This post is pretty late but I’ve been swamped the past couple weeks with moving up to MD and getting started working. Brandon and I went out to the world famous Henry’s Fork of the Snake River in Idaho to help out on a study with Marine Ventures and the Henry’s Fork Foundation. Check out Marine Ventures Blog and the Henry’s Fork Foundation Calder Project Page for more information on our study. We were there for the week, June 14-20, and fished most days on the Ranch section. For two days we headed over to Yellowstone to fish the Firehole River.

It was my first time ever fishing out west, I am a North Carolina native and I have never fly fished for trout out of the state. We arrive at the Fork in the afternoon of June 14th and get the RV set up and ready for opening day of the Harriman State Park (Ranch section of the river). We get set up and I decided to fish upstream of the Ranch (legal year round). I casted my San Juan worm into several riffles and in the first hour hooked up on a nice fish. With the strong current (apparently not strong by Western standards–but stronger than anything I’ve fished back home) my 4wt was doubled over and after 4 jumps with the fish 2ft+ out of the water I landed this 16″ rainbow.

When I got back to parking lot with stories of the fish, I was told that it was “illegally” hooked. I was exposed to my first glimpse of “Dry Fly Fishermen”. It was interesting to see people that will only fish with dry flies to a rising trout—even if that means not catching fish or even not fishing. From what we were told in the parking lot no other fish was caught this day. I fished a little more this day but didn’t hook any more fish, but managed to snap my 4wt rod mid cast at the middle ferrule (probably a symptom of fighting the fish). We had a truckload of rods and I grabbed a 5wt that was better suited for this river.

On opening day at the Ranch, we geared up and walked down the banks to find a spot to fish. The river was super crowded this day with anglers staking their spots on the bank to watch for rising fish. We sat down and talked to one group of anglers for over an hour and it was amazing to hear their stories, each one of these three guys had been fishing the Fork for over 40 years—each had witnessed the river in its heyday with monster trout rising to the plentiful huge Green Drakes on opening day. This year, due to a late winter, the Green Drakes were not ready to come off.

We were disappointed to not see a single fish in the water all day, we only heard of 2 fish caught by these Fork veterans (we were hard pressed to find any anglers who had fished the river less than 25 years). We only fished a little this day, and none of our crew hooked a fish.

The following day, Monday June 16, was the same story. Only a few fish caught, no flies coming off and no fish in our group. We decided to head down the road to the lower section of the Ranch—we got to mud up our Suburban on the dirt road but that was the most exciting park of the day. While fishing the river Brandon flew over us taking pictures for an angler count on the river.


Word around the campground was that due to the cold water temperatures, fishing would not pick up for a few days.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we headed to Yellowstone to fish the Firehole and check out the park. We stopped by Bud Lily’s fly shop in West Yellowstone, Montana to get the scoop on hot flies for the river. We were sent off with Caddis, Royal Wulff’s, PMDs and Soft Hackles. We fished for about 30 minutes in strong winds with no sign of fish, but to our surprise a nice Caddis hatch came off and the fishing was on fire. We fished that hatch and got 9 fish between four of us in about 2 hours time. Below is a picture of Joe with a nice brown trout.

The next day on the Firehole was decent, no hatches coming off but a few fish were still willing to take Caddis dries. I fished a prince Nymph and got a few fish. The Firehole was a nice break from the technical fishing of the Henry’s Fork, but the fish were all small (only up to 10-11”).

On Thursday we headed back to the Ranch, while walking down the bank we spotted a few risers and decided to stop. We found one of the best pieces of river in the Ranch this day, three perfectly placed rocks created a 50ft long column of eddies. Many bugs were in the air this day, but we saw none on the water. We saw Caddis, PMDs, Flying Ants, and loads of mosquitoes. While waiting to cast to a riser we saw a friend from the campground with a rod doubled over up stream. He fought the fish, and it ran right through our staked out hole, a run of over 50 yards; the guy caught the fish and it measured 20” (check out the video of his catch here: Marine Ventures Foundation » Opening Day on the Ranch, 2008). We saw that he was using a Black Flying Ant, and I immediately tied one on. The fish in our hole settled down after about 15 minutes and started to rise again, I crept into the water and cast right where I wanted the fly, nothing. On my third cast to this spot this 12” rainbow took the fly.

