Tailwater · Mixed · Wyoming

Snake River

Snake River venue image

The Snake through Jackson Hole runs under the Tetons themselves, which makes it hard to keep your mind on fishing, and it's home to the Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat — a distinct native form found almost nowhere else, peppered with tiny spots and willing as anything to eat a dry.

Poor · Cutthroat Trout
Sparkle Dun · 14-18
Poorlive now
Not the day for it
River high but settled. Not much stacked in your favour today. Worth an hour if you are nearby, not worth the special trip.
80% confidence
What moved it
  • Level3.51 mLast reading 19h ago
  • Water temp18.0°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
SD
Sparkle Dun14-18
High-confidence seasonal pick
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
3.51 m
Last reading 19h ago
Water temp18.0°C
ClarityClear
Weather16°C
WindW 2 km/h
Pressure1018 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm
Rain · ahead0.0 mm

Live readings only. Trends shown where the gauge supports them.

Water temperature for Cutthroat Trout
Warm — slow
18.0°Cideal 915°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Cutthroat Trout
When
Nymphing can work through most of the day.
Where
Cover mixed depths.
Method
Start with tight-line nymphs and adjust if fish rise or drift higher.
Kit
9 ft #4 rod, floating line, 12 ft tapered leader to 4–5 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Water at 18°C — above the cutthroat trout caution line (16°C). Fish dawn or dusk only. Land it fast, wet hands, no air shots.
Hatch timeline · todayQuiet day

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 4 active hatches hour by hour with Pro.

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

Top nymph shown — see all 2 guilds with Pro.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 2 with Pro.

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Evidence
ModelledModerate confidence

Modelled from regional ecology — no survey or occurrence data for this water yet.

Through the year
0–3 scale · July highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
2
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
Western Blue-Winged OliveHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Pale Morning DunHatch
2
3
3
2
TricoHatch
2
3
2
Black MidgeHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Cutthroat Trout fly box
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Wyoming licence
  • Native fine-spotted cutthroat conservation rules apply — handle and release gently
  • Flow tracks the Jackson Lake Dam release.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Water here at 18.0°C. Nothing cooler within range.
Gallery · 1
  1. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The Snake through Jackson Hole runs under the Tetons themselves, which makes it hard to keep your mind on fishing, and it's home to the Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat — a distinct native form found almost nowhere else, peppered with tiny spots and willing as anything to eat a dry. It's a braided, log-jammed drift-boat river below Jackson Lake Dam, the flow set by releases, not weather. You float it, throwing big attractors at the bank willows. The fish aren't huge but they're native, beautiful, and eager, and the scenery does the rest.

  • Mixed
Conservation note

Native Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarkii behnkei) — a distinct, conservation-significant form. Handle gently and release.

The full read · show the working · for Cutthroat Trout · confidence 80%
How the 23 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature39 × 28%10.9
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity85 × 18%15.3
Feeding Time70 × 13%9.1
Pressure75 × 7%5.3
Insect activity58 × 12%7.0
Conditions total= 65
Can you trust it?
Water temperaturelive gauge readinggauge
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitymodelled from regional profilemodelled
What would change the calculation
Cooler water — back toward the 9–15 °C ideal band — would lift the score and ease welfare.
Directions
Seasons & zones
  • Trout1 April31 March
Related guides
Booking & contacts