FISHING — News out of Jackson, Wyo., is startling at first -- Trout numbers on the Snake River below Palisades Reservoir declined an estimated 32 percent during the past year.

But don't cancel you plans to make a fly fishing float trip there next season.

Below Palisades, where the Snake is known as the South Fork, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department estimated the number of trout per river mile at 3,671 this year.

Idaho Fish and Game Department regional fisheries biologist Brett High says the downward trout trend on the Snake’s South Fork isn’t as grim as the numbers make it appear.

High told the Jackson Hole News & Guide that trout numbers were at record highs last year in that area of the river.

Meantime, on the Snake in the heart of Jackson Hole above Palisades, cutthroat counts declined only slightly and the average fish size increased.