Trip to Henry's Fork Area

[Warren]

I have booked a trip to the Henry's Fork in late August. The deal is that my wife and I will be fishing four days with guides on four different waters. Henry's Fork (RR Ranch), Teton, Madison, and the South Fork. We have been to the Park and all around Montana many times, but never west of there.
I am being told by the Fly Shop that the best day this guide ever had on the RR Ranch section was five fish. Has anyone ever fished over there? They are talking real long fluorocarbon leaders; like 15' and longer. The place sounds to me like a huge flat, that is a bug factory. Those fish are probably getting enough nymphs that they don't need the duns. Less energy expended, ya know? They are also talking about fishing over rising fish that won't eat a fly for hours at a time.
Also has anyone got patterns for that water. Their Green Drake is different and a size 14 LOL. I tie everything in PA so whatever you post is much appreciated. I will be buying the local patterns when necessary, but I would really like to take a couple dozen of my own work to see if those trout will take them.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
This is my first post on this board. So, I might be a little off on the format. Sorry!!

 

[krayfish2]

Harrops patterns and fish down or down and across to the fish. You can then be the folks the guide talks about when he tell his story about his best day every at RR Ranch section.

 

[Acristickid]

I had the good fortune to fish the green and brown drakes - which coincided with the opening of the railroad ranch stretch this year. It opens June 15.

I have seen many thicker hatches but it was terrific fishing big dries for large wild rainbows. The ranch fishing is more technical I suppose then the other parts of the river. Just a journeyman fly angler but I do ok on the ranch. It's a stalk and cast type of of fishing. Haven't fished it in August but I here Flavs, spinners, winged ants and hoppers are heavily used flies. Like any where else if you get a rising fish a drag free drift is probably more important that the perfect fly.

The ranch does have what appears a lot of flat featureless water so it makes it harder to know where the fish are- hence the stalk and spot. Lots of gravel and weeds in the ranch stretch.- so I find the wading pleasant

I also had great days closer to Ashton- out of the mountains about 20-30 miles downstream.

Like to know your thoughts on the weed whacking around the ranch- because that is my handi work.

May was wet but not it is roasting hot now. Hopefully this will not continue all summer.

Sounds like you booked with Henry Fork Anglers. I will fish the Teton and South Fork of the Snake soon and see what I can find out. That fly shop is one on the nicest I have ever been in. Trout hunter across the street gets much more traffic with guides and their restaurant bar. Have a great time. You can pm if you wish as you trip draws near- I live on the ranch.

 

[1fish]

Here's a post in progress from another fly fishing board.

http://www.theflyfishingforum.com/forums/rocky-mountain-range/364829-crushed-henrys-fork.html

 

[jabink84]

The ranch can be an extremely technical area to fish but also very rewarding. Late august will be in interesting time to fish the ranch. What was said above is true, the hatches have all came early this year. I live in Rexburg, about 45 min south of the ranch. That guiding package is a great deal and you will have a great time on all of the waters listed. Flavs and terrestrials will be the game while you are here on the ranch. Tricos will probably be a good bet in the AM also.

 

[Warren]

Thanks for your response. Fishing down or swinging flies is a great suggestion. We often find ourselves doing that so that the fish sees the fly first. I think that Harrop is associated with a shop out there. Those patterns are easy to get. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Warren

 

[Warren]

Acristickid,
I appreciate your post. It sounds like I need to let some time pass to see how the season unfolds. Nearly everyone says that the flavs will be on the water and also hoppers, ants, beetles and tricos in the early morning. I will begin tying those and see what else is mentioned.
I will also be taking you up on your offer to look at this again as the dates approach.
I tie really nice flies, but I am not a speed tyer. I would rather turn out a dozen good ones than tie fast and have to pick through my own work to find one that I have confidence in when tying it on. So, I want to get started.
Thanks Again!!

 

[Warren]

acristickid,
What is your favorite Flav pattern?
Thanks

 

[Warren]

jabink84,
Yes, I am really looking forward to seeing the water over there. I tie a bunch of ants and other terrestrials for Brookies here in PA during the summer months. Are the sizes the same out there. I already have black, brown, and cinnimon (sp) in 14 - 16's. I only tie flying ants in black. Is that ok?
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Warren

 

[Warren]

Ifish,
Thanks for responding to my post.
I read the whole thread that you offered. That is exactly why I am trying to do some homework before we set out on this trip. I don't usually gather facts before a trip, but that area has a reputation of being very tough. I know that I fish correctly and get good drifts, but it reads like they have their own set of bugs. And nymphs, emergers, duns, and spinners are not enough. You have to tie cripples that have one wing bent under the fly and positioned behind the second leg while pointing toward the hook eye to be effective. LOL I am just going to do the best I can to prepare and see what happens.
Like Paul Harvey said...this is the rest of the story. When we leave the Henry's Fork we are going back to Bozeman and drifting two days on the Yellowstone near Livingston. Then we are going north above Helena to Craig, MT and floating the Missouri from the MidCanyon Launch to Mountain Palace. We will catch lots of good ones for sure on those waters.
Thanks Again for your response,
Warren

 

[pcray1231]

I am being told by the Fly Shop that the best day this guide ever had on the RR Ranch section was five fish. Has anyone ever fished over there?

Yes, I spent a summer in eastern Idaho on an internship. I was in the transition between spin/bait and fly.

I only fished the railroad ranch twice, mostly because I was there May-mid-August and it didn't even open till like late July. The first time I caught in the neighborhood of 20 fish. On worms, lol. And the average approached 20 inches (high teens probably). A lot of fly fishermen were giving me quite the evil eye (though it is legal to bait fish there). The second time I fly fished and took the skunk (though I was a beginning fly fisher, this didn't appear to be unusual).

