Thanks for the report Jim. We did miss the brown drakes this year by about 3
days. Apparently they were a week earlier than last and it was reported to
be pretty good although there were more people than any of the locals had
ever remembered seeing.
We were blown off the creek most days and at times it was quite frustrating.
We had a great float through the Purdy Ranch and Brent, our rookie from
Oklahoma, tied into the two biggest fish, nice browns--the biggest
approaching 24 inches.
We did discover a nice surprise over at your camping spot however. There
were several huge browns and a smattering of large rainbows holding in some
slow water sipping invisible bugs. We did have a few chances at them and it
was very sheltered from the wind. I guess sometimes you get the bear and
sometimes the bear gets you. We just have to look forward to better timing
and weather next year. We'll look for you again in '01.
-Dave
BTW, I did finally run into the elusive Brown Drake while having dinner at
Joe's Crab Shack in Louisville, KY on the Ohio River on June 30th. It was
quite an impressive hatch and spinner fall, even though there were no fish
to be seen taking advantage of it.
-------------------------------------------------------
David Weitl mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Poulsbo, Washington WA Statewide Fishing Reports
http://www.nwfishing.com
"The gods do not deduct from a man's allotted span
the hours spent in fishing"
-- Babylonian Proverb
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Jones [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2000 6:43 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Trip Report
At 09:46 AM 5/17/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Jim,
>
>Maybe we can hook up this year at Silver Creek. We looked for your
duct-tape
>Dodge last year to no avail. We will be there again searching for the
>elusive drake on the 8-11 of June. Will you be there then?
>
>-Dave
Dave (and anyone else interested)
I evidently hit the road before I saw your e-mail of 5/17.
When we left I didn't unsubscribe from WaFlyFishers. Just
let it accumulate until we got back. That way I could check
up on what everyone had been up to.
Dave, you gotta look for a new duct tape Dodge this year. I bought
a 99 with a Cummins. I haven't changed though...still big and ugly
with a beard.
We had originally intended to split 10 or 12 days between Henry's
Lake and Silver Creek on the way home. Henry's Lake was so nice we
just kinda hung around enjoying things for 10 days or so.
Mostly just sat around and watched the thunderstorms bust through.
I had a couple on nice evenings on the Firehole catching small Browns
on small dark x-caddis.
On June 22 one of the guides at the Blue Ribbon Fly Shop in West
Yellowstone told me that he had a good morning on Green Drakes
on the Henry's Fork. So I figured that I at least gotta see this.
The next day I was in the Parking lot at Last Chance (just above
the boundary to Harriman Ranch). What a show. More like a quilting
bee than a fishing trip. Alot of those folks have been fishing
the Green Drake hatch for 30 or 35 years. Many know each other so
they fish a little and gossip alot. Before I got my waders on the
welcoming committee came over to get all my particulars. They
couldn't believe that I had never fished the Green Drakes on the
Henry's Fork before. The hatch started at 11:00 and ended at 2:00
just as advertised. Wish I could say I really did well but I can't.
In fact I was visited by the striped kitty. Saw some nice fish
caught though in the 20-24 inch range.
I fished it again the following Monday. Kinda knew what was going
on this time. Had six or seven nice fish absolutely mug my fly.
Didn't hook any of them. Some days are like that.
On the 28th we moved down to Silver Creek. I was thinking that maybe
I could get in a day or two before the better half put her foot down.
We always camp (if you can call staying in a 27 foot travel trailer
camping) in a grassy field in front of the Heyburn Fish Hatchery.
Usually 10 or 12 camps there at the most. We pulled in and my wife
counted 80 rigs (some full bus conversions) parked in the field. They
were parked cheek-to-jowl three deep. They had turned the grass
into about 3 inches of dry powder dust. It looked like some commercial
tour operation had taken over as headquarters on a caravan.
We just drove on out and headed the rig towards home. We'll probably
head back over that way toward the end of August or early September.
Jim Jones
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
