Picabo Hills & The Milky Way. Nikon 14-24 f2.8 lens
Exposure: 15 seconds, f 2.8 and 12,800 iso. Focal length 14mm. Long exposure noise reduction was turned on.
Evening Thunderstorm & Stars. North of Carey, Idaho. Nikon 24 PC-E lens
Brown Drake. Nikon Micro f2.8 lens
Camera: Nikon D3s
Camera: Nikon D3S
Lenses: Nikon 24 PC-E & Micro 105
The Big Lost is now just over 1,000 cfs and is cruising right along and the Big Wood is just under 2,500 cfs. Silver Creek is in the middle of brown drake madness and there are baetis, pmds, callibaetis and a few green drakes in the Nature Conservancy area. The mosquitoes have also arrived...
Brown Drakes!!! At long last they showed up in real numbers last night. Should be good stuff for at least the next three or four days. The weather is warm and there are spinners in the grass as I write this.
Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: Nikon Micro 105 with extension tubes & Nikon 24 PC-E for the 3 image pano & bottom image.
2 image pano taken with the Nikon 24 PC-E lens & Nikon D3S
The Lost is still flowing just under 500 cfs which can't last for that much longer and the Wood is right around 1,900 cfs. Silver Creek is the place right now and the BIG question has been whether or not the brown drake madness has started yet. And the answer is not really or kind of but mainly not... There was an emergence yesterday afternoon that got some bugs out of the water and fish looking at them but nothing--or at least nothing where I was--last night happened. This is looking like a summer solstice hatch this year.
Bugs or no bugs, an evening on the "Creek" is still spectacular...
Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: Nikon 24 PC-E
Camera: iPhone 4
I took this image with my iPhone camera looking through the viewfinder of my DSLR.
OK, the fishing: Well the Big Lost has been slowly gaining in volume and is currently flowing at 494 cfs. The Big Wood is still cranking out somewhere just below 2,000 cfs and has no clarity. It'll be awhile before the Big Wood becomes a viable option.
Then there is Silver Creek. Our spring fed gem has yet to produce brown drakes and it is just about June 20th! Today was cool and wet this afternoon. Certainly not the typical brown drake weather, BUT everything seems to be a bit late this year including the leaves on the disiduous trees. Warm weather is slated for next week and we can only hope... Mosquitoes and prairie caddis have still been few and far between and their presence is often a precursor to brown drakes.
Upstream in the Nature Conservancy section baetis and pmds have made for some fun technical sight fishing...
The new summer issue of Sun Valley Magazine is out and I have done the photography for a feature piece titled, Fish Food. Check out the new issue in person or visit their web site. Here's a link to my piece on their site: Fish Food
Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: Nikon 14-24 f2.8
On a fishing note: I was back on Silver Creek again this morning through the early afternoon and did not see a single drake... The wind event was not bad and the temps were quite nice; mid to upper sixties. The late morning baetis seems to be picking up momentum. It has been starting around 10:30 or 11 and coming off in pulses contingent on the weather. They are small so bring plenty of #20 patterns with you. There are also pmd's lingering.
Are those temps coupled with our very cool spring enough to get the brown drake hatch going? Who knows... You can either head on down or read about it here once it starts.
Another beautiful day and evening on Silver Creek without brown drakes... OK, a few came off late morning and were taken by greedy swallows and red-winged blackbirds and trout too. But nothing really has happened yet. The temps tonight were cool but not windy like the night of the 15th when it blew through much of the night. Around 7:30 or so there has been a heavy twenty minute baetis but the fish really have not keyed into them. Something bigger is on the way...
Above images taken with the Nikon D3S and 14-24 f2.8 lens.
Image taken with the Nikon D3S and 50 f1.8 lens
Having some fun while waiting for brown drakes. We found a giant beetle and hucked into the creek. No takers, but it made for an interesting minute or so as we watched it float downstream...
First, the answer is I have still yet to see brown drakes on Silver Creek. The evenings have been spectacular but essentially bug free. Who knows when this thing will actually get going but it is very likely to be this week. There were enough baetis around 8 PM to get a few fish up but that was it.
