Henry's Fork June 13-15, 2021
Date / Time: 6/13-6/15/2021 First day noon to dark, second day 10:30 to dark, third day 10-4 then break then 9 to dark
Location: Henry’s Fork Idaho. Vernon to Chester first day, then rowed back up Chester.
The Characters: Solo first half of day 1, Rob joined in evening. Day 2 Zach joined in evening. Day 3 all 3 of us
Weather: Sunny and hot. Calm first two days, breezy last day.
Water Temp: Likely mid 50s not checked
Water Level / Tide: Ashton gauge 1500-1700
Water Clarity/Quality: Good clarity
Moon Phase: Between first quarter and full
Best Flies: Green Drake cripple, mallard body drake, rusty spinner, KK Caddis
Fishing: Went up first morning early and set up trailer in gravel pit, Tammy was on trip with Anna to St. George so I went fishing. Set trailer up there so we could turn around and go back later in week. I headed directly to Vernon and put Brian’s skiff in which he had left for me. Got on the water a bit after noon and drakes were coming off. Lots of people as expected, fish busting drakes as well. Moved down a bit, stuck a few and largely wanted to get out of crowds. Went around the corner, stuck one in the big rock drops curve and lost it or missed don’t recall. moved to the flat bottom left and bugs were sparse by then, not sure if it was where I was or time of day. I pulled in and watched and thought nothing was happening but I spotted a sneaky one. Got out and worked on it and landed a good bow. Continued to work down and minimal drakes around, but I spotted another sneaky one out of corner of my eye. Stopped and got that one as well on the drake even though there were very few drakes anymore. I worked down through diff spots and watched closely and found several more and did the same thing. They were likely on spinners which were all over the water, but I kept fishing drake. I did throw spinners to fish that wouldn’t eat it, and got them on that but don’t recall if that was later on or not. Got to the backwater and found a good one sipping on the cottonwood edge. Hard to see with tons of floating cotton. That fish wouldn’t eat the drake and a lot of caddis were around, put the caddis on him and got him on that good bow. Rob was heading up and doing my shuttle and meeting me at Chester so I worked down through the backwater which had fish up all over. Waves of boats came through here and above but as always they were packed together and kept moving. Found some good browns on the tight edges on the left, but couldn’t get those pinned. Picked Rob up and decided to row back up for the evening for ease of logistics and since there were tons of fish up. Worked back up and got a few on way up and ultimately got to the top edge as people thinned. Spent the evening working around there and got some killer fish on the edge, browns and bows. Fish were more on a variety of stuff, but the one size smaller quill body drake parachute with mallard tail I tie got some good results. When all other bugs failed, trusty got some good fish. Worked back down, sticking more and rowed out in the dark. Spinners and caddis were on water all through evening and fish rose relentlessly. It stayed calm the whole time which made for great fishing, but scorching hot temps in the afternoon.
Day 2: Got on water a bit earlier to try and hit drakes better. Fished Vernon to Chester again with plan to meet Zach who was driving up in the early evening. Similar scenario with fish up and drakes at onset, prob could have been on earlier and hit even better but we stayed up late night before running into random dude who was in campsite and having a late beer with him after he came rolling in. We went straight around corner to get out of wade fishermen. Stopped on same flat and put a cast over a riser next to boat with new freshie tied on t113blh hook which I was stoked to try, it ate ripped into rocks and broke me right off. Called Tammy and spotted a sneaky brown in the flat while talking, got off, jumped out put a few drifts over the fish and stuck it. Killer battle and pig hook jaw brown!
Continued on and didn’t see a lot of risers, but stopped in the Seely’s tailout. Stared for a while and eventually noticed several rising very difficult to see in the shallow riffles. Spent some time and Rob missed a few and I got a few good ones. Missed a pig that was rising up the edge of the island. We spent the rest of the afternoon working through, stopping and watching closely and finding subtle rising pig browns. I stuck several more good ones, mostly on drake even though they were long gone. As we got into the backwater, fish were up good still but had to go to rusty for a few. Stayed on 4x the whole time though. Great afternoon, lots of real nice big browns on dries.
