your flies into the dark pockets downstream of these fish you can often capitalize on other rainbows and browns that are not in the process of spawning but are looking to eat what the spawning fish are kicking up.

Follow me on Instagram!

I have finally joined the modern social media world and got myself an Instagram account. Follow me @neil.chamberlin or search #jhtrout to find my photos. It is a little easier for me to keep up on posting photos there than on this blog so have a look if you want to see some interesting photos/videos from my own trips or keep up on what we're currently catching in the area. Photos like this series of a nice brown eating a dry fly...

Jackson Hole Fall Fishing Summary Part 2

The Green fish great again this year. The secret is certainly out out on this river and its unlikely that you'll go without seeing at least another boat or two during a day's worth of fishing. When I started fishing the Green I would rarely ever see another boat down there, but unfortunately and inevitably word does get out. That's why I rarely write what river or lake I"m actually fishing when I write in this blog. Regardless of the pressure the fishing continues to be excellent if you know where to go and how to fish it. The hatches were great this year and we had excellent flows for almost the entire year. Young trout recruitment should be excellent and the growth rates on fish for this upcoming year should be stellar. The fall fishing was excellent with big healthy trout being caught and even some large kokanee salmon, fair hooked in the mouth I might add. Quite often these fish aren't eating aggressively but sometimes, for whatever reason, you do find them taking flies, both nymph and streamer patterns. I did have one particularly fun fall trip this year with my brother-in-law and a good buddy of ours. The fishing was good with both kokanee and trout being caught. Mostly nymph and streamer fishing but consistent action all the same. If you've never seen a kokanee salmon before they're a pretty cool fish. They're actually a landlocked sockeye salmon that turns the same bright red color after it enters the river. Just like in Alaska, whenever you find large groups of kokanee, as we do in many different rivers in our area, you tend to find trout adjacent to them. It can make for some pretty interesting fishing, mini-Alaska type fishing.

Fall Summary

It has been many months since I've written a report. It was a very busy fall and I will try to do a better job of keeping up with posts in the future. Our late summer and fall fishing was unbelievable this year, really some of the best I have ever seen. Consistent water flows all summer coupled with moderate water temperatures led to great fish growth and reliable feeding activity. I spent most of my time this fall fishing specifically in the Jackson Hole and western Wyoming area with no major trips out of the area for me as a result of being in nursing school. The Snake river was exceptionally good this fall. I've been seeing higher numbers of the abnormally large fish in the snake over the past few years with a large number of big browns being caught. It seems like the closer you are to the dam the more likely you are to see some of those browns. The big cutthroat seem to be spread around throughout the river system. Here are some pictures of Snake river fish including 24 and 25 inch brown trout caught by Scott Smith (check out the like to his blog) in the same day. A client of mine had landed a 24inch brown on a beetle pattern in July, in the same location as Scott's fish, that I believe was actually the same fish that Scott ended up catching. I'll post some additional fall updates here shortly.