Henry's Fork River, Fishing

Henry's Fork River, Fishing
Two different sections of the river fished, upper & lower. Had a large fish break a hook! Not sure how big it was or how much maybe a prior snag had weakened the hook, but that was a first for me.
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[@harkenm]

My favorite river of all time.

[@fuciledacaccia]

By the way, I love that you share info with other fly fishers!!

[@johndoody7526]

Even if I caught no fish I would be at peace fishing such a beautiful place.GREAT video as always PD.Thank You for all the work you put into producing first class videos for us. Very Appreciated.

[@purpledrakefishing]

Thanks John! love the feedback! makes me want all the more to put out better videos each time 🍻🍻

[@powderbeast5598]

The fishing road trip continues, 😄👍. The famous 'hatch ' !

[@purpledrakefishing]

The salmonfly hatch is definitely overhyped IMO, I have yet to see them come back to egg lay. Hard to time just right!

[@fuciledacaccia]

John, There have been many days when I caught no fish, but I was happy to be on a trout stream, and in such a beautiful environment!!

[@luv2flynfish990]

Love the vid of the flies you’re using now, PD! Thanks for doing that!

[@purpledrakefishing]

Thanks LUV2FF! I plan to start showing better close up of the flies and talk more about them too in the future. Also will start experimenting more with new patterns.

[@jred5153]

Nice Stuff. My time there was less active until I started swinging wet flies, then the bite was on. Glad you hooked up. Cheers

[@purpledrakefishing]

Thanks Red! I fished wets for the first time a few days ago on the Firehole and did well. Going to start to learn how to fish them this summer.

[@stevel3o7]

Another great video, coffee pot and Henry’s Fork area are great, , last visit was 20 years ago. The hook hit rocks more than we think. Am sure that helps them break,,,, always on a big fish in swift water.

[@purpledrakefishing]

Thanks Steve 🍻 I forgot about the type of rocks as well which were present at Coffee Pot--they were a strange lava rock where the hook point would sometimes dig into on snags.

[@driftstone]

That's a big river in some beautiful mountains. Crazy that hook broke at the end. You'd expect it would bend out before breaking!

[@harkenm]

I’ve had fish straighten my hook before in this river.

[@purpledrakefishing]

Agree, I would have thought the same too. I have had hooks straighten out before on the euro style hooks at size 18, but never had one break before. I am thinking it was either a defective hook or I had weakened it on a snag beforehand. Either way, it was a very large fish though I am not sure how large.

[@fuciledacaccia]

Love small streams; don't care much for big water! I heard an old adage once, "Trout don't live in ugly places!" I think it must be true! There is no place I would rather be, than on a trout stream in the mountains!

[@fuciledacaccia]

Thank you, PD!

[@TheStratfanatic]

Great video....White fish are good...at least they only hang out in good water.

[@PeachyFlyFishing]

Nice, good fish you hooked at the end there!

[@purpledrakefishing]

Thanks Peachy! 🍻🍻

[@ibookje]

The upper part of the HF, you really need to know your way. Can be intimidating as I've found out a few years ago 😀

[@beo77]

Nice upload. The commentary is very informative. I always get a little nervous with downstream hook sets and big fish. Do you carry bear spray when you fish the middle and upper Henry’s Fork? I have fished below Ashton dam solo wading where I landed some monster rainbows but that area didn’t feel remote. We have black bears here in upstate NY and NJ and although I have encountered them, I never worry since they try to avoid humans . Brown bears, I worry. I foolishly tried to cross the river just below Ashton dam and barely made it back from the middle. That wading staff gave me a sense of false security. Anyways, keep them videos coming!

[@purpledrakefishing]

Thanks Sung! 🍻 Yes, I was carrying bear spray and the upper Henry's Fork is grizzly country. Below Ashton you don't have to worry about them though. A fisherman was killed by a grizzly near West Yellowstone (close to the upper HF) while fishing the Madison in late April. Agree about brown bears, they are unpredictable and can charge/be on you in an instant. Black Bears have never concerned me too much. I had a similar experience trying to cross the Truckee years ago, and am always weary now of risky wading. I realized I was in trouble about halfway and turned around and had to tip toe while moving downstream for a little bit and barely made in back! Got some water into my chest waders and almost had to swim.

[@beo77]

@@purpledrakefishing Yes I read about that, and he had a lot of experience in that area so you just never know. The locals tell me several people always drown every year on the snake and henry's fork. I guess I will have to live vicariously through your videos, or just float the upper Henry's fork. Thanks for responding.

[@bobreuss8229]

Love coffee pot campground fishing

[@fuciledacaccia]

I have seriously thought of renting a place, but my wife wouldn't go for a month!

[@outdoorswithangel]

My favorite youtuber

[@purpledrakefishing]

🍻🍻

[@fishingwithdrake8090]

I have moved! Fishing With Drake is the new channel 🍻

[@purpledrakefishing]

Got the old channel back--will be posting videos here again!

[@adventurfly879]

The skinny rainbows are due to spring spawning. They spawn in April and may

[@purpledrakefishing]

Makes sense--surprised they chose that area to spawn! water was ripping through there. Maybe they were post spawn and trying to fatten back up?

[@adventurfly879]

@@purpledrakefishing yea I belive that's probably correct...

