Fly Fishing Idaho
Henry's Fork of the Snake
Fishing on the Henry's Fork does not truly end for the season exept a few months
in the dead of winter when its just to cold to fish.
But we have to have a starting point so we will start in early spring , which comes about
April and the weather starts it's warming trend and the little Blue Wings start to show up
then its early May and we see some March Browns and some little Stones.
This time of year can produce some very nice fish rising to dries and gobbling up nymphs,
As we progress towards the end of May the excitement begins ,The Salmon Fly hatch
begins on the lower stretches of the river around Chester Dam and Warm River to Ashton
stretch ,Then progresses up the river to Hatchery Ford , then Riverside And Ending in the
Box Canyon section just below Island Park Resivior.
Nymph fishing with big old rubber legs and various stonefly patterns can be very exiting
But for me the large dry fly imitation is the ticket ,nothing like it if you hit this hatch just right.
Then comes the big Green Drake hatch followed by Brown Drakes and then PMD's .
And of course who could forget the Flavs, Big numbers of these guys come off and
There are a lot of spinner falls to catch with this one.
This brings us to about August when the Ants and Hoppers Prevail, Catch the Ants and see
big fish all over the place eating like crazy. And in case I forgot to mention the Ranch section
opens June 15 and can be one of the most awesome days on the river you can have . The Ranch
section is the Harriman State Park section of the river. In the fall lots of nymphing and some
streamer fishing. And late October the Tiny Blue Wing Olives show up and very large trout
sipping little size 22 dry flies this is when you can become part of the 20 20 club 20 inch fish
on 20 or smaller fly. The upper section closes in November and the fishing on the lower river
starts to taper off and then winter is here and a few long months later if you like the cold water
the seasons begins all over again.
South Fork of the Snake
The South Fork is considered to be one of the top cutthroat fisheries in the West by most anglers.
The Blue winged Olives are the first big hatch to appear, And can report some really good fishing
early in the season. The Salmon Fly hatch is soon to follow in usually gets underway about the first of July
and this is the hatch that everybody waits all winter and spring for with mouths a watering.
Yellow Sallys start about the same time and can be a very exiting time on the South Fork.
Good Hatches of caddis and PMD's provide for some excellent dry fly fishing all through the summer
months.
And then comes August and September my favorite time to be on the South Fork the fish are stacked
along the many grassy banks consuming Grasshoppers. This can be the most exciting time of all to be
on the South Fork. Then the cooler days of Fall roll around and the fishing just keeps getting better
for the dry fly fisherman that is , the river flows drop making the river more accessible to to the wade
fisherman. Blue Winged Olives and midges come off in real good numbers creating excellent dry fly fishing.
Fall can also be the streamer fishermans delight the Browns start to move into the shallows to spawn
and the cuts and rainbows follow them in to rob a few eggs. This river produces some very big fish and
it is not uncommon to hook up
with a five to ten pound brown once in while.
