Henry's Fork Fishing Report - July 2, 2026
Henry’s Fork Streamflows
Island Park Dam: 1060 cfs
Ashton Dam: 1580 cfs
St. Anthony: 1480 cfs
Fall River: 722 cfs
We’re always sorry to see the end of June in Henry’s Fork country and the excitement it brings as we enter the summer season. That becomes a quick and fading memory when July arrives on its heels and hints at what it might hold in the way of angling opportunities. In a water year such as this one, we’ve been expecting to experience more difficult conditions than we’re seeing right now, one can’t help but hold on to the hope that fair fishing conditions might just prevail a bit longer. Anglers remain hopeful that they might have yet another week or two of good water quality, solid hatches and enough happy trout to keep them happy as well. Recent weather events have added some much needed water to the system and have stalled out some of the factors that contribute to turbidity. The upper river is holding on, get out there and enjoy it while conditions are good!
Box Canyon
The Box is a steady fishery and consistently provides anglers with a quality day’s fishing. Indicator nymphing rigs will prevail this week, and anglers should expect to share this public resource with other non-fishing floaters as the 4th of July nears. Pleasure floaters come in all types of watercraft, some more maneuverable than others, so be sure to keep an eye on your backcasts and be ready to move out of the way if one of the less maneuverable ones is bearing down on you! As for fishing, angler should expect fair conditions, there is some turbidity coming out of the dam, but the addition of the Buffalo River a couple of hundred yards below adds to the clarity. That said, now is a good time to keep an eye on the Henry’s Fork Foundation’s Water Quality page and monitor turbidity at Island Park Dam. 7 NTUs is generally the mark, much higher and things are a bit too dirty. Fishing should be solid in here this week with the following: PTs, R/L Tactical PTs, Rednecks, Split Backs, Hare/Copper, Olive HP Caddis Pupa 14-16; Rubberlegs and 101 Stones #8-10; red, brown and black Zebra Midges #14-18. A variety of perdigons will work in here but these are the ones we like: Olive Hot Spot, red Jig Napoleon, Black Dagger, Spanish Bullet, Bullet Quill, PMD Bomb #14-18. Remember to check your flies for weeds frequently and adjust your weight for the water you’re fishing.
Railroad Ranch
Reports vary from angler to angler and from day to day, but overall we’re finding fair conditions in the Ranch with some decent trout fishing. Downright excellent trout fishing on some days. One great day isn’t necessarily followed by another, so be prepared with a backup plan if things don’t go the way you’re hoping. We’re seeing decent numbers of flavs and flav spinners, some green drakes, a few brown drakes, gray drakes, PMDs, caddis, and midges out there. Some days it’s a sparse offering and others are pretty dense, it’s worth taking your favorite fly rod for a walk these days to see what you’ll find. Targets range from stationary and somewhat regular to sparse and actively moving, there is no perfect strategy at the moment, but angler should look to put themselves into position to make something happen, moving smoothly but with purpose. If you think you’ve seen something, consider getting into the water and advancing slowly for a closer look, at least you’ll be in better position if you see it again. It seems you can’t have enough fly patterns these days, there’s always something you wish you had, a well stocked Ranch box has a wide variety of flies without having too deep a selection of any one particular pattern. It also has a fair variety of flav spinners. Some of the bugs we’re liking right now are: Harrop’s Hackled Spinner Brown and Green Drake, Variant Cripple Flav, Last Chance Cripple Flav, Barret’s Flav Spinner, CDC Biot Emerger Flav, CDC Thorax PMD, Heames’ PMD Klinkhammer, PMD Comparadun, Harrop’s Paraspinner Rusty and PMD, Henry’s Fork Caddis, Partridge Caddis, Iron X Caddis, and a Shimazaki Ant.
Canyon Country
The canyons of the Henry’s Fork remain in good shape and even better than last week with the recent reduction in flows. Dry/dropper rigs are hard to beat in here: large, high visibility dry flies with a rubberlegs of some sort or a 101 Stone are a good bet. A handful of fast sinking size 12 PTs and Rosa Pinks are a good addition to the line up. Unstable weather suggests that anglers bring rain gear and a couple of warm layers in a dry bag for forays into the canyons. Solid oarsmanship is a must and an inflatable raft is a good idea, if not required.
Warm River to Ashton
Warm temps and the 4th of July will bring some of the “splash and giggle” crowd into these waters, but anglers can expect to find fun fishing with good action on small to medium sized trout. Dry/droppers and indicator nymphing rigs will be the primary choices here and will bring the most consistent successes. Fly selections should mirror what is recommended for the Box Canyon, but throw in a few BSA Bouface leeches to round it out.
Below Ashton Reservoir
Hatches have pretty well wound down on the lower river, with most trout having retreated to their deeper waters by now. However, opportunities are still there for anglers who are hoping to scratch it out, water temps are holding on and some fishing is being found in the early and late hours of the day, primarily subsurface. The occasional golden stone can be found as well as the occasional golden stone eater, but for the most part these trout are beginning to shift back to subsurface food sources. Keep an eye on water temps, especially as air temps climb to the high 80s this next week, no trout below Ashton Dam likes it when July’s heat sets in.
Good luck out there!
