Fishing Reports

Henry’s Fork, June 29th, 2024

Mayflies still reign supreme along the entire river. Drakes are still around, PM flavs are hatching, PMDs are throughout the river existing as emergers on through spinners. Caddis activity peaks in the aternoon, and a few golden stoneflies remain. Bring life cycle patterns for each and you will experience good action. In Box Canyon and lower Coffee Pot below the rapids dropping a nymph pattern under such as your favorite golden stonefly adult pattern. Be patient with your fellow fly fishers in high use areas and tolerant of recreational folks a many of them have yet to develop an on the water etiquette..

Water Quality and Aquatic Ecology Information From Dr. Rob Van Kirk’s  Henry’s Fork Drainage SWE Report , June 29^th, 2024 

Water quality was good to excellent in all measures in all river reaches yesterday. Clouds and cooler air temperatures kept water temperatures below 70 degrees everywhere except at Parker. Daily minimum dissolved oxygen concentrations were higher yesterday throughout the watershed than over the past 4–7 days. Hatch timing is average for the date at all locations except Island Park Dam, where it is about one day behind, and St. Anthony, where it is one day ahead. Given a forecast of near-average temperatures for the next week, I do not expect any substantial change in overall aquatic insect development rates over that time period.

Henry’s Fork, June 26th, 2024

Here is some great info from Dr. Rob Van Kirk’s Henry’s Fork Watershed SWE report filed June 25^th. Hatch timing is accelerating again after slowing down for a few days early last week and is near average at most locations. Green Drakes are slowing down on the lower river (downstream of Warm River) but are hatching upstream. A few flavs have been seen on the lower river. Small numbers of Gray Drakes are still hatching in the lower watershed. Brown Drakes have been reported in the Osborne Bridge area. Unfortunately, hot sunny weather has not produced the best conditions for mayfly dun emergence recently, while strong winds have not produced the best conditions for spinner falls either. Pro tip for avid readers who have stuck with the report this far: clouds, cooler temperatures and maybe a few showers are in the forecast for tomorrow, with slightly lighter winds than we have seen recently. That should produce near-optimal conditions for emergence of mayfly duns of several different species tomorrow on all river reaches. 

The upper river is hosting its usual month of June fly fishing crowds, so your “on the water diplomacy” will be tested whether you wade or fish from a boat.   Water quality is good with near or a bit below normal flows but these can vary throughout the irrigation season.