A Morning on the Henry’s Fork
It’s Green Drake time on the Henry’s Fork. This year they are running a little behind their normal schedule, but better late than never. A couple days ago my brother, Tom, and I walked into the Ranch with hopes of discovering some of this Drake activity. The day was a warm one—the warmest of the year—and the skies were clear. At ten o’clock sharp, the mayflies appeared. Fish began to rise.
But that was just one part of an interesting morning. For it wasn’t only Green Drakes that were on the water. Alongside them, emerging en masse, were Hydropsyche caddis. As I watched both hatches unfold (all the while casting to feeding fish), the caddis began stealing more of my interest. That’s because it was apparent that this wasn’t some ordinary, run-of-the-mill caddis hatch. This was different. This was a monster emergence; a river-blanketing phenomenon. The kind of emergence the Henry’s Fork used to experience regularly (and which we took for granted). The kind of hatch I hadn’t seen in years.
This was heartening, because for quite some time I've been noticing (as have other area anglers) a decline in caddis activity in many Yellowstone area rivers. The great caddis rivers—Henry’s Fork, Madison, Yellowstone—seem to be living with reduced numbers of caddis. (The one exception I know of is the Firehole, where Nectopsyche populations—a warmer water caddis—have exploded. Unfortunately, their blossoming runs concurrent with the decline of Hydropsyche. It’s as though one species has simply replaced the other.)
I know that witnessing a caddis hatch like this one likely means nothing as far as populations go. Still, it was a great hatch. If you’re wondering how the fish reacted to it, well, they could not have cared less. Never appeared to even give the Hydropsyche so much as a glance. No, it seemed that the Henry’s Fork rainbows had appetites for one thing only: Green Drakes.
Well, sort of. It wasn’t the clumsy, hop-scotching Drake duns that the fish were after (those fell victim—in droves—to the gulls and blackbirds). Rather, the fish wanted Green Drake nymphs. Nymphs and nothing but nymphs, for the entirety of the hatch. So that’s what we gave them; nymphs in the film. Cast after cast after cast. I don’t know how many casts we had to make for each of the fish we caught, but trust me that it was plenty. In the end, I thought it was some of the most difficult Drake fishing I’d ever seen.
Our problem lay not with our flies—these were proven imitations—but rather with the way the fish were feeding. They would rise once and then move. Then another rise and another move. Rise, move. Rise, move. That’s how it went for over two hours.
So we cast and recast, never really knowing for sure where the fish were, but always knowing where they weren’t (the spot of their previous rise). From experience we could tell which direction the fish were moving when they rose (see a blog post on this subject earlier this year) and that at least helped us narrow the possibilities for our casts. Whether that made a difference or not, I don’t know. I like to think it did.
The fish we landed were not exceptional by Henry’s Fork standards. At least not exceptional in size. But that couldn't have mattered less. They were still wild and hard-won. Trout which took some real catching. The kind of trout which, in our minds, will always be trophies. Especially on the Henry’s Fork.
(Click on View Full Post to see photos.)
Here are some Green Drake nymphal shucks, which retain basically all the features of the mature nymphs.
A Henry's Fork rainbow and the Green Drake nymph that he was caught on.
A fine Henry's Fork rainbow taken on a Drake nymph.
Comments
I have fished the recent Green Drake hatch and have notice the last few years, the tendency of the fish to take a bug and move. I believe the fish have learn to move after a rise since a stationary feeder has found out that sometimes their food prey will strike back and pull them into a net.
By John Slatosky on 07/06 2011
John, Great story. I find your observation regarding the caddis very interesting. My home river used to have great caddis hatches in the Wind River Canyon—you had trouble keeping your windshield clean driving through in the dusk. For the past decade—coinciding nicely with a tough drought and low water conditions winter and summer-the caddis had all but disappeared. I happened to drive through the canyon a week ago and it was like old times-swarms of caddis-the front of my vehicle was blanketed with them. We have had very good water years the past two years—again winter and summer and my anecdotal hypothesis is that the good flows have allowed the caddis to return for the time being anyway to the pre-drought years. It will be interesting to see if the fish respond to them. If the caddis continue on the HF most of the summer will the fish respond to them once the Green Drakes have passed? Great stuff to think about. Thanks, Bill
By Bill Williams on 07/07 2011
Great report John. I am heading up the road in the morning on my way for a week in Yellowstone country. Do you have a favorite Green Drake nymph pattern that you’ve had success with? Any suggestions on another river that is clearing and fishable? I plan on stopping by the shop for some up to the minute intel.
Thanks, Ken
By Ken Lindsay on 07/07 2011
John,
This movement of Henry’s Fork fish while feeding is quite common. It can be caused by anglers, certain insects (and certain stages of insects; mayfly spinners, for instance), current speed, and localized habitat.
Bill,
As always, thanks for reading. I’d like to hear more about the caddis on the Wind this year if you have a chance. Yes, fish on the Fork are avid caddis feeders; they’re eating them well at times right now.
Ken,
I like a brown dubbed body, black foam wingcase, and dark hackle in front of the wingcase. I like jackdaw hackle but any short, dark hackle will work just fine. In the close-up photo, the hackle on my fly has broken—you can see that it appears to be on the top of the fly. This is basically a Skues type nymph, but I fish it more on the surface than below (and always to a feeding fish).
By John Juracek on 07/08 2011
With all the high water this year I spent three weeks trucking down to the Henry’s Fork, first from Ennis and then Slide Inn. It was worth it - I took fish on everything from baetis (the third week in June), to caddis, rusty spinners (really successful), green drakes and pmds. The fish were moving, in fact I decided to forego casting to rises and cast (3/4/ down when I could get into position)into a 6 or 7 sq foot area where they seemed to be rising. When I got fortunate to have my fly drift over a fish at the right time, they took aggressively. It did take a LOT of casts but the rewards were terrific - fish over 20’ are well worth the effort especially when they go polaris missile on the hook set. Keep up the great work on the blog, I really enjoy your reviews of equipment, they have helped me make some decisions.
By Bob Kai on 07/27 2011
Bob,
Thanks for your comments. Glad you had good fishing, too.
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