Brandon then waded out and as soon as he got in the water the wind picked up—no more hatch or rising fish. We headed back in to get some lunch and work on the project some more.

The next day we trekked back to our same hole and saw tons of rising fish again. I cast out my PMD fly several times and hooked up on a nice fish, right at my feet this fish decided to come off the barbless hook, this fish was probably right at 14”. I missed my chance on that fish and sent Brandon in the water to catch him with Flying Ant tied on he hooked this fish in two casts.

I ended up landing two more fish in this spot, one around 10” and the other 12”.

The final day of the trip we headed back to the same spot but mostly to put the rest of the crew on fish. Slack lines and clumsy casts kept the fish from being landed this day, several fish were missed and one big one was broken off. It was time to head back east to give it a go in the saltwater…

The Henry’s Fork trip was the greatest fishing trip I’ve ever been on for sure. I had a great time and a caught a few fish. I would have loved to fish the river in its prime, when fish under 20” didn’t count, and the habitat was perfect for the big bugs that bring the big fish to the top. This was great technical river to fish if you ever get the chance. We weren’t able to find tons of fish on the Ranch section of the river but check out this video we made of the upper section, which has apparently great habitat for the fish here: Marine Ventures Foundation » Under the bridge.

A few more pictures from our trip:

Trout Hunter

Last Chance, ID

Scanning the River after Breakfast

Campground/parking lot where we stayed (we were the only guys there who hadn’t fished the fork for 25 years):

Trying to spot fish off the canyon on the Fork

Bison in the middle of the road in Yellowstone

Back to Fishing Travel Journal Homepage

**Comments due July 25, 2008**

George Washington’s favorite fish, the American shad, used to be so abundant that it supported the largest commercial fishery in the Mid-Atlantic. Shad were easily caught in rivers during their spring spawning migrations from the ocean, providing a staple food for many communities along the Atlantic seaboard. Sadly, because of years of overfishing, damming waterways and habitat destruction, many Americans have never seen a shad, either in the water or in the seafood market. Stocks have steadily fallen since the turn of the 20th century and are now at “all-time lows,” according to a recent stock assessment published by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). This news is alarming because shad, like other species in the herring family, are important forage fish throughout their range supporting many predators such as striped bass, sharks, bluefin tuna, king mackerel, shorebirds and porpoises.

In response to the assessment, the ASMFC has initiated Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Shad and River Herring, and is accepting public comment on a Public Information Document (PID) until July 25th. Regrettably, the issues selected for the PID do not address a key finding of the stock assessment team. After a brief period of shad recovery in the 1980s, the scientists found a new pattern of coastwide decline beginning in the late 1990s and early 2000s, suggesting that the problem is likely caused at sea, where stocks mix together on migrations to and from their summer feeding grounds that include the Gulf of Maine.

The stock assessment also indicated that the Atlantic herring fishery, which has been dominated by a fleet of mid-water trawlers operating in the Gulf of Maine since the late 1990s, could be responsible for “significant bycatch losses.” While directed ocean harvest of American shad is not permitted, fisheries are given a bycatch allowance of 5% by weight. Considering that the Atlantic herring fishery lands an average of 150 million pounds a years, a 5% shad allowance could translate into over 7 million pounds – that’s seven times the current annual landings from directed inland fisheries.

While shad bycatch at sea may be considerable, no measures have been taken to accurately quantify this bycatch. Observer coverage is poor, averaging less than 3% historically for pelagic fisheries that include Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel. Making matters worse, the National Marine Fisheries Service allows observers to use general categories such as “herring unknown” when classifying bycatch of shad, river herring and other small pelagic fish, so the individual species are lost in the system.

After 23 years of failed attempts, it’s time for the ASMFC to get serious about rebuilding American shad. Tell the ASMFC that a successful rebuilding plan for American shad must include measures to protect shad both in their riverine spawning grounds and in the ocean where they spend the majority of their lives.

Read the Public Information Document for Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Shad and River Herring at http://www.asmfc.org/speciesDocuments/shad/fmps/shadPIDforPublicComment.pdf

See a sample letter here

HOW TO SUBMIT COMMENTS:

Email to:     comments@asmfc.org   (subject line: American Shad)

Fax to:        202-289-6051

Mail to:       Erika Robbins
Fishery Management Plan Coordinator
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
1444 Eye Street NW, 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Comments must be received by July 25, 2008, 5:00 pm EST