As the fishing and bug hatches are starting to improve on the South Fork, and the arrival of stoneflies on the Madison, we are finally starting to see a little relief in the pressure being put on the Henry’s Fork. The fishing has been good with some Green Drake and Flav hatches during the day, and some decent Caddis fishing with gray drake spinners in the evening. These fish have been seeing a lot of pressure, so keep in mind that the most obvious bugs aren’t always going to work. If you couple the pressure with the mass of bugs hatching, you can at times get a pretty frustrating concoction. Take some time to study the water and the way fish are feeding before selecting a fly. You are going to see multiple sizes and colors of mayfly and Caddis, but I have been able to find fish on a size 16 Caddis trailed by a sz. 16-14 Flav Spinner or the PMD Emerger (pictured) during the day. In the evening there have still been some pretty good action on Gray Drake spinners trailed by other small spinners and emergers with fish really starting to feed well around 6-7 pm (MST). Other bugs that have worked well that we have in the shop would include the JS CFO spinner sz. 14-16 in pink and yellow, Last Chance Flav and PMD cripples, Green Drake Thorax Duns, and McClellan’s Grey Drake Spinner. It’s getting to be time that you start using a few ant and beetle patterns for real tricky fish. Sometimes when I am having a hard time catching the bigger fish, I will tie on an ant or beetle, and you will see those fish come 5 feet out of their feeding lane just to take a poorly presented terrestrial pattern, which I do often. The most persistent angler will be the highest rewarded, so put in a good effort, and bring plenty of bugs. Big fish are feeding on little dries, and this can be one of the funnest times to be on the Fork. (((((BRING BUG SPRAY))))) Maybe even some mosquito patterns!)
