Henry's Fork Report - June 27, 2024

Henry’s Fork Streamflows

Island Park Dam:  884 cfs

Ashton Dam:  1740 cfs

St. Anthony:  1190 cfs

Fall River:  611 cfs

Fishing in Henry’s Fork country has been ranging from good to excellent this week, depending on where you were and when you were there!  The coming week is showing a bit more of the pattern we like to see out there, with some partly cloudy in the forecast, which will keep things a bit cooler and hopefully inspire more mayflies to hatch!  Water quality is in good shape and we are now seeing the first increases in flows from Island Park Dam for irrigation purposes, so a little more water in the river at the moment, with likely increases as demand grows downstream.

Box Canyon

With a little more water in here the Box is flowing along nicely and is back to being a more easily navigated stretch of water.  Fishing has been good in there and we expect this to continue this week.  With more water, remember to adjust your split shot on your nymphing rigs, having B and BB shot available is helpful in here at the moment.  Indicator nymph rigs are the norm, but dry flies and dry/dropper rigs are not out of the question.  Keep an eye out for Golden Stones, which can produce some great dry fly action when the trout are looking for them.  We like Lawson’s HF Golden Stone in here as well as the Water Walker varieties and Joe Joe’s Golden Stone in 6-10.  Good nymphs to have on board are:  Rubberlegs Stonefly Nymphs, 101 Stones, and Two Bit Goldens 6-10, PTs, R/L Tactical PTs 12-14, Red and Brown Zebra Midges 14-18, HP Caddis Pupa, Hare and Copper 14-16.  As ever, perdigons are a great choice, sink quickly, and are a valuable add to any fly box.  We like the Olive Hot Spot, Spanish Bullet, Bullet Quill, France Fly, Duracell, PMD Bomb and Red Napoleon Jigs to get started.

Railroad Ranch

It’s been a pretty fun week in the Ranch and we’re hoping for more of it in the coming week.  Hatches have been spotty but good when you can find them, with decent numbers of large trout around at the moment.  Green Drakes, Brown Drakes, Flavs, PMDs, Caddis, and even some flying ants have been around in varying degrees of abundance.  Look for spinner falls in the morning when the wind permits, and keep a keen eye out for the glory bugs like the drakes.  The trout have been pretty spooky out there, so a stealthy approach should be taken into consideration when moving in on a target.  A little more water in the river will help this get a bit easier.  Long leaders of 12’+ are the norm with tippets to 5X,  occasionally a drake can go onto 4X unnoticed, and having a spool of 6X around is a good idea for when it’s needed.  A well prepared fly box should have the aforementioned insects represented in various stages of life, we especially like the following:  Joe Joe’s Green and the Variant Cripple Green Drake, CDC Biot Duns in PMDs and Flavs, Last Chance Cripples in PMDs and Flavs, CDC Biot Emerger Brown Drake, PMD Transitional Duns, Heames’ PMD Klinkhammer, CDC Biot Spinner in rusty and yellow, Copenhaver Spinner, Harrop’s Paraspinner in yellow and rusty, as well as Barret’s Flav Spinner.  We’ve had our share of windy days lately, remember that Green Drakes and Flavs will still hatch in the wind and trout will still eat them, so don’t give up the search when the wind picks up!  This is the week to put your headlamps in your vest or fishing pack and chase the Brown Drakes in the evenings!

Canyon Country

The canyon reaches of the Henry’s Fork are fun places to spend a day’s fishing at the moment; fast paced action in a remote wilderness setting make for a fun day on the water.  High-floating Chubby Chernobyls with Rubberlegs stonefly nymphs or a 12-14 fast-sinking perdigon or beadhead nymph dangling below is a tough rig to beat in there.  Inflatable rafts and solid oarsmanship are highly recommended!

Warm River to Ashton

This reach of the river should continue to produce good action on mostly smaller fish with some surprises mixed in.  Indicator nymphing rigs and dry/dropper rigs are the usual choices here with flies similar to those recommended for the Box Canyon.  Keep an eye out for green drakes and flavs while in here for some exciting opportunities when they show.

Below Ashton Dam

The lower river is starting to show signs of heating up with fishing beginning to slow down.  Spinner falls are still your best bet in the morning hours and some clouds in the afternoon are a daily hope out there.  Midday has been fishing pretty slowly, so be prepared to work hard or follow your morning up with a good afternoon plan elsewhere.  Evenings have been fun out there, but we expect this to start to slow this week as well.  Flavs, PMDs, Caddis, Olive Stones, Gray Drakes and Golden Stones are all on the menu down here.  Bring a range of spinners in multiple colors in sizes ranging from 12-18.