News and Fishing Reports

Box Canyon: The “Box” has been fishing very well with adult Golden Stone imitations, small beadhead nymphs, rubberlegs and streamers. You might want to avoid the “Box” on weekends due to the large number of recreational floaters, but weekdays have been fine. In fact, I was shuttling a few of our guides vehicles last week, and I was shocked at how few people were actually floating the “Canyon” given the excellent fishing that has been available.

Last Chance/Railroad Ranch: The Last Chance section has been the place to be over the past couple of days due to the emergence of the Flavs. Fish PMD and Flav spinners in the mornings and evenings, and look for Flav adults mostly in the evenings. However, if it gets cloudy/overcast look for Flav adults as early as one or two in the afternoon. Fishing continues to be productive in the mornings and evenings with PMD spinners from the Islands downstream to the Third Channel. Look for Callibaetis spinners around Millionaire’s Pool and the Third Channel area from late morning to early afternoon. The Wood Road 16 area has been good early and late with PMD spinners and small, size 20, Black Caddis. Look for PMD adults mid-day and don’t forget your beetles, ants, and hoppers for this part of the day in this section of the river.

Riverside to Warm River: Nothing much has changed from my last report regarding this section of the Henry’s Fork. This is a great section of the river to get away from the crowds and enjoy some fun fishing in solitude.

Warm River to Ashton: Like the Box Canyon this part of the river has been very, very consistent. At this point of the summer, you can expect to catch lots of medium to small-sized trout and a good many whitefish. You may not catch the biggest fish of your life down here right now, but you will have action all day. No one technique is producing any better than another. This is the time of year that I think strictly dry flies, but if you don’t mind catching as many or more whitefish than trout, fish a couple of small beadhead nymphs under an indicator. Streamer fishing will generally produce the fewer but larger fish.

Ashton to Saint Anthony: I’m not going to say that you can’t catch fish down on this section of the river, but it has become mostly a morning and late evening affair down here.

Falls River: I was up on the Falls this past week and I had great dry fly fishing on Stimulators and Trudes, and I had the fishing all to myself. The water is still high for this time of year, but it is more than manageable. One word of caution! The mosquitoes were present in epic numbers. Don’t forget your bug dope if you decide to fish anywhere along this river.

Henry’s Lake: Henry’s is producing the best fishing in years. If you gave up on the lake because of the poor fishing over the past three or four years do yourself a favor and give it a try this year. I don’t think you will be disappointed. There is a large concentration of fish (and boats) around Targhee Creek. Fish chironomids under an indicator, or strip leeches, Mighty Mouse, PT's, and Renegades. The damsels have just begun, and should provide some great fishing over the weed beds.

Madison River (Montana): As incredible as it may seem, there are still salmon flies hatching on the Madison. The hatch is concentrated from Quake Lake down to the West Fork area. Look for the big bugs to hatch any day now between Hebgen and Quake. In addition to the salmon flies there are PMD’s, Caddis, Golden Stones, Yellow Sallies and Epeorus mayflies also on the water. Water flows are now a little below average and the fishing has been excellent.

Yellowstone National Park: There are excellent fishing opportunities right now on the Gallatin, Slough Creek, Soda Butte and Lamar rivers in the park. Be prepared for crowds, and have an assortment of small attractor patterns, Grey Drakes, Green Drakes, Caddis and PMDs.