Some Things to Consider

Join Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures for a hands-on, adventure-filled outdoor and fishing photography workshop in Island Park, Idaho. This six-night / five-day school will take place at Elk Creek Ranch August 24 - 30, 2017 and hosted by Henry’s Fork Anglers.

This immersive workshop will be led by two well-known and accomplished outdoor and fishing photographers: Bryan Gregson and Jess McGlothlin.

The school includes daily classes and instruction, three full days of guided fly fishing, field trips in the Yellowstone caldera and surrounding locations, all lodging and meals.

School Itinerary and Daily Schedule:
• August 24 – All participants arrive in Island Park, Idaho at Elk Creek Ranch.
Evening one-hour intro class in main room followed by welcome reception.
• August 25 – Full day of guided fishing (two anglers per boat) followed by afternoon class /instruction block in main room.
• August 26 – Non-fishing day: Trip to area sites for fieldwork and classes.
Afternoon class / instruction block in main room.
• August 27 – Full day of guided fishing (two per boat) followed by afternoon class / instruction block in main room.
• August 28 – Full day of guided fishing (two per boat) followed by afternoon class / instruction block in main room.
• August 29 – Non-fishing day: Trip to area sites for fieldwork and classes.
Afternoon class / instruction block in main room
• August 30 – Departure day (morning) for all participants and flight back home

FIELD DAYS: Will consist of a few short walks in both the early mornings and late evenings — thin gloves and headlamp are highly recommended. Also, we will be on horseback for half a day.

Whether you’re just getting started or you are a seasoned outdoor photography, there will be plenty to learn for everybody while enjoying some of the best trout fishing in the west.

Another exciting event that will occur in August is a full solar eclipse. The map track will take the eclipse exactly over two of the best August fishing rivers in the west. What better way to view the eclipse than from your boat while floating the Teton River, Lower Henry’s Fork or the South Fork of the Snake?

Eastern Idaho is already ramping up for the eclipse. Many of the local accommodations have been completely booked full for months at prices sometimes more than 10 times the normal rate. We’ve heard of some motels with a normal rate of $200/night charging $1200/night with a three night minimum.

At Henry’s Fork Anglers we do not intend to charge such outrageous rates to view the eclipse. However, we do not have control with local accommodations so we recommend you make reservations as soon as possible. Please check the lodging options page on our website for detailed information about available accommodations. Our shop in Island Park is just on the edge of the path of the eclipse but your guide can take you to a spot where you will be in the epicenter. We still have some openings but we expect these dates to fill in quickly. The total eclipse is expected to last about 2 minutes and arrive over the Teton, Lower Henry’s Fork and South Fork just after 11:30 AM. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience – the Great American Eclipse on the Water! For more information about the eclipse click on this link.

This is one of those years that is hard to figure out. Over the past four years we’ve grown accustomed to an early, somewhat dry spring. Mother Nature has thrown us a sharp breaking curveball for 2017. We’ve been yearning for an above normal snowpack after the dry weather of the past few years and we got it. On top of that, we’ve had one of the wettest springs in a decade or so. This has left our reservoirs full with a lot of runoff from the snowpack yet to come. Currently large reservoirs like Palisades have been drawn down to try to make room for the anticipated runoff.

What does this mean for our early season fishing? I gave my prediction for what to expect for this season in my last blog. We expect the South Fork and the Teton Rivers to be very high and unfishable in May and early June. On the positive side we anticipate a very good salmonfly hatch on the Henry’s Fork. It is doubtful the Henry’s Fork will be high and off-color until its confluence with Fall River. More water this year should put more trout on the banks and the duration of these big stoneflies should extend over a longer period of time. The smaller golden stones usually start up a few days later and extend for several weeks.

We’re also anticipating a decent hatch of Gray Drakes on the Lower Henry’s Fork, something we haven’t seen since 2011. Another great option that hasn’t been available the past few years is the Henry’s Lake Outlet. We anticipate a good flush of big trout from Henry’s Lake into the outlet. The Firehole should also produce good fishing from the season opener on Memorial Day weekend until well into June. The Madison below Hebgen Lake is another good early season bet. The river below Quake might be a bit high and off-color but usually produces great fishing just off the banks.

Look for the salmonfly hatch to start below Ashton about May 20^th. Gray Drakes on the Lower Henry’s Fork June 20^th along with Green Drakes in the Ranch. That’s my call as I see it. We’ll see how it shakes out in a month or so.

One of our guiding options that is not for the faint of heart is the Teton River Slide. Just below the confluence with Bitch Creek, the Teton River punches through a deep gorge. Our guides use heavy duty Aire Super Puma rafts to handle the whitewater. The rafts must be slid down a very steep rocky trail for almost 1500 feet at a 50% grade. We require our guests to use walking sticks to traverse the steep rocky canyon down to the river. The deep canyon sports one of the finest cutthroat trout fisheries in the country.

While the opportunity for a great fishing adventure is great, the risks are high. For that reason we require that another one of our employees accompany the guides and the guests to help get everybody to the river safely. With this in mind, we will require a $100 surcharge to help off-set the additional expense to run this trip.

For 2017 we don’t expect the canyon section to start fishing well until at least the middle of July. We also recommend you plan in advance if you want to take this trip. Only a few of our younger guides have the physical assets that are required.

We’ve been slow but we’ve made a lot of headway with getting our online store up to speed. Back in the late 70s and early 80s we had a very strong mail order business that kept us hopping. We eventually shut it down because we didn’t have the staff to maintain our customer service. We have always had some great products as well as some extremely effective, unique, and hard to find fly patterns. We appreciate all of our loyal customers who have supported us with our online store.

Over the course of the next month or so we hope to ramp up our selection, especially our flies. We also plan to offer more fly assortments and selections. One of the biggest changes will be to place a 2 fly minimum per size and color with our flies.