Images taken with the Nikon D200 and 14-24 f2.8 lens
Nature Conservancy. Silver Creek Preserve
Rain Drops On Silver Creek
Quick update on our local water:
The Big Lost is running about 288 cfs which cannot last that much longer... Get it while you can. The Big Wood is running a hair under 2,000 cfs with very little clarity. It will be awhile, like the end of June or so, until the Wood becomes easily wadeable. On Silver Creek many of us are waiting--no real sign yet-- for brown drakes. The weather has ever so slowly gotten nicer and nicer with highs near 70 in Picabo daily. While the Nature Conservancy section does not see any brown drakes, the bug deal there has been sporadic with baetis and pmd's coming off here and there. The Nature Conservancy section has NOT been crowded at all and is quite fun if you are willing to hunt for rising fish...
East Oxbow Pano. Silver Creek, Idaho 2011
Silver Creek Drake Update:
Still cool here but the Spring-green is happening and so is the brown drake frenetic mindset. Catching the first night of the drake emergence is the best. First, there's the payoff after many hatchless nights. Sunsets are great, but giant prolific mayflies and hungry trout and a sunset is better... The first strong night is in no other words, amazing. The fish simply go nuts as they have not had this type of opportunity in a long time. The bloated stomach thing doesn't seem to start, understandably, until after the first or second massive meal. No, nothing to my knowledge has happened in the way of drakes yet, but those large acrobatic mayflies are on many of our minds. The above pano was taken last night, June 9th. Mosquitoes and prairie caddis signal to me the "imminence" of drakes and I have yet to witness either. Once we get either or both mosquitoes and prairie caddis--which is a large and erratic flying but IGNORED caddis-- we'll be close...
Oh, and the Lost...it's been knocked DOWN to 280 cfs...
Rainbow In Hand
Air
Images taken with the Nikon D200 and the Nikon 35 f2 lens.
OK..., the Big Wood has just about doubled in volume since I last reported here. It's flowing just under 2,000 cfs and is OFF color. It's essentially unfishable... More rain and cooler temps in store for Ketchum. The amount of rain we get will dictate just how much runoff the Wood will see this year. It's really anyone's guess as the weather continues to be volatile and anything but predictable.
The Lower Big Lost is hanging in there and has at least for the short term dropped down to 340 cfs. That water flow will not last for long. If you are thinking of hitting the Lost anytime soon, you should head over within the next couple of days. The Mackay Reservoir is nearing capacity and will any day now hit the tipping point, especially as the upper river has seen a good bump in volume and is contributing a lot of water to the reservoir.
Silver Creek of course is not really affected by high water and will be for much of June our local trump card. Expect PMD's and baetis throughout the day and cloudy windless days should be the best. Brown drakes are just around the corner...
Mt. Haynes & Lone Madison River Fisherman
Lamar Valley Looking West
Stanley Lake. "9 image Brenizer effect" Don't know what the Brenizer effect is? Check out Ryan Brenizer's web site. He essentially created this super low depth of field pano technique...
Check out this really great underwater slideshow: The Underwater Project
As I am on our local Sun Valley area rivers almost daily, I have decided to add a fishing report or rather, a "conditions report" to this blog. It is a report based on regular observations of water flows, hatches, temps, anamolies, wildflowers and subtleties, etc. I'll note any regulation changes here as well.
First, as opening day is just behind us and this spring has been cold and a bit wet, the rivers have a ways to go prior to hitting any peak flow. Today hit fifty degrees in Hailey with some hail showers for good measure. Overnight lows are still cool in Ketchum making for a delayed runoff. Tonights low in Ketchum is slated to be around 30 degrees which should bring the Big Wood River down even more. The current flow on the Wood is 1,040 cfs with some clarity, like 2 feet. The historic mean flow is 1540 cfs. Here's the link to the Big Wood Flow. What does this all mean? Well, for one the Wood is fishable but high. Side channels and braided water and any soft water on the sides should work. Keep your eye on the water flow as it's looking like it should warm up on Sunday which will translate to higher water levels... Enjoy it while it lasts... Could be a while, like around or after July 4th, before we see wadeable water on the Big Wood.
