Silver Creek is still the best bet until the water drops and clears on our other rivers. Hatches have been inconsistent but you can find some feeding fish. The best hatch is still the small Baetis. My favorite patterns are a ¾ Spent Baetis in a size 22 and a Harrop Hen Wing Spinner in a size 24. These flies are best fished with 6x and 7x tippets. When I’m fishing Silver Creek I like to use a standard 5x 9ft leader and add a 2ft to 3ft section of 6x or 7x tippet. I find I get a better drag free drift with the tippet added to the leader as compared to a 12ft leader tied directly to the fly. Most of your presentations should be downstream or across and down. If you have wind or it’s later in the evening you can use more upstream approaches to fishing.
One of my favorite times to fish is right before dark. I’ll use 5x or 4x and fish into the sunset with a little bigger fly. Pmd’s and caddis are your best hatches at night. The Green Drake is also out on the Nature Conservancy. A size 14 Cripple or Parachute will take fish. You will not see big hatches of this bug but it works very well early in the season. Beetles and Ants on windy days will also produce. A Crowe Beetle in sizes 8-12 is a great alternative to nymphing when there are no hatches present.
Copper Basin will start to fish in the next week or two. The water is still very high but if you can get up into the upper basin you will find some water to fish.
The South Fork of the Boise is flowing at 2,000 cfs and is picking up. You’ll need Salmonflies, Cicadas, Caddis and big rubber leg stonefly nymphs in your arsenal.
