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1. Dick Vitale is hired to host Fly-Fishing Survivor: Big Horn River.
2. Hollywood Celebrities complete the acquisition of south western Montana, turn their eyes on Wyoming and Idaho.
3. THe national guide-to-client ratio finally reaches 1:1.
4.Bill Dance takes over the Walker's Cay Chronicles.
5. Two words: Designer breatheables.
6. Hordes of teenyboppers take up the sport, following the runaway success of MTV's "Pimp My Drift boat."
7. The Micro-Nano, the world's first subatomic fly rod, debuts at the FFR Show.
8. Lefty gets tangled in his own backcast, Dick Talleur loses the ability to dub, and Bill Tapply starts an article with the sentence "Well, dude, we were, like, you know, fishing this one time, and we, like, got totally bored and, like, whatever."
9. A River Runs through it becomes a Broadway musical starring Nathan Lane.
10. Cortland introduces the 666 series of fly lines.
Courtesy of American Angler, May 06'
Bump
I ended up staying out there for another two and a half hours and didn't catch anything. I had tons of rises and looks, but they all turned away and didn't take. I switched to a size 20 parachute, to a BWO emerger 22, to a hare's ear 18 and finally to a midge emerger 20. The Adams and the midge saw lots of interested trout, but they too turned away.
In the end I fished for three hours and had one fish. In reality, I fished for two and a half hours and had no fish. So, my question is; is it better to catch one fish and then spend all afternoon hoping for another, or is it better to catch no fish and spend the afternoon doing something "productive"? Obviously, it's better to catch the one fish.
If you mention the “Henry’s Fork” in any western fly shop you are bound to attract some attention. This month on the Henry’s is my favorite time of year to fish. The stoneflies come out in droves to be devoured by any fish wanting our equivalent of a large T-bone steak (the average stonefly looks like it could carry off a small child).
Being a "fly guy," bugs have never bothered me, but it took me a few times of fishing this hatch to get used to them even landing on me. When the hatch begins it looks like a multitude of B52 bombers flying above your head. It’s a bizarre feeling to catch a brawny trout and feel the stoneflies crawling around in it’s belly before you release it.
My favorite area to fish the Henry’s is around the power dam at Ashton, it turns the water below into a tail water. The water temperature is constant providing a fertile environment for abundant aquatic life. I believe this part of the river is richer than any place else, including Box Canyon. Even though it doesn’t enjoy the protection of special regulations, there are still plenty of large trout.
The snow pack this year was impressive leading to what should prove to be a LONG runoff. Generally the "Stones" begin to emerge toward the end of May. Every year depending upon runoff the hatch times vary with water level and temperature. My advice is to try and hit the hatch at the beginning. The hatch can last a couple of weeks and eventually turn into a artificial hatch for a few day’s, but the fish seem to be much more aggressive at the beginning of the hatch. You can imagine that it doesn’t take many "Stones" to fill up a 16 inch trout so try to be on the water before the hatch kicks off for the day. If anyone is interested we’ll keep you updated on the blog of the runoff’s progress, so you can be there when the action begins.
During the spawn the fish are more likely to strike, as they are holding territory and protecting their eggs. The most productive techniques are fishing poppers and heavy streamers very slowly in shallow water. The fish often hit very lightly so watch your leader and line for movement and set the hook hard.