Silver Creek between gusts and hail storms, is the best, easy to get to option at the moment. Hatches are sporadic with some baetis and PMDs popping off here and there over the course of the heat of the day. The PMDs are at their biggest this time of year and will slowly get smaller and smaller into early July. You can check Silver Creek's streamflow online AND the up to date water temp as measured at the upstream section of the willows. That's just downstream from the highway 20 bridge. Here's the link that includes the very useful temperature chart: USGS Silver Creek Flow Also, brown drakes are likely to show up in a couple of weeks, and that's just around the corner and one of the most amazing and prolific "big bug" hatches around...
The Big Lost is flowing at 395 cfs with the historic mean at 888 cfs. That makes the river fishable, very fishable. There are still a few baetis and on cloudier days the dry fly fishing could be really good. If you are thinking of heading over there, go soon, as the reservoir is near capacity and the flows should go up within a week or so and make it unfishable for quite awhile... Here's the Big Lost flow link. Trail Creek Summit is now open to car travel.
A few more images from Yellowstone:
Late Spring Bulb On Slough Creek
Neverending Telephone Poles. East Of Arco, Idaho
Power Line And Alfalfa Field. Idaho Desert
Clouds And Desert And Alfalfa. Idaho Desert
The above image is a 16 image pano taken handheld with the Nikon 35 f2 lens. See my pano section on my galleries page to view this image larger. I am still using Adobe Photoshop CS5 and the photomerge tool for generating panos.
Forest Light
Above image taken near Slough Creek.
Second Meadow Slough Creek, Yellowstone.
Lunch break on Slough Creek. The above image is a 50 megapixel, 10 image pano.
Moss On Burned Tree
Yellowstone Tarn & Rain
Yellowstone Tarn & Rain 2
Lonely Road
Lonely Road 2
Lamar Valley Bison. Late May Storm.
A yearling Lamar wolf. We watched a prohghorn buck run this wolf out of the pronghorn's turf. Pretty amazing how the pronghorn stood its ground and actually charged the wolf. The wolf relented and ran around the pronghorn...
Blue Grouse In Spring Regalia
"Raccoon Face"
This sow grizzly had apparently just lost its cub... Near Grizzly Lake on the west side of Yellowstone.
Soda Butte Grizzly
The bear activity in the park and especially in the Lamar River Valley was unbelievable. We probably saw 20 bears in 4 days and when we were not seeing them their tracks littered the trails we walked. While we were there a rock slide prevented any incoming and outgoing traffic from the Lamar Valley which made for the most uncrowded and enjoyable experience I could have imagined. As the elk start to drop their calves over the next few weeks I can only imagine the bear activity will increase. May is certainly the best month of the year in my perspective in the park.
Lots of great stuff today on Slough Creek. As the road from Mammoth to the Lamar Valley is closed indefinitely due to a rock slide, there are incredibly few people here in the Lamar Valley at the moment which has been a fortuitous accident. The Lamar Valley, where we are based, is a ghost town people wise but has been absolutely crazy as far as the number of bear sightings we've had. We saw 6 different bears today. Four grizzlies and two black bears. The trail up Slough Creek was littered with bear and wolf tracks. All of the above images were taken with an iPhone camera. More to come...
The attached image is of my favorite cattle guard east of Kilgore, Idaho. I took it with the iPhone camera on my way to Yellowstone. It has snowed about 5 inches so far this evening in Cooke City where I am staying... The rivers here are blown but the wildlife component couldn't be better. I came across 3 different grizzlies today. More to come...
A Season On Silver Creek, Idaho from nick price on Vimeo.
A season on Silver Creek with two short time lapse clips. The images in this slideshow were captured over the course of many trips to Silver Creek for the past 3 years. From brown drakes near the season opener to casting in the snow on the final day of the season in the Nature Conservancy section, this piece offers a glimpse of a season on Silver Creek.
www.nickpricephotography.com
Music by Walker J. Price