The whole river is starting to have really good Blue Wing Olive hatches. The Box Canyon is nymphing really good and large fish are being caught on rubberlegs, with mayfly nymphs. This is also the time of year you will want to have some streamers in your fly box. As the weather gets colder and we get closer to winter those trout will want to beef up for winter. The Henry’s Fork is also experiencing small crowds. Great time of the year to hook a big rainbow or a Henry’s brown!
We are getting good reports from Chesterfield Res. where action is picking up for those fish in medium sizes. A few “hogs” are being taken. Use intermediate lines and your favorite leech or damselfly nymph patterns. Daniels Reservoir remains its consistent self with leech, damselfly nymph and midge pupa patterns producing well on the upper end and west side bay. Springfield will improve as weeds disperse, but is producing for those using midge pupa patterns under indicators. Trude and Grizzly springs remain the places to fish on Island Park Reservoir, and blood worm patterns are the ones to use.
Action will begin to slow on higher elevation small waters as we get into frosty nights. Nevertheless, small streams holding brown trout will be great destinations regardless of elevation. This includes such as Robinson Creek, Salt River tribs, Hebgen Lake tribs and the lower Portneuf River. Rely on streamer and wooly bugger patterns for these fish, and bring ALL your stealth skills. Also remember that Warm River below the tunnel closes to fishing on September 30 to protect spawning Henry’s Fork browns.
Streamer fishing and float fishing are the way to go here. Some action can be had by presenting hopper and chernobyl patterns close to banks. With careful wading you can also enjoy the BWO emergence.
Flow out of Hebgen Lake Dam remains over 3000 cfs making for very tough fishing on the river below. Hebgen Lake has dropped much because of this. Look for flow out of the dam to remain high until repairs are completed.
First day of autumn, and flow out of Palisades is just above 9000 cfs. We’ve had a spell of cloudy weather which has brought out PMDs and mahogany duns during daytime as well as evenings. Cool, cloudy weather this time of year also triggers fish to forage for minnows. Chernobyl and hopper patterns are still producing up and down the river with best times being until mid day. On top of all this crowds are down. It’s a great time to be on the South Fork!
The lower river now features a great BWO emergence. The same should happen soon on the upper river. During cloudy times like today, this will be a day long event resulting in good action. As we move further into autumn, streamers will become more important in such spots as Box Canyon, below Ashton Dam, Chester backwaters, below Chester Dam, and around St. Anthony. So be sure to have streamers in that fly box when you visit the “Fork” this time of year.
Fish are beginning to move into shallow water, so shoreline fishing is just beginning. Cooler weather like today will help bring it on. When it begins in earnest, any small leech pattern will be effective, and intermediate lines will be the best choice
Now is the time of season when this great little river really shines. Wading is easy. Midge and BWO life cycle patterns and small terrestrial patterns are the fare, and all one needs is a floating line
With abundance of terrestrial insects around streams, fish tend to feed more and more at intervals. Thus there will be good days and slow days when one presents ant, beetle, hopper and such patterns. That coupled with a clear, bright atmosphere can make for particularly slow conditions. Look for the partly cloudy days with threatening thunder showers to be best bet for times with action. In particular, we have reports of the Gallatin River in the Park providing some great action for those presenting traditional attractor and caddis life cycle patterns. We’ll bet that Fall River around Cave Falls, which is bigger, but similar water, would also produce well to these types of flies.