Pulled the boat out and put it in below Chester and met Zach at fun farm for shuttle. Headed down scanning and ended up in one of the flats a 1/2 mile down. Same thing, subtle risers that weren’t obvious but they were there mostly nice browns. Put Zach on a few and he missed them, I got 3 good fish out of that flat. We worked down and ultimately met up with Langford who was with his sun in Fun Farm edge. Again scorching hot late afternoon and water was pretty warm down there. Fish were up, but not crazy good. I hardly fished, I think Zach got one but mostly the fish were sporadic. Excellent day overall for me.
Day 3: Decided to go down and fish above Vernon and do Ora to Chester to see if more drakes were up there. Very heavy boat traffic as expected. Drakes going good when we pulled out and fish all through the flat. Stuck a pig that ripped across river into backing and couldn’t hold it. Bounced around the flat and shallows and first drop on river left and stuck a few good ones on the drake cripple. Worked down and passed a few spots and drakes waned, trying to work around people. Pulled in when I noticed a sneaky bank feeder. I jumped out and walked up. Pig brown again, got it to eat twice and missed it, then it would only refuse. Another fish was up bottom left and Zach tried to fish to it but guess it either shut down or he couldn’t see it. We bounced to there side and sneaky risers again. Called the shuttle and told them to just put it at Vernon since I thought it better to just focus on this water and it was breezy so didn’t want to deal with the backwater. I was planning to drive home too. We stayed in this spot for a while and fished to a few but they were hard to see. Ultimately, I walked up the bank toward a willow clump and sure enough pig tucked up in there sipping below the willows. I had switched to a rusty since the fish outside wouldn’t eat anything, but then wanted to be back on the big hook drake and figured this fish wouldn’t be picky. The fish was under a bubble line with a boil to his right that he would swing into, great visual eats! After a few attempts at the cast, got it right in the boil and he inhaled it and I stuck him. Killer battle and worked it down and got it landed, probably 22-23 not sure giant killer fish! After that, found a few rising right out from us but they weren’t interested in the drake. There were some sallies and caddis around and Zach switched to a smaller lighter caddis. The fish ate it right away and he missed it. He ended up sticking one, but it was kind of beat up. Missed a couple pigs while we watched, very entertaining. Headed down and don’t think we stopped again until close to the bridge, but don’t remember. Pulled in at a spot that looked like they should be there and watched carefully. Sure enough after we thought nothing, spotted a pig brown. Zach put the caddis over it, he chowed it and Zach missed it again. Zach was very frustrated having missed several and most of his big ones lost and missed through the day. He worked them and I believe missed another, but don’t recall. I put the drake over, no interest ultimately trying a tan x caddis much bigger than Zach’s but I was curious. After a few casts I though no interest, but then the close fish chowed it and I stuck another pig brown. Battled it and chased it around toward the bank finally landing it, great end for me having planned to drive home. There were a few outside risers and Zach worked out to those and missed two or three more, just couldn’t connect unfortunately.
We got off around 4:30 and ran into Brett Foster at the ramp randomly. I called Tammy and ok’d leaving early morning since I was exhausted and didn’t want to just hit the road. We took a break, went to dinner at trout hunter and drove to wood road looking for Brown Drakes. Caddis around, but minimal fish at first. I walked up and spotted a few randoms, but nothing steady. One or two Brown Drakes, but limited. Went around the corner and caddis descended to water and fish went off in the boulder corner. I stuck and landed a mid sized fish, then stuck a bigger fish close to 20 that ripped and jumped. Great end to a great three days! Zach continued his streak down near the truck and missed and lost all his fish again unfortunately. Rob was in similar boat, didn’t fish that seriously think he couldn’t see with glasses great.