I just returned from my yearly rendezvous with a couple dozen or so good
friends and families at the Henry's Fork. The major hatches were over -
early or right on time, depending on when you were there. The weather was
great for kids and assorted nonfishers, bad for us flyfishers. Last year,
we were there the week before the 4th of July and had great fishing in the
Railroad Ranch on caddis, pmd's all day, and rusty spinners in the evening.
This time, most of the fishing was just before dark, when the caddis
hatches masked a pale evening dun emergence, on large bank feeders. The
funny thing were the occassional big boys caught during the week on flavs,
gray wulffs, and soft hackles.
We took the opportunity during the slow days to float the box canyon where
I worked my 6-weight two-hander, wade Riverside Campground with no luck,
and upper and lower coffee pot where we caught good fish all day on dry
golden stones, walked the Nature Conservancy at Flat ranch and found it
full of small cutts (although, we found a dead 18 incher), and most
interestingly, we found large trout feeding on callibaetis spinners in the
west shore finger bays of Island Park Reservoir early in the mornings.
I returned last night and fished the Narrows this morning to find out that
the blackmouth I was catching on the 4th had moved on.
Leland.
