WHITNEY ROYSTER/Star-Tribune

Maggie Longenecker fishes on the Snake River near Jackson on Friday. Water managers are controlling flow levels to compromise between the demands of anglers and boaters.

JACKSON - People looking to spend a chunk of their summer on Wyoming's rivers may have to adjust their plans. The drought has sucked up much of the good time.

But water managers are trying to regulate flows to placate all recreationists, and the result it a lot of compromise.

Mike Beus, water operations manager with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said flows on the Snake River in northwest Wyoming will be at a level between what rafters and anglers want.

"The floaters said, 'We can't tolerate flows as low as 2,000 (cubic feet per second, or cfs),' and anglers said, 'We don't want something higher than 3,000,' so we hit 2,500, which is the average for the last 30 years," Beus said. "In such a drought situation, if we had a reservoir full of water, we'd be moving it, but in this fourth year of drought, we are on the low side."

The average historical flow from 1971 to 2000 for this time of year is 2,660 cfs, Beus said.

Ned Hutchinson, general manager of Westbank Anglers in Wilson, said fishing along the Snake River "is going to be pretty good throughout the season."

The Green River in Sublette County may be a different story.

"I expect it to get quite low here, and the fishing will probably turn off on the Green, and temperatures will turn up," Hutchinson said. "That's generally not unusual for the Green. It's definitely another low-water year for the Wind River Range."

For Breck O'Neill, owner of Mad River Boat Trips, early summer rains have helped river conditions.

"Going into the season, it looked a lot more dire than what it looks like today," O'Neill said. "The amount of rainfall and snow during May and June, and being cooler than previous years, has definitely benefited everyone concerned."

O'Neill said the slated 2,500 cfs is "a low stage on the scale, but it's runable for us."

"I'd like to see maybe 1,000 more, and maybe anglers would like to see 1,000 less," he said. "It's a workable situation for us."

Both O'Neill and Hutchinson said reservations have not dropped off because of tourist concern about the drought.

"A lot of people are up here already, and they see that it's going on, and it's not like a situation where there isn't water in the river and you can't go," O'Neill said. "Over 25 years, I've seen conditions that were a lot lower than it is today."

Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at royster@mail.trib.com.