St. Joe River Fishing Report 8.29.17
Talk about a beautiful summer day to be on the Joe. Temperatures were in the 80s, water temp was cool, clarity was excellent, not a cloud in the sky, and a soft breeze to keep me cool. Flows were just above 400 cfs, so the lower Joe was basically a long lake. However, there is plenty of fishable pocket water above Avery, and a few miles below.
To say the St. Joe is fishing well is a major understatement. In the 5 hours I spent on the river (including driving from run to run), I must have landed around 40 cutthroat. Every hole that looked like it should have a couple trout in it, did.
The size of trout ranged from 8-16 inches with most of them being 12-14 inches. The fish were willing to eat any color I threw at them.... as long as the color was purple. All day I fished a #8 Purple PMX parachute followed by a #14 Purple Rocky Mountain Mint on a 9 ft. 4X leader.
Other than a small Trico hatch above Calder, there wasn't any kind of consistent hatch. Plenty of ants, hoppers, and beetles in the grass, so terrestrials and attractors remains the name of the game.
Now is the time to be on the river. Don't wait any longer. Before you go, load up on these patterns.