Boise River: South Fork

Went and spent a day on the South Fork over the weekend with a few friends and managed to pick a great day to be on the water. The weather was as good as you could ask for being a February day. Started off in the morning in the mid 30's and worked it's way into the mid 40's by late afternoon. Light snow showers early followed by a few light rain showers throughout the day. The majority of the day was overcast with shots of blue sky poking through every so often. These days with overcast conditions can make for your better fishing days.

Well lets face it we are into the time of the year when you might pick the right day to have been on the river and you might have picked wrong. Although with the weather we have been having this winter good fishing or not I don't think it is probably a bad decision to be on the water. With that said if you are headed to the South Fork here are a few things to consider. First, the fish are mainly eating nymphs so have a good selection. Pat' rubber leg stonefly nymphs are a must on this river. I like this pattern for two reason.

Spent the day on the South Fork yesterday and it was a great day to be on the water. There were a fair number of BWO's out starting around noon and picking up some until about the 3' o'clock hour. There were fish up on them but very sparatic and mainly smaller fish. With that said between the three of us fishing we were throwning rubber leg stone fly nymphs with small #16 pheasant tail droppers and streamer fishing black leech patterns. Nothing was fishing fantastic, however both set ups were very consistent.

South fork of the boise- there are still plenty of fish to be had on the surface and will be throughout the winter. BWO, beatis, and midges are going to make up your dry fly selection. Fish these patterns in sizes 18-22. If you want your best chances at hooking up you need to be nymphing. A rubberleg stonefly (sizes 4-6) and a dropper (hairsear, pheasant tail, caddis, sizes 12-18) this set up is deadly year round. This time of the year they really key on the nymphs do to the lack of bugs on the surface. Throw streamers, throw streamers, throw streamers.