I had some successes on my first day of fly fishing in the mountains:
I waded the Henry’s Fork for most of the day, without floating my hat.
I captured a couple of bugs floating on the surface, identified them as some sort of blue-winged olive mayfly dun, observed that the trout down the riffle appeared to be rising to feed but I didn’t see them take any of the floating duns, determined they were probably eating them as they emerged just under the surface, tied on a parachute emerger pattern and caught several medium sized but feisty brook trout.
I also had some failures. I failed the match-the-hatch routine described above on two other hatches and have no idea what I was doing wrong. And I made other mistakes I did recognize eventually. At one point I got swarmed by caddis flies, so I tied an elk hair caddis pattern on my tippet and 20 fishless minutes later I realized that they had emerged possibly hours or days ago. Match the flies on the water, not the ones in the air. In the evening there was a spinner fall so thick the water line on my waders was a line of spinners. I fished with a rusty spinner pattern but failed to catch fish.
I also failed to fully account for the effects of altitude and dry air on my fluid needs. I brought an extra bottle of water but should have brought three. I fished until I was tempted to drink the river, considered the emergency purification tablets in my vest pocket, but ultimately I headed for the truck and lost an hour’s fishing getting there and then back into fishable water.
My biggest fish came well after sundown. The moon is new, and I’m quite pleased with myself that I knew that and I fancy I anticipated what to do about it. The biggest trout on any river often refuse to ever come to the surface to feed, and they eat a lot at night and they eat fewer bugs and more big bites, like little fish and crayfish. Guys fish at night with streamers, which are big flies that imitate these big bites. Often the best fishing is under a big moon, when the streamers are easiest to see. I reasoned that under a dark moon, they might be wiling to come up closer to the surface where they could see the fly in very limited light. It worked or something did. I lost a couple but landed a fat 16 inch rainbow trout on a black leech streamer fished over a weed bed. That’s not one of the rivers biggest fish but it was my biggest one for Day 1, and I was pleased.
This river if famous for large fish on dry flies, but I haven’t succeeded at that yet. It’s also famous for difficult, frustrating, technical fishing, and I am learning all about that first hand.
I finally uploaded some pictures:
I was encouraged to take a picture of my stuffed truck when I left home.
This is the Snowy Range as seen from Laramie, WY.
I woke up way too early Thursday in Idaho Falls, so I took a walk down by the falls.
Can anyone identify this tree? I started to see it in Nebraska, I think, and it stands out because the leaves are a light dusty green.
This picture shows (sort of) the contrast with darker trees.
Hot air balloon over Idaho Falls.
My camp near the Henry's Fork. Yes, the mosquito candle was lit during the day yesterday. It's less buggy today for some reason.
I waded the Henry’s Fork for most of the day, without floating my hat.
I captured a couple of bugs floating on the surface, identified them as some sort of blue-winged olive mayfly dun, observed that the trout down the riffle appeared to be rising to feed but I didn’t see them take any of the floating duns, determined they were probably eating them as they emerged just under the surface, tied on a parachute emerger pattern and caught several medium sized but feisty brook trout.
I also had some failures. I failed the match-the-hatch routine described above on two other hatches and have no idea what I was doing wrong. And I made other mistakes I did recognize eventually. At one point I got swarmed by caddis flies, so I tied an elk hair caddis pattern on my tippet and 20 fishless minutes later I realized that they had emerged possibly hours or days ago. Match the flies on the water, not the ones in the air. In the evening there was a spinner fall so thick the water line on my waders was a line of spinners. I fished with a rusty spinner pattern but failed to catch fish.
I also failed to fully account for the effects of altitude and dry air on my fluid needs. I brought an extra bottle of water but should have brought three. I fished until I was tempted to drink the river, considered the emergency purification tablets in my vest pocket, but ultimately I headed for the truck and lost an hour’s fishing getting there and then back into fishable water.
My biggest fish came well after sundown. The moon is new, and I’m quite pleased with myself that I knew that and I fancy I anticipated what to do about it. The biggest trout on any river often refuse to ever come to the surface to feed, and they eat a lot at night and they eat fewer bugs and more big bites, like little fish and crayfish. Guys fish at night with streamers, which are big flies that imitate these big bites. Often the best fishing is under a big moon, when the streamers are easiest to see. I reasoned that under a dark moon, they might be wiling to come up closer to the surface where they could see the fly in very limited light. It worked or something did. I lost a couple but landed a fat 16 inch rainbow trout on a black leech streamer fished over a weed bed. That’s not one of the rivers biggest fish but it was my biggest one for Day 1, and I was pleased.
This river if famous for large fish on dry flies, but I haven’t succeeded at that yet. It’s also famous for difficult, frustrating, technical fishing, and I am learning all about that first hand.
I finally uploaded some pictures:
I was encouraged to take a picture of my stuffed truck when I left home.
This is the Snowy Range as seen from Laramie, WY.
I woke up way too early Thursday in Idaho Falls, so I took a walk down by the falls.
Can anyone identify this tree? I started to see it in Nebraska, I think, and it stands out because the leaves are a light dusty green.
This picture shows (sort of) the contrast with darker trees.
Hot air balloon over Idaho Falls.
My camp near the Henry's Fork. Yes, the mosquito candle was lit during the day yesterday. It's less buggy today for some reason.
Quaking aspens, which I can hear quaking from my bed.
Henry's Fork
Spot near the truck that looked fishy, but wasn't.
Real purdy weeds.
Purdy yellow weeds
Purdy purple weeds.
Purdy purple weeds only different.
Purdy red weeds.
One comment toward actually identifying a wild flower: this looks like Indian Paintbrush, I think, only smaller. This cluster of blooms is only 4-5 inches tall. Maybe it comes in different sizes.
The Henry's Fork flows thru a huge caldera, which is a valley of volcanic origin. At the upper end, it's not the most scenic mountain area. The peaks are in the distance to east and west but often cloaked in haze. The lower river is prettier.
I'm fishing part of the lower Henry's Fork tomorrow with a guide, which should be really exciting. Happy Independence Day!
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