First Blog Ever- Black Hills Fishing update

With a homebrew in hand I am going to take a swing at this blog thing. My goal is to provide regular updates on happenings here in the Black Hills fly fishing world, and maybe I will throw in the occasional rant. Here goes...

This has been one of the snowiest springs I can remember in quite awhile. The northern Black Hills have received over 7 feet of snow in the past 2 1/2 weeks. The reservoirs (except Angostura) are all full and there is plenty of snow pack upstream of them. Flows out of Pactola Reservoir are already around 100 cfs; which seems like quite a bit when compared to the 13 cfs of the last several months.

All this moisture is a welcome change for the trout streams of the Black Hills. Rapid, Castle, and Spearfish Creeks are going to be in great shape this year. I hope the Boxelder, French, and Spring Creeks make up for what was lost due to the drought.

The next few weeks will see high water in our streams. Runoff and additional rainfalls could get flows up to unfishable levels in Spearfish Canyon. Rapid Creek below Pactola should be fishable as long as releases don't get out of hand. Get ready to use bigger flies, heavier tippet, and a bunch of weight.

I will report on fishing conditions in coming blogs. Stay tuned for more.