The Henrys Fork

Last summer, I had the grand opportunity to fish one of fly fishing’s famed iconic waters, the Henry’s Fork. If you’re a fly fisher, chances are you have read, heard, and/or dreamed about this river at some point in your life.  As for me, I have read about and seen many pictures of this beautiful section of the Snake River, and wondered if I would ever get to fish it. Turned out, an opportunity to go to Idaho came, and of course, I didn’t hesitate. When the family and I departed last August, I was very excited. Thoughts of beautiful water with big rainbows sipping up mayfly duns raced my mind. This was a river my dad and grandpa fished, and to which I was envious of the stories they had.  Now it was finally my time to visit these iconic waters, and hopefully bring some Henry’s Fork trout to hand.

I woke up early that cool Thursday morning in August, keeping quiet to not wake the others.  I grabbed my gear off the front porch, and put it in my Chrysler 200 rental (not what you would call a “fishy” vehicle by any means, but it did the job. My destination was a section named coffee pot rapids. With a general knowledge of where I had to go, I was off. Driving down the dirt road I had to meander my way around numerous pot holes and water. I began to worry thinking my fancy rental car would not be able to make it through.  Luckily, however, the shiny rims trudged along. I eventually came to the parking lot and saw another vehicle their already. Dang! I thought to myself.  I parked regardless and set up my rod and camera. The scene was somewhat of an eerie one. There I was in what seemed the middle of nowhere, rod in hand walking on a small path, dead silence, with huge trees towering over me. I remember thinking to myself “I hope this is where I am supposed to be,” and, “hope there are no bears around.” Regardless, I kept trekking along and eventually heard water. I came upon a big cliff, and looked down and saw the dark waters of the Henry’s Fork. It was a beautiful scene. Towering cliffs surrounded the river below. I snapped a few photos and eventually made my way downstream a ways, wanting to get well below the two spin fisherman already on the river. I made my descent from the cliff and finally reached the river. I tied on my newly invented hopper pattern, with a stonefly dropper.  

The Henry’s Fork is a big river, especially to someone like me who lives in Southern Utah where there are no large rivers.  Fishing these big waters was a whole new ball game. First off, wading them is no easy task. Each step you take must be careful so you don’t end up on your back floating helplessly downstream. The second thing I find most difficult is knowing where the fish are in big rivers. With smaller rivers, its quite easy to find the holes where fish reside.  You can figure out the currents, seams, and drop offs pretty easily. With big rivers, I find it much more difficult to find these things.  I find myself fishing every foot of the river, trying to decipher current speed and depth.

I worked the middle of the river for a while, because it looked like a nice spot for a fish to hide out. It was somewhat shallow, and had good insect activity. I got a small bite but came unhooked shortly after. I decided to head on over to the left bank because there was a large rock on the bank that looked like it could hold a nice fish. I was twenty feet below the rock and made my first cast. Nothing. I made another cast and watched my hopper slowly. It sank abruptly, and I set the hook. Fish on.  This was a powerful fighting fish. After a quick fight, I brought the fish to hand. Not a huge fish, but sure fought like a twenty two incher. It was maybe sixteen inches, but beautiful and wild as ever. It was a perfect first fish for the Henry’s Fork, and one that I will never forget. With a quick release, I was eager to catch another making my way upstream. It was funny, soon after I caught that fish, the two spin fisherman camped on that hole casting their heavy lures for the next half hour. They had watched me bring in that nice rainbow and wanted a taste of their own. However, they never had any luck. I made sure to glance back once in a while to see if they had caught anything, much to my surprise, they did not. I chuckled to myself, and kept moving upstream.

By now, clouds were rolling in and distant thunder was echoing through the canyon. I had just reached the rapids portion of the section and was excited to try it (apparently I may have gone a little too far down stream and spent the first couple hours fishing quiet, calm water), oh well, it was still fun.  I was working a very deep run when all the sudden an extremely loud bout of thunder roared right over my head. It shook me, and I hurried and headed over to shore. I could tell that it was about to rain, and rain hard. Although I desperately wanted to wait the storm out and fish, I opted to leave, knowing the Chrysler's skimpy tires would probably not make it through the muddy road. My next rental better be a jeep or truck. I hurried out of there and got back to the cabin just in time as it was now raining quite hard.

It was a good first memorable trip on the Henry’s Fork. Although I only brought a couple fish to hand, it was well worth it. The scenery alone made for a great morning. You can be sure I will be back many more times. I hope to explore this river even more and find its hidden treasures. Until then, I’ll continue reading and looking at even more pictures of this magnificent picturesque fishery.

Enjoy the short video clip below of me catching the rainbow. Sorry in advance for the angle of the camera. I am new to the gopro camera and am still figuring out how best to use it.