Henrys Fork Idaho: Green & Brown Drakes

Date / Time: 7/1/09 Location: Henry’s Fork Idaho The Characters: Kory Kapaloski, Paul Callister (PJ) Weather: High Clouds, then sunny, low 70s Water Temp: Mid 50s or so Water Level / Tide: Low water around 600 cfs Water Clarity/Quality: Clear Moon Phase: 1st quarter Fishing: Went to the lower end of Harriman’s and walked down river to a favorite spot of PJ’s. There were sporadic Green Drakes around and some Brown Drake spinners around on the edges of the river. There were some good fish up and I ended up chasing them as they were moving but never got an eat and put them down. PJ ended up getting one decent fish on a flav then it got pretty crowded and the fish kept getting walked in on. We hoofed it upriver and found a few more fish and there were a fair number of Green Drakes hatching. I managed one good fish about 19 inches or so in a riffle, but it didn’t fight much which is abnormal for the fork. It was a pretty fish though and got a few pics. There were some other fish up in the area but didn’t land any, had a few eats and put the others down. Walked up and found one good fish in the shallows above a riffle rising sporadically so i figured still on the drakes i waded into position and he stayed up. He was in very shallow moderately slow water (pretty tough spot). I made a few casts and he ate and i power set and broke him off on 3x which was pretty pathetic. I was a little too excited. I never even felt the fish. By then the activity was subsiding so we headed to grab a sandwich. Fished the afternoon on wood road with the intentions of sight fishing droppers. Found a few fish, but the water was lower than PJ had it before so the dropper thing wasn’t as good of an option. The fish were sporadically coming up though so we fished them. I managed one eat on a beetle and missed the fish. Put the rest down and walked upriver. Eventually found some good fish rising near where the fence meets the river above the cliffs. Fished over them with a bunch of flav and pmd patterns and never got an eat. They were making aggressive rises so i should have realized earlier that they were on the drakes again. I put a drake on and cast to a giant fish that was rising in the corner. He inhaled it instantly and exploded into the air before I knew what happened. he ran at me as i was in deeper water where he wanted to be. He raced right by my feet and i was lucky to stay on him. He surged and ripped and skyed into the air several more times. PJ pulled up right before so he was heading down to help. Eventually the fish started to tire and I was extremely nervous and excited as I knew it was giant. We netted it and it barely fit. It was a monster taped at just under 23 inches with a substantial girth. Phenomenal fish! The fish continued to rise for the rest of the evening on drakes but I only managed to land one more 16 or so incher. Lost a few, missed a few and broke one off. PJ landed one good 18-19 incher and a few other 16-18s. Great night despite getting eaten alive by mosquitos!