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Snake River (South Fork) Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The South Fork: Idaho's big cottonwood tailwater, thick with native cutthroat and heavy browns under the Tetons' far side.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
1,420 cfs
Air / High
47 / 50 F
Wind
S 10 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 13032500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Snake River (South Fork) is in its winter mode: slow, deep and deliberate. The river is running 1,420 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings cloud cover, wind S around 10 mph, rising pressure near 1012 hPa and a high of 50. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:02 AM-12:02 PM and 10:32 PM-12:32 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown troutExcellent

Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

Tomorrow: Similar at 53 F with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Idaho requires a fishing licence from age 14, from $35.50 for residents. What a Idaho licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with IDFG before you keep anything. The season dates for Idaho, read off the agency, are on the Idaho seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Snake River near Irwin.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 13032500.

1,9022,8153,7281,420 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 81 years of October 23

At 1,420 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 13032500 (Snake River near Irwin) is at the 10th percentile for the date: below normal. In half of the 81 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 2,680 cfs; the highest was 7,890 cfs and the lowest 920 cfs.

p10 1,420median 2,680p90 3,778

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 13032500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp47 F
High / Low50 / 37 F
WindS 10-26 mph
Pressure1012.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 99%
Sunrise / Sunset07:48 / 18:28
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~47 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Snake River (South Fork) this week

Today is the pick of the week on Snake River (South Fork), at 3 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:02 AM-12:02 PM and 10:32 PM-12:32 AM
Minor period
4:27 AM-5:27 AM
Sun
07:48 to 18:28
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Rain, 13 mph
Rain chance
99%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Snake River (South Fork): seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

When to come: the Snake River (South Fork) calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Snake River (South Fork) today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 67 F, wind to 14 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 67 F, wind to 11 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Idaho requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Idaho license. Cutthroat: catch-and-release. Rainbows: no limit, harvest encouraged: check IDFG South Fork rules.

Access

Launches: Palisades, Spring Creek/Heise, Byington, Lorenzo, Menan; wade access at every ramp and the canyon trails.

About this water

64 tailwater miles from Palisades Dam to the Henrys Fork confluence, eastern Idaho. The cutthroat stronghold.

Fishing Snake River (South Fork): the full guide

The cottonwood giant

The South Fork of the Snake runs from Palisades Dam through a cottonwood corridor that holds one of America's great trout populations: 4,000-plus fish per mile: native Yellowstone cutthroat, rainbows, hybrids and browns that grow past 20 inches on the tailwater's steady bounty. It is Idaho's flagship river and a conservation battleground where the cutthroat still hold.

Riffle-and-side-channel game

The river fishes big: drift boats run the main channels while the side channels and riffle corners hold the wade fishing. Summer's salmonfly-and-golden parade (late June-July) marches upstream from Heise; PMDs and caddis carry the mornings; late-summer mutant stones bring the year's strangest dry-fly fishing after dark falls close.

Cutthroat first

Management protects the natives: rainbows are unlimited-harvest (the state wants them out of the gene pool), cutthroat are release-only. Learn the difference cold: orange throat slash, spotting pattern. Anglers are the management tool here: keep rainbows, kiss cutthroat goodbye gently.

Canyon to valley

Three characters: the upper river (Palisades to Heise) with its canyon and the famous bankside stonefly fishing; the middle's braided cottonwood maze (the wildlife corridor: eagles, moose, otters); the lower canyon toward Menan with big browns and fewer boats. October streamer fishing for pre-spawn browns is the connoisseur's week.

Common questions

Why should I keep South Fork rainbows?

Hybridization threatens the native cutthroat: IDFG removes rainbows and asks anglers to help: no limit, any size. The cutthroat you release today is the fishery's future.

When is the South Fork salmonfly hatch?

Late June through mid-July, moving upstream from Heise toward the dam: the canyon banks crawl with size-4 naturals. Big foam tight to the willows: the takes are visible from the rower's seat.

Is fishing good at Snake River (South Fork) right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Blackfoot Reservoir38 miSnake River42 miHenrys Fork46 miJackson Lake47 miFremont Lake77 miHenrys Lake89 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 13032500 β€” Snake River near Irwin
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:30 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 43.3510, -111.2160 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.