About a half-mile upstream you will come to the first channel. This is a good place to try your luck for some of the river's famous cutthroat trout. They also lie behind gravel bars, rocks, logs, and other obstructions. The side channels on the river also offer good fishing opportunities depending on how much water is flowing through them. Fish these channels as you'd fish a regular creek.
Most side channels are dependent on the amount of water being released from the Jackson Lake Dam.
Late in the year, many side channels are shallow or completely dried up. The main channel of the river makes a giant hook about one-eighth of a mile past the first side channel. Continue to follow the river and you will come to more gravel bars and small islands. Avoid the temptation of trying to wade out to these islands unless the water is no deeper than your knees. The river claims many lives each year, mostly of boaters and rafters but occasionally of anglers who fall in the water and find the current swifter than they anticipated.