Yeah, pretty much a slow flat with lots of bugs. There's enough fish but fished over hard and quite selective given the pressure and smorgasboard of food (but apparently they have no issues with nightcrawlers).

Anyway, I did very well, with flies, on other areas of Henry's Fork. Notably around Warm River. Most of the river down from there is big and steadily fast, and is best fished from a drift boat, which I didn't have. But upstream from the mouth of warm river, it's coming out from a canyon, and there was a more familiar pool/riffle configuration, with the pools being slower (by no means slow, but slow enough to fish). I caught mostly wild bows (of more moderate sizes) and whitefish, but a few generally bigger wild browns and stocked bows as well. It was a nymphing game, not that unlike a bigger, faster version of Penns Creek would be like, with long pools and pocket water rapids in between. Warm River itself was enjoyable as well, with a much more wade fishable size and makeup.

I also had some success below Ashton reservoir. It was fast and hard to wade in early summer. But lots of weight and an upstream cast, I seemed to pick up some fish, and they tended to be good ones. I caught all bows in that section.

Overall, though, while Henry's Fork was closer I had more fun in the central Idaho Mountains. Various small and medium tribs in the Salmon River drainage. I'm just not cut out for big brawling water, lol. Cutthroats and bows and the occasional cuttbow or juvenile salmon, supposedly there's bull trout too but I didn't catch any. Absolutely loved the Middle Fork around Dagger Falls and some of the tribs in that region.

I went to, but didn't fish the Yellowstone area and South Fork areas very much. If I went back I'd like to, now that I'm much better with a fly rod. The South Fork is going to be drift boat fishing, I believe, but it's a good one, and of your list that's where I'd most expect to catch larger numbers of fish.

 

[Acristickid]

Ha, Warren- I don't have a favorite flav pattern because I don't believe I have ever fish them. Maybe I'll developed one.

Just to be clear the ranch or aka Harriman State Park- is fly fishing only, barbless hooks and all fish must be released inmediately.

Fished Bitch creek yesterday- didn't do well w my typical dry dropper rig. Once I switched to a nymph rig it was on. 2 big cutts broke my 4x. Fishing the South Fork of the Snake today- big water. Teton River tomorrow.

 

[pcray1231]

That must have changed. I think it was the year 2001 when I was there. And it was "opening weekend" around July 20 something, as that section was closed to fishing before that date.

I wanted to fly fish but my dad was visiting and had never fly fished. The fly shop in Last Chance (also a general store, or was that a separate place?) sold us the crawlers and said it was fine to use em there, though I think maybe we had to stay out of the state park boundaries??? (we fished right at Last Chance). My memory is a little fuzzy.

 

[Warren]

pcray1231,
Wow, that was a really detailed response. We can wade or float. So we will be floating the South Fork per your recommendation. The regs have changed since you fished over there. The RR section has an annual opening day of June 15th. I liked the bait tale. Nearly everyone I fish with used to be bait guys, me included.
I am going to gather all the information that I can find, tie up some good patterns and just go over there with a good attitude. This almost has to be a fun trip. I just hope that by applying a sound logical approach and doing some homework that we can enjoy a reasonable level of success and bring home some memories. It's still fishing...that's about all we can hope for.
Thanks again for the great response.
Warren

 

[Warren]

acristickid,
I am going to try to locate a Rene Harrop flav pattern. I think that he is affiliated with the Trout Hunter shop out there.
I could relate to the nymph rig story. I usually find myself starting with a wet or a nymph of whatever bug is hatching. And I nearly always fish a dropper of some sort. The only exception is if I am trying to push a 3 weight into a hard wind because the vehicle is a mile away when the front moves in and I don't want to take the hike.LOL
Good luck tomorrow.
I appreciate you helping me out. I am going to follow the advice I have been receiving and start tying flavs and more terrestrials.

This trip might be a little early for this bug. We usually go to Montana over Labor Day and there is a terrestrial called a Spruce Bug. There is no nymph or emerger because this bug hatches from the spruce pines. But they find their way to the water in the park and the fish eat them. Please ask around out there and let me know if anyone uses them. I have them in 14-16's. But I will twist some up if we might need them.
Thanks Again,
Warren

 

[dryflyguy]

I've fished the henry's and south fork - although it was around 15 years ago now.

On the advice of a former PA resident who was guiding out there, we spent 3 days on the south fork by swan valley.
And it was some pretty good fishing. Full of nice size cuts and bows, that eagerly rose to dry flies.
Interestingly, I just read a nice article about the south fork in the new issue of TU magazine. And to help the native cutthroat population in the river, they are now encouraging anglers to keep every rainbow and cuttbow caught there.

I also spent one day on the henry's fork - and didn't do very well there. It was late summer, and there really wasn't much hatching and rising that day for some reason.
Still a pretty neat place to fish though

 

[pete41]

why would anyone that has caught both want to replace rainbows with cutts- a step down.

 

[tomitrout]

Maybe because cutts are native to the watershed where rainbows are an invasive...just a guess though.

 

[pete41]

that's the reason but cutts do not have heart bows do-of course in that region if we gave it back to the Nez perce [sp] noboby could use that argument-they were tough.

 

[Warren]

dryflyguy,
Thanks for your response. From the responses I have received; I believe that your comments are right on target. I may be able to sneak out for a few hours in the evening or early morning, but primarily this is a guided adventure. They allow a lot of angler choices regarding wading or floating and also which water you want to fish. The South Fork keeps sounding better and better.
Thanks Again,
Warren