Full-Day Float on the South Fork of the Snake

About this trip

The South Fork below Palisades Dam is the best cutthroat river in the lower forty-eight and I will argue about that with anyone. It is a big, braided, cottonwood-lined river that splits into a dozen channels and rejoins itself, and floating it feels like moving through country rather than down a waterway. The canyon section in particular is as good as a day of fishing gets in the American West. What makes it special is the native Yellowstone cutthroat. They eat dry flies with a slow, confident rise that gives you a full second to strike too early, and most people do, all day, and it never stops being funny. There are also browns, big ones, and increasing numbers of rainbows. The mixed fishery means a day can go from delicate cutthroat on a size sixteen dry to hunting a brown along a log jam with a streamer. The season peaks with the salmonfly and golden stone hatches in late June and July, but the trip I would book is late August into September, when the flows come down, the crowds thin, and the cutthroat will look at almost any well-drifted dry. Fall streamer fishing for browns in October is a different sport entirely and worth doing if you like the idea of six eats in a day and one of them being a fish you remember for years. Suits anglers of any level as long as you can cast from a moving boat, and the dry fly eats here are forgiving enough that this is a genuinely good first float. Two anglers per boat. Species: native Yellowstone cutthroat, brown trout, rainbow trout. Season: late June through October; best late August through September. Meeting point: the boat ramp at Irwin, 7:30am, off the water around 4:30pm. Experience level: beginner to advanced. This is the most forgiving of the float trips.

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River conditions

10-day forecast

What's included

• Drift boat and all rowing
• Rods, reels and lines if you need them
• All flies, tippet and leader
• Streamside lunch, snacks and drinks
• Shuttle between put-in and take-out

What to bring

• Idaho fishing license
• Polarized sunglasses
• Rain shell
• Sun hoody, hat and sunscreen
• A warm layer for the canyon in the morning