An Angler’s Perspective
By Jason “JB” Balough of Fish the Fly Guide Services
August 7, 2025
Upon reading Jeff VanOrden’s Entry From the Field from the Fall 2024 Newsletter, I realized that we shared more in common than I initially thought. As an outfitter and angler, there is always something to complain about weather-wise. There are a host of reasons that we use when we don’t catch fish – too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, the beer was warm. Wait a second, how does that happen?
We root for the snow to pile up all Winter long and then melt off slowly in the Spring. Timely rain showers through the Summer are welcome, especially as we reach the dog days of Summer in late July and August. Once the season comes to a close in October, let it rain!
The Winter of 24/25 brought plenty of moisture, although it was relatively warm and even brought some rain at low elevations in January and February. These rain events melted some of our valley snowpack, and the Snake River rose both above and below Jackson Lake. Despite being disappointed that the moisture didn’t fall as snow, I was glad to hear that flows out of Jackson Lake Dam were increased due to being above maximum storage levels in the lake. At times, they were double the minimum flow, which bodes well for our native Cutthroat trout.
Those extra flows mean that our Snake River Cutthroat trout have extra room to roam. They aren’t stacked up on top of each other for months, competing for the same food. This typically means that more survive the Winter and they are healthier overall. We saw a number of these healthy fish pre-runoff, and the overall size of trout this Summer has been up. See photo above
I understand that it can be frustrating for the farming community downstream to see water being released from the storage facility highest up in the system. This means that the water could potentially go “unused” in the Spring if it flows over the top of Milner Dam. If Jackson Lake doesn’t fill, then allocations downstream could be lower or none at all.
As I write this, flows are the lowest on the Snake above Jackson Lake that has ever been recorded. This raises concern over rising water temperatures (Boots Allen, Summer 2024). We have been starting our fishing trips early in the morning, so we are off the water by 2pm each day. The fishing and our trout are still in good shape, but we need some of those timely showers for our fish and crops downstream…
I am reminded that water temperatures would definitely be too warm for our trout if Jackson Lake or Palisades Dams were not there. The fishing industry on the Snake River would just simply not exist as it does without these dams releasing cold water and even flows all Summer long.
The demands on the waters of the Snake River are greater now than they have ever been from farming and recreation, and everything in between. I am truly grateful that these challenges have brought all sides together via the SRHWG. It’s impressive and encouraging to see leaders from both public and private entities unite to face a complex future for our river.