Henry's Fork June 17-20, 2021
Date / Time: 6/17: 8:30 to dark 6/18: 12-2 & 7:30 to dark. 6/19: 11-1 & 8:30 to dark 6/20: 11-1
Location: Henry’s Fork Idaho all upper river. Osborne bridge to gravel pit in the evenings, millionaire’s to land of giants last day and some on second day.
The Characters: KK, Tammy and Anna on trip. Solo fishing first evening Johnny Sparger was there, then BK joined, Jason Curry came down for day on 6/19 from Montana where he was working
Weather: Sunny and bluebird mostly, very warm. Mostly calm, good weather some clouds but minimal.
Water Temp: Likely mid 50s not checked
Water Level / Tide: Island Park Gauge. Water jumped twice while there. 6/17: 840 cfs. 6/18: 980 cfs. 6/19-6/20: 1,250 cfs.
Water Clarity/Quality: Good clarity first day, then bump ups turned water off color
Moon Phase: First quarter
Best Flies: Brown Drake cripple lawsons commercial. KK green drake cripple
Fishing: 6/17: Had left the trailer up there from previous trip, went to SLC for a day then came back with Tammy and Anna. Had to leave truck since it went in to shop for emissions shit again. Got there in the evening on the first night. Had dinner with the girls, saw a lot of brown drake spinners and a bunch of guys were heading out so I decided to walk up for the last hour and a half. Drakes were coming off and big fish were exploding on them. The fish were erratic and spooky and a lot of dudes around. I got a few to eat and missed them, then walked up, found a few more and waited for a target. Didn’t see one, so threw out a test cast and one exploded on it and immediately ripped out into mid river jumping. Killer battle, 16-17” pinhead. Worked around and crossed which I wasn’t sure was possible but made it with the lower water since few people on other side. Found a few more but didn’t land any more. There were good numbers of drakes, but this was one of the first evenings with good numbers so fish were just starting to key.
6/18: This day was a family day for the most part. We went to breakfast with Johnny at Angler’s Lodge and it was expensive, not great and took forever. Then we went to Mesa falls and hung out, I took Anna on a paddle board float from Osborne down to camp and we messed around. Johnny and I did go into Millionaire’s at one point and the fish were up on Green Drakes with lots of dudes. I stuck a killer one off the island on my cripple on 4x and it ripped but ended up fouled somehow. I landed it anyway and it was a pig. After that, didn’t find any consistent ones and walked down the left bank. A few risers were around, but couldn’t pin them or get close. In evening, decided to launch BK’s boat at Osborne with Johnny and float down. Fish were on drakes right away when we launched at 8 and a few fish eating them at launch. We worked down through and the first 1/2 mile was packed with dudes on both sides. Water had come up 100cfs but I didn’t check gauge or notice. We worked down and immediately stuck a few. Worked into first bend and it was going real good with fish all over. A lot of dudes but you could work through them. I stuck a few out of the boat and then we got out in a flat where the second bend is with rocks along left and a lot of fish working in the flat and through the rocks. I had a great session landing 2 or 3 there after a couple in the boat and some good ones. Finally as it got dark, stuck a pig that I didn’t realize was as big until I landed probably 21 or so. Great evening, one of the better brown drake evenings. All on the lawsons cripple I had purchased years before. Johnny mostly watched and fished some, but didn’t get into them not sure if he couldn’t see them or what the deal was but I had a great session.
6/19: Brian arrived mid morning with his trailer and set up. Jason Curry met up with us around that time. Brian’s boat was still in water from night before where we had pulled into camp, so we jumped into it mid day with the girls while Jason and Johnny headed upstream on foot. We noticed the water was pretty off color and not a lot of fishermen. A boat was out on the bend slaying on nymphs. I checked the gauge and realized the water had come up a fair amount. We basically just floated and didn’t fish much with the conditions. I threw a dropper for a bit, hunted frogs with Anna and just hung out.
After the float, we headed into Millionaire’s with Jason and Johnny looking for stray risers. Nobody was there and it was very off color with minimal bugs. I decided to throw the leech around thinking it might be real good. It was not real good, but I did get one pig on it and a couple other takes. We worked hard and that was the only fish so we headed out. We had a dinner reservation at Trout Hunter at 7:15 so just hung out until then. We decided we would still float after dinner and launched around 8:30 to drakes coming off solid. With the water up, there weren’t as many fish up but still decent numbers. Still lots of dudes, but not as many and we worked down into the same flat and seams off the rocks. BK was on a miss fest while I rowed, Johnny again was casting and missed a small one but didn’t dial anything in. Ultimately we stopped in the same spot and got out. BK ended up getting at least one good one I think, but was on a miss fest. I got one good one, didn’t fish a lot was giving it all to BK and Johnny but while I sat in the boat watching one below and waiting for Johnny, I asked him if he was going to get out and fish and he said he didn’t see any going. I told him to go down and fish that one, but he declined so I jumped out and went down and stuck it. Good ripper 18”.
6/20 last day: Rode bikes into ranch with Tammy and Anna thinking we’d get some good Green Drakes. We got there around 11, kind of late so probably missed most of it. We found a few sporadic fish, some good ones in a few spots and there were some drakes, but neither of us ended up getting one. They were pretty spotty and hard to pin. Rode out, packed up and headed home.