Opening Weekend 3,000 cfs; now down to “normal”

Posted by admin on June 1, 2012 | No Comments

After an opening weekend of fishing season where the South Fork was running at 3,000 cfs the flows have dropped to 1,700 cfs, ending May with a normal boating flow.

Some may complain about flows at 3,000 cfs or higher, but these water volumes are necessary for a healthy river. The flow spike at 6,000 cfs should have helped bring more changes to side channels and river banks, perhaps rearranging some sections of river bottom, routing sediment and creating new holding areas for fish and bugs.

Anderson Ranch Dam is 94 percent full and inflow is very close to the outflow. In fact, it looks like Anderson Ranch will not completely fill this year. Ironic, after a winter with the most stored water in the system. But it was a complicated run-off, and Continue Reading…

South Fork is Big Winner of Fly Casting Tournament

Posted by admin on May 13, 2012 | 1 Comment

The 2nd Annual Fly Casting Tournament & Fly Fishing Boat Show was held at Eagle Island State Park, raising thousands of dollars on behalf of the South Fork Boise River Fishery. More than 200 people attended as participants, judges and spectators.

Casting on the "Redemption" hole at the 2nd Annual Fly Casting Tournament

As near perfect weather as could be expected greeted the fly casting competitors Saturday morning. Hardly any winds. The day warmed up through the morning as 12 teams competed in the Gold Division. Four person teams competed on 14 casting targets or “holes” with a team’s best three individual player scores per hole added together for a team score.

While the competition was keen, it was the cause that brought so many people together. Protection and enhancement of the South Fork Boise River fishery is Continue Reading…

South Fork at 6,000 cfs: A Top Ten Rating

Posted by admin on April 29, 2012 | No Comments

On Friday April 27, 2012, releases from Anderson Ranch Dam hit 6,000 cfs. This is a flow quantity rarely seen on the South Fork Boise River. Based on records dating back to 1943 (seven years before the dam’s completion) here’s the top years where peak flows got nearly to, or exceeded, 6,000 cfs.

Since 1943 here are the years where peak flows were 6,000 cfs or better

Tagged flows

Fly Casting Tournament to Help South Fork Boise River Fishery

Posted by admin on April 23, 2012 | No Comments

The 2^nd Annual Fly Casting Tournament & Fly Fishing Boat Show is set for May 12, 2012, at Eagle Island State Park.

Four-person teams will compete in two divisions using a golf tournament format. A maximum number of 12 Gold teams (Advanced) and 18 Silver teams (Recreational) will compete on fourteen land and water based casting targets, or holes. Each hole represents a unique casting discipline/challenge. Lowest team scores win.

“The purpose for the tournament is to generate matching funds for habitat improvement on the South Fork of the Boise River downstream of Anderson Ranch Dam,” says tournament chairman Pat Kilroy. “Last year’s inaugural 2011 Fly Casting Tournament raised $10,000 and was a decisive factor in the completion of the Pierce Creek Culvert project. This money matched other local, state and Federal funds that removed a fish passage blockage for wild trout spawners.”

Kilroy stated that proceeds from the 2012 Fly Casting Tournament & Fly Fishing Boat Show will Continue Reading…

Lots of Water for 2012

Posted by admin on April 1, 2012 | No Comments

Snowpack can and probably will continue to accumulate in the Boise mountains but it’s time for a snapshot where things stand for the 2012 conditions. We have lots of water, both in the reservoir at Anderson Dam and in the mountains above. We will start with the mountains: Continue Reading…

WINTER WATER: Rain on Snow on the South Fork Boise

Posted by admin on March 28, 2012 | No Comments

For many or most, the rods get stored away and skis are out for the winter. Angler use on the South Fork Boise River is light through the winter months until the fishing closes March 31. But through this phase the weather brings its own changes to the river. A rain on snow event is the type of winter event where water flows and erosion can affect the South Fork Boise River.

An ice & water jam at the top of Anderson Ranch Dam

SCIENCE FEBRUARY: Remote sensing used to understand river channel

Posted by admin on February 22, 2012 | No Comments

The US Geological Survey (USGS) last year issued a science report on the use of laser technology to help exploring the depths and shape of the South Fork Boise river channel from the air.

The report (.pdf) carries the complicated but self-evident title of Evaluation of LiDAR-Acquired Bathymetric and Topograhic Data Accuracy in Various Hydrogeomorphic Settings in the Deadwood and South Fork Boise Rivers, West-Central Idaho, 2007.

It sounds and is complicated. And NASA is involved too. Continue Reading…

BVFF Annual White Fish Derby

Posted by admin on February 16, 2012 | No Comments

Saturday, February 25, 2012

10:00am until 1:00pm

$5 for the BBQ
The derby itself is free.

Registration starts at 9:30am.
Fishing is from 10am – 3pm
Weigh in is at 3:30pm.

You can NOT keep trout!

There will be a 15 inch minimum length for the whitefish our tourney this year.
(Please catch and release the smaller fish)

Please invite your friends and family!

SCIENCE FEBRUARY: A look back at a long ago study, recently rediscovered

Posted by admin on February 4, 2012 | No Comments

Winter on the South Fork Boise. It is usually a time for the most dedicated anglers, but mostly quiet. So this website will fill some time with a few science reports that we’ll strip out over this month. We’ll call it Science February.

“The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters”

When Norman Maclean penned those words in the immortal novella A River Runs Through It, he referenced the Big Blackfoot and the Clark Fork Rivers of Montana. The world’s great flood referenced the break of the ice plug that held back Lake Missoula, draining the lake, creating the channeled scablands of eastern Washington, and depositing sediment in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. But whose “words are theirs” the words found under the rocks?

Water Update

Posted by admin on January 23, 2012 | No Comments

It certainly was a long, bleak December and early January, especially if you ski at Bogus Basin. The drive into the South Fork canyon was less treacherous. In the past few days a wave of Pacific storms finally arrived and dumped snow across western and central Idaho. Here’s a chart showing snowpack so far this year compared to the three previous years: