Friday the 13th; bad day for fish!

...and good day for us!

We decided to go to the #1 rated river in North America, if not the world, in the Henry's Fork in Idaho. The only problem with this, as I pointed out early on, is that if a fisherman gets skunked on the best trout stream anywhere, what kind of a fisherman is he, or her?

Well, that was not to be a problem.

We received some nice local's advice about where to go, which is always helpful, and even more helpful, some suggestions on what to use. The fly of the day for me was a big yellow stimulator; these basically look like a cross between a large mayfly and a bee.

So when we went to the Box Canyon (usually accessed by driftboating), I caught a nice rainbow on about my 3rd cast with that fly. This was a beautiful river. Large and swift through the Box Canyon, you had to watch your footing. Trees on the bank made backcasting a challenge. I was able to land a couple more fish including one brook trout, that was quite gorgeous. Jamie landed a couple and Bill finally got his due as well. Colin was still finding it challenging, but his time would come later.

Next we went to a lower section of Henry's Fork off Scenic Byway 47 near fish hatchery ford. The river was much wider here; still a strong current, but clearly big river fishing. All the fish were hanging out in the shade near the far side of the river by the rocky vertical bank (we were sure), b/c we had no luck here. But we enjoyed watching the osprey fish, and saw an immature bald eagle calling for mama.

Colin became the photographer for a spell, and thanks to him, we finally have documentation that we did in fact flyfish on this trip! Colin is an aspiring photographer, and would like to investigate this as a possible career path. Judging by his photos, he certainly shows potential! (see above)

After grabbing pizza and a brew at the Wolf Pack Microbrewery in West Yellowstone, we were enticed to wet a line for a third time that day in the park section of the Gallatin. Fish fish everywhere, and I couldn't get one to bite! But Bill got a nice cutthroat (first native!) and Jamie had a sweet fish on. That fish was scared by the arsenal of toys he was carrying, and decided to toss the hook before getting any closer :) Colin finally caught a little rainbow on his last cast, and was a happy camper.