Blog

Saturday, May 24th, was the Idaho general fishing season opener and anglers across the state were greeted with high, and in most cases, muddy water due to the Spring snow melt. The Henry's Fork was no exception. In spite of the higher than normal flows the Box Canyon, which has clear water by the way, fished OK. Big stonefly nymphs fished deep and streamers were the ticket for opening day and should continue to be the flies of choice over the next week. The water in the upper Henry's Fork, though high, has remained clear and fishable. However, access to the river in the Wood Road 16 to Warm River section remains difficult to impossible due to lingering snow and extremely wet and muddy road and trail conditions. The water in the Warm River to Ashton section is high and off color but it has fished well over the past week, including opening day. Again, stonefly nymphs, combined with a smaller beadhead nymph, has produced fish, as has streamers. A few adult salmonflies were spotted and a few few nice fish were even caught on the big dries. If the weather warms up for a few days, expect the salmonflies to pop. The Ashton to Chester section is high and off color but has produced a few fish with big stonefly nymphs and streamers. Fishing below Chester is pretty much impossible right now due to high flows and dirty water. Henry's Lake opened Saturday to mixed reviews. I talked to several fishermen who said they had great luck fishing various scud patterns and big Chironomids. I also talked to a number of fishermen who said they had a real slow day for the opener. It looks like our season is going to be a little slow to get going due to the above average snow pack we had this winter and a cool and wet Spring. However, all this water bodes well for the coming season and should produce excellent water conditions throughout the Summer and into the Fall.
-Rick Smith

Each Spring Rene, Marty and I manage to get out on the water in late May for a few hours.  The ritual, which is always met with great anticipation, is predictable:  We meet at TroutHunter and buy a few gigantic orange flies, proceed to the Grubstake to load up on Natty Lites and ice, then laugh our way down the Mesa Falls scenic byway.  Inevitably we stop at to feed the fish at the Warm River Bridge.  This stretch is closed to fishing and loaded with big trout.  Marty, armed with a small bag of dog food, works the fish into a frenzy.  Watching dozens of fish rise aggressively to dog food makes us anxious to wet our lines.

At the Warm River boat ramp we casually gear up and chat with fellow anglers that we have not seen for months.  This year the friendly faces are those of Jimmy Gabettas, who owns Jimmy's All Season Angler in Idaho Falls, and the seasoned Henry's Fork guide Doug Gibson.  Eventually Marty launches the boat.  He always starts on the oars. Rene always puts his vest over the back seat as soon as we get out of the truck, kindly deferring the bow to me.

We sit rather than stand to fish, a seemingly relaxed posture that is quickly usurped by the frantic first casts against the bank.  It doesn't take long to put a few Rainbows and even a Brookie in the net.  The sun breaks through about a mile into to this year's float.  The Salmonflies react by helicoptering en masse.  It is an exciting reunion with the enormous insect that marks the onset of another season.  The fishing goes in spurts.  There are stretches during which we methodically cast for minutes to no avail and other periods during which Rene and I hit several fish on a single bank.  After landing a nice Brown, I take the oars and force Marty into the bow.

It doesn't take long before a big trout slams Marty's big dry.  "He took it like dog food", Marty screams...

-Rich Paini

Another morning shared with the mosquitoes!! It's 5:30am and Ned and I are getting ready to launch the boat for my third and final day in the glades. The tides will be low between now and about 10am. He fires up the Yamaha and idles through the Manatee zone between us and the Tarpon. The first two spots we check show little promise. The third spot we checked, that looked the same as the first two in my opinion, gave us a bit more hope. As Ned steered the boat around a mangrove point and cut the motor, there she was.

Within seconds of him pointing out the area we should see fish, a large head and a beautiful set of fin and tail cut the surface of the water in half. The pole hit the water, and we moved toward the ripples where the fish had shown. The air bubbles the fish had released hit the surface and gave me a mark on which to cast. As my heart stopped............. and then started pounding, I stuck the fly on the bubbles. Strip, strip, strip, GET HER!! GET HER!! Ned yelled and I stripped as hard as I thought I could and started ripping the rod to the side to set the hook even better.

The next thing I saw was the water explode as if a drag car was leaving the starting line! Ned was yelling "Tarpon on the fly!!, Everglades style!!" as the fish was clearing the line from the deck at high speed. Then, all hell broke loose. "GET READY FOR THE J..." Before Ned could get the word "jump" from his mouth, plus or minus 60lbs of Tarpon went leaping into the air. That moment was the reason I travelled to the Everglades. On about the third arial head shake, and before I knew what happened, the fly line was traveling back toward the boat as fast as it had left..............without a Tarpon on the other end.

When the smoke had settled, I looked back at Ned and wished I could have seen the smile on my own face. How could I be upset? It was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had with a fly rod in my hand. Later that day, we had a 10-15 pounder to the boat, but lost the hook-up before we got a hand on the fish for a pic. We also had some fun hooking a couple more in the 5-10 lb range. I'll tell you what, I got a lesson in how hard the mouth of a Tarpon really is. It's true that jumping them is the biggest part, but landing them is something I'll have to wait until next year to accomplish.

The snook fishing was great, and Ned helped me hook and land my first Redfish. Shallow water, and very visual, the Redfish and Snook are second to none as far as sight fishing is concerned. The "Everglades Slam" as locals call it consists of Snook, Redfish and Tarpon. What more can you ask for? Can't wait to head back next year and inspect one of those Tarpon while I've got one in my hands! To those of who've read these "Everglades" blogs, thanks for your time.

Jake Chutz