Submitted by TRR Outfitters on
It has been a little while since our last fishing report. That being said, not much changed around here during the month of September, until now. Hoppers are still around, and they’ll still fish well on a bright (warm) day with a slight breeze. A good all around pattern for this summer to fall transition period is the venerable orange Chubby Chernobyl (size 10-12). It’s still kind of hopper season, but it’s also kind of October caddis season, but it’s still not solidly one or the other. The orange Chubby will work for either one (color up the bottom a little with a black Sharpie if you need to make it look a little more October caddis-ish).
Fish one of these big bugs with a size 14 or 16 Jig Head Pheasant Tail as a dropper. Mahoganies of this size are starting to show up, and though they may not be emerging heavily yet, you can bet your boots that the nymphs are present all over the subsurface. Another dropper to run would be the Split Back BWO (blue winged olive) nymph in an 18 or 20. The duns have been emerging in the mornings on the sunny days, and all day long on the cloudier days. Catch a cloudy day in the mid 50s to 60s, and it’s game on with blue wings. We have a killer Hackle Stacker BWO, plus Hi-Viz parachutes, and a variety of BWO cripples and emergers at the Ashton shop.
Warm River to Ashton has been the most consistent fish catching stretch. A lot of these fish are smaller, but there are some nice ones to be caught. Fishing streamers on a cloudy day has been catching a lot of nice fish. The orange Chubby-dropper rig has been a surefire producer as well. This section has a lot of structure in the middle of the river, so if you’re floating, don’t just mindlessly pound the banks. A lot of fish are to be had in the middle too.
Below Ashton:
Ora to Chester has had some awesome BWO action in the early mornings and on cloudy days. Focus on the flats between Ora and Vernon. As the day goes on, switch it up to the old Chubby-dropper. Look for fishing eating on top once the water starts to back up in the Chester backwater area. The old rusty spinner or CDC Para Spinner (sizes 18 and 16) is a pretty consistent producer in here.
Chester to Fun Farm:
Fish hangout in weird places in the Chester to Fun Farm stretch, so thinking outside the box will serve you well. Same program down here, BWOs and Mahogany patterns are a good bet, along with the Chubby-dropper. The water is low, so your dropper needn’t be all that deep. There are a few obvious flats to fish (the one below the Chester Wetlands headquarters building comes to mind) where you should be able to find some fish up and eating. Since there are a lot of browns down here, this whole stretch of river is productive on streamers as well. Once you get down to the flat just above the last island, pay close attention; there are probably rising fish here. Finally, when you get the Fun Farm backwaters, there will almost certainly be rising fish. You can throw everything in your box at this guys, but it seems best to do a really small spinner pattern. (a size 20 trico spinner looks darn similar to a size 20 baetis spinner.)
by Daniel Lane
Henry’s Fork Realtime Stream Flow
Lower Henry’s Fork Hatch Chart
Upper Henry’s Fork Hatch Chart
