March 22, 2015
Rockin’ M Ranch Fly Fishing Rport, Alpine, Wyoming
We are concluding one of the stranger winters we have seen in years. In January we were at 130% of average snowpack for the Snake River drainage. The last time I plowed snow here at the cabins at the Rockin’ M Ranch was the third week of January. February and March were record warm and, as of today, the snowpack is down to 89%. The lower elevations have already melted out. In general we are about three weeks ahead of normal. What this means to fishing? I don’t think conditions could look much better for a long fishing season. We came into the winter with a wet fall. The springs are very charged up. The water levels in the Salt River this fall were higher than normal. This appeared to be true for the whole region. Due to this higher winter flow, Palisades reservoir has come up considerably over the winter and is now 84%. Even though the snowpack is falling, it should be no problem to fill the lake. Jackson Lake is also at 76%, which should also be filled by summer. Although I don’t have a crystal ball, all weather patterns and indications point towards an early start to this years fishing season. Most seasons it is safe to say that a few of the rivers will be fishing well by July 1st. It may be one of those years that the Salt and Green are fishing great in early to mid June. My experience from the past years is that the fish seem to not get displaced as much in the small steady run offs. When the river clears the fish seem to be hungry and ready to eat. I have had a few Junes when I was one of only a few boats out on the water, and laughing at how great the fishing was, yet nobody was out fishing. It might happen again this year!!!