[@flowflyfishing2131]

Great video PD, thanks for sharing. It's a beautiful river in a amazing forest. In the middle while you were fishing the rapid area, I saw a lot of insects in the air. Do you remember what they were? To bad the hook broke.

[@purpledrakefishing]

Thanks Flow 🍻 Those were mother's day caddis buzzing around the bushes. They were thick in some spots but absent for most of the river. They last a little longer on the Henry's Fork than on other rivers.

[@flowflyfishing2131]

@@purpledrakefishing In David Hughes book, he has a sweet mothers-day caddies and an easy midge pattern by Slyvester Nemes'. Both look really effective.

[@fuciledacaccia]

I have thought of going up there , or Idaho, but after contacting the Chamber of Commerce, found that waters , open to the public, were few and far between, so ended up not going! What do you think?

[@purpledrakefishing]

There is lots of water open to the public. All the good rivers have lots of access though some are better than others. Idaho & Montana have excellent angler access laws (high water mark). There are a lot of smaller streams and rivers that are private but the the ones that have good fishing are few.

[@fuciledacaccia]

PD, What do you do that allows you to fish so much? I am retired , and I don't have time to fish that much! You fish Norcal, the Sierras, Montana, etc. I have always wanted to fish the Armstrong , Henry's fork, Gallatin, but am old now and never had the opportunity. Lived in Colorado for ten years, but was raising a family, and didn't have the money or time.

[@purpledrakefishing]

Retired, but I never married/no kids. You should think of renting an airbnb for a month in montana or idaho next summer 🍻

[@wettywet7155]

Do the rivers fish well in mid may? I planned on fishing that section of the coffee pot rapids.

[@purpledrakefishing]

In general mid may will be runnoff and the rivers in the area will be tough fishing. The Henry's Fork above Box Canyon in mid May (including coffee pot) aren't as hard hit by runnoff as other rivers though and the fishing should be decent there despite the higher flows. I fished Coffee Pot toward the end of May and there were salmonflies and mother's day caddis. Above and below coffee pot there is more spring creek type water that isn't too affected by the higher flows. Here is a good site for fishing reports in which you can check past years to get an idea of the conditions: www.henrysforkanglers.com/fishing-info/fishing-reports

[@wettywet7155]

@@purpledrakefishing thank you man! I appreciate your time.

[@patsheridan]

Hey PD. Thanks! That section you were fishing at the last looked really good. Slightly off-color water tho. Were you using the same flies, the #12 rubber legs and blow torch ? And what was your tippet size? Thanks again. Hope to get up there in that area in the next couple weeks.

[@purpledrakefishing]

You're welcome! That was the Coffee Pot Rapids section. Takes a hike through grizzly bear country to get to though. I was using a rubber legs but switched the other fly often--the blow torch was one of them.

[@lennavitsky4054]

Ok, here i go again.can you tell me where that first section is located..i fish box canyon a lot but looking for some more gentle flows for my daughter to fish..thanks Len

[@harkenm]

Anything below the box will be gentle. Upper is as well, but it’s very technical dry fly fishing.

[@purpledrakefishing]

No worries Len, Harken has good advice below. That first section is no secret and it gets hammered by the drift boats day in day out--it is along Fisherman's Way above Ashton. You can hike upstream into the canyon too from where Warm River enters the Henry's Fork. If you get there early and fish lower down on it, you can avoid the boat traffic. A great spot to take your daughter with some gentler flows would be right where Box Canyon starts upstream of the "city" section of Last Chance. The water there has some chop but is gentle currents. Of course below that is where the famous Ranch and the spring creek section is for some miles. The upper like Harken said has slow flows except for the short section of the Coffee Pot Rapids, which was where I was fishing. I saw some decent rises along the trail there from the campground as I made my way to the rapids. Nearby on the Buffalo River there is spring creek like flows and no crowds for easy to catch small brook trout on dries.

[@lennavitsky4054]

@@harkenm thanks.i' m very familiar with those sections..was just wondering about that lower part of river..never fished other then the island park area..thanks agsin

[@lennavitsky4054]

@@purpledrakefishing thanks so much..i have fished that lower section of box .just looking for more variety on the river and im not familiar with anything below the Ranch..took my daughter on her first trip last sept and we hit the upper madison, box canyon and the bottom of box..waters were low so not bad for her but as expected ,madison was a hell of an introduction..thanks again..enjoy your vids

[@harkenm]

@@lennavitsky4054 the lower section provides some incredible dry fly fishing for a couple hours in the morning and evening. You can explore the banks with a dry dropper. It can be very good the farther you walk. The average fish is easily 20”z

[@mrlahey586]

Damn I hate hot spotting social media fishermen. So glad I grew up on and fished that river before the hoards of social media idiots found out about it.

[@purpledrakefishing]

Henry's Fork has been crowed for decades after thousands of magazine, newspaper articles, ect. It is one of the most publicized rivers ever... but you are so smart you probably already knew that 👌

[@mrlahey586]

@@purpledrakefishing "its been crowded for decades" says the johnny come lately twenty something year old social media fishermen. LMAO!!!!!!

[@purpledrakefishing]

@@mrlahey586 Welcome to the 21st century Buck Rogers 😂

[@briggs13a]

i agree ,i dont understand i think its weak.After covid these guys will be back at the bars with there BFs ,just like after the river runs thru it craze.