Instagram Account for Fishing Reports

     Please check out my Instagram account, @jhtrout_fly_fishing, for up to date pictures and fishing reports.  It is quicker and easier to post my updated fishing reports on Instagram so hopefully I'll be better about keeping that updated.  I'll also post some helpful tips on how to improve your fly fishing on there, so if you're coming out for a trip it might be worth your time to look through those prior to your float.  Cheers!

2021, back to the blog, no more JHtrout.com

     2020 was a very unique year for everyone to say the least.  Since I'm both working as a nurse and a fishing guide these days I decided to guide only in a very limited capacity last year.  With the hospital as crazy as it was, the uncertainty surrounding what the guide season, and a young child I decided to only guide my return clients that have fished with me for many
years.  In 2021 I'll be back to guiding as normal in addition to my working as a nurse.  This will give me 3-4 days a week in which to guide this summer.  I'm very excited to get back to guiding this year.  I was surprised by how much I missed guiding despite getting in a lot more personal fishing time.

     With more free time I was able to get out and fish a lot more.  2020 was an exceptional big fish year for me.  I managed to catch more fish and more big fish in a year than I think I ever had.  Our rivers and lakes are in exceptional shape courtesy of many years now in which we've had a great snowpack and plenty of water.  Based on our current snowpack and how much it's been snowing already in February, I expect that 2021 will be just as good a fishing as last year was.

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.

8/2/15

This has been a great water year for us and the fishing continues to be excellent. The Snake and the Salt Rivers are fishing very well. The Green river is still fishable, but the water level is very low and it can be difficult to get a boat down it without spooking all the fish. On the Snake River we've been fishing mostly PMD patterns and terrestrials, but the tricos should be starting soon. Streamers and nymph droppers are always effective, but we tend to fish primarily dries. Here's a picture of a good client of mine with a massive 21 inch Cutty that sipped a size 14 beetle on an inside turn earlier this week. I've also included a few other client pictures from the past week or two.

7/24/15

The Snake is still fishing great. Dry fly action with stonefly patterns, caddis, and PMDs has been fantastic. The tricos are just starting on both the Snake and Green rivers and should provide some excellent technical dry fly fishing. Most of my trips recently have been on the Snake River with some quality fishing and a few more large fish starting to show up. I haven't been to the Green in the past week but it should be starting to pick up as the water levels drop and both the tricos and yellow sallies get going.

7/18/15

Fishing has been great recently with much of the best action being on the Snake River. It's full on dry fly season at this point with only the occasional nymph dropper. The best combo has been a larger stonefly dry with a smaller mayfly or caddis imitation off the back. My apologies for the brief update, I'll try to get a more detailed one out soon. Thanks to Shelby Stone for sending these pictures from his family's trip on the Snake river with me.

7/5/15

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! I was fortunate enough to have a good buddy in from out of town and my family visiting from Colorado. I was able to take my buddy JB and my father out fishing for a few days, something that we don't get to do as often as I would like. Fortunately our fishing was very good. We had excellent dry fly sight fishing for some quality browns and rainbows. As far as the rivers go, the Snake ans Salt rivers have been fishing really well with both dries and nymph droppers. The fishing has been getting better on a daily basis and we're starting to catch some bigger fish. The rivers flows have been great recently and the fishing should continue to improve as long as the flows remain stable. The Green is still fishing well with a consistent gray drake and PMD hatch, but the water is beginning to warm up later in the day. This means we've been getting on the river earlier in the day and getting off a little earlier after the fishing has slowed down and the water has warmed up. This way we're hitting the prime fishing times and avoiding stressing the fish when the water gets up in the upper 60 degree range.

6/27/15

Fishing has turned on in a big way. I've been slammed so I don't have much time to write a report, but the fishing on all the rivers that I fish has been excellent. We're fishing mostly dries at this point and catching some big fish. Here are some pictures from the past few weeks, I also have some great video but need to try and process it to be posted.

June 12th

The fishing options have been a bit limited in our area recently. The recent heavy rains have caused the majority of the Snake, Green, and and Salt Rivers to be blown out. The Firehole has been abnormally warm and is not fishing well due to that. The bright spots have been both Lewis Lake and the upper portion of the Snake below Jackson Lake Dam. Both of these areas have been fishing well, with the dry fly fishing really starting to pick up. I've been on the upper Snake for the past five days with good success on both stonefly patterns and smaller mayfly imitations. These areas should continue to improve everyday and hopefully the Green and Salt rivers will begin to clear here shortly. Some of these pictures are from up by the dam, some of the others are from a coupled weeks ago before runoff blew out many of our rivers.