Preface
Amigos Reid and Mel arrived the 12th of June at Salt Lake City International. After hitting Costco and loading up on food we made it to Victor and Mountain Nirvana in a heavy spring rainstorm. This has been an extremely wet and cool spring. And it has thrown off plans and hatches. Just two weeks prior we had to turn our entire trip around. Phase one of our trip was supposed to take place on the Flaming Gorge of the Green River. What caused a sudden change of plans was a delayed flush. The flush is comprised of several days of extremely high flows and it has taken place in recent years as a conservation measure to help repopulate an endangered sucker fish that lives downstream. We realized by reading online documents, that the flush was running late this year and could possibly occur during our visit. This would not only be disastrous for fishing but makes floating the Green dangerous as well. We also wanted a few days after the flush of normal flows to give the fish a chance to settle in. So, just a week prior to our trip we changed the order. Fish the Henry’s Fork first and the Green River second. Originally, I felt the dates we set for the Green historically were in the range for the cicada hatch. I was also looking at the 15th for the opening of the Ranch and dates following to be ideal for the Green Drake hatch on the lower sections of the HF.
Below, I will document another Epic Three Amigos Fishing Safari. We pulled it off in spite of a record winter in the Rockies, a very cool. wet spring and a late flush on the Green.
Part 1 – Henry’s Fork, Idaho
22nd – 26th Day Fly Fishing 2023
The Teton Valley portion of the summer of ’23 Amigos trip was unique in that we ultimately spent 5 days fishing the Henry’s Fork(HF). The Teton river was blown out and the South Fork was running high and the fishing reports that week were just so-so. It was a nymphing game and there weren’t any reports of topwater action. Also, the first day, an Ora to Chester float yielded some promising results. Because of that success, we ended up floating the HF four times! It was our best shot at dry fly action and, as the rower and guide, I only fish when the boat is parked and I felt like I did well, landing 1-3 quality fish each day. Most were taken on a caddis dry fly and one on a swung soft hackle.
Surprisingly, even with caddis everywhere and some good stonefly activity, our best results were on nymphs. Day after day we saw guides with their clients on the bank, boat parked and client casting at a rising brown. We saw a few fish caught this way but it took a lot of patience. I was looking for heads near the bank as well. Being the rower, this is when I got a chance to fish. I got one big brown to eat using this approach, but also found a secret, not so secret spot, where I landed two big browns one evening.
One big advantage to floating the same section four days out of five is that you pick things up. I got better at reading water and if we fished a productive run one day, I made sure to cover it again the next. Then I would look for other stretches with similar traits. It dawned on me that this is how guides get so good on a stretch of river. It is that repetition, testing what works and what doesn’t.
Got the fish above swinging a soft hackle with my 3wt G2
Part 2 – Green River, the A Section
27th and 28th Day Fly Fishing 2023
Last fall, in early November, the Amigos fished the Green after a few days in West Yellowstone. It takes effort and lots of extra driving to fit the Green into our itinerary. Five extra hours driving from Victor, Idaho to Dutch John, Utah. We knew we had a tough go last fall. This year being an odd year as well with record snowpack and delayed hatches.
This outing, I thought that I had timed the Cicada hatch(I know it is s stretch calling it a hatch, because cicadas are terrestrials. They don’t hatch in water, they hatch on land. But, humor me) well but it came later. We had to change our plans anyway because the “flush” which is supposed to happen in late May, happened in June this year. The flush raises the flows to 8000cfs! no bueno! So to net it out, we switched our dates in Dutch John from mid-June to a week later. Basically put the Green trip after the Henry’s Fork trip, originally it was the other way around.
The fishing was rough. The cicadas were entirely absent. Mayfly hatches were brief and extremely sparse. At the end of the day we spent a fair amount of time in the grotto. We found a few risers and we were able to get eats. A size 18 CDC medium dun wing with a body in olive worked fairly well. In general if the fly was presented correctly, and the fish actually saw it, she would come up and eat. The grotto saved a relatively slow day. We started off with nymph rigs, utilizing a long bounce rig leader with two big shots on the bottom. At the top of the A section, we went with a scud and a mayfly nymph, both recommended at the Trout Creek Flies fly shop. A couple hundred yards down, Reid hooked up on the scud and landed a nice brown. We thought, oh boy, we got this dial in! However, that brown was an outlier. A ways down we changed up the rig, dumping the scud. Nothing. Mel was on a dry fly for at least half of the float, swicthing up patterns fairly often.
On day two Mel was a bit under the weather, so Reid and I headed out alone. Again, nymphing at top, occasionally changing it up and trowing dry flies. We did have a few rising trout, and when we did, we would anchor up and cast. We felt that we had the right fly but it was very tough getting an eat. A few drift boats that went by us had their clients on a white fly, or possibly a parachute fly with a big white cotton ball on top. Anyway, we did see a few fish landed using this fly. We weren’t sure what it was and the guides weren’t really talking. The most exciting action came when we posted up on river right. There were several fish rising regularly. It was crazy but we found it next to impossible to get a drag free drift. We learned that if you didn’t get it right on the first three drifts, the fish will refuse the rest. I had a couple of eats, but could not connect. Reid had difficulty as well.
Back in the grotto on day two, there were fewer fish rising and therefore fewer chances. But we did finally manage a few.
