Return to the Henry’s Fork

by | Jun 11, 2014 | Uncategorized

June 10 & 11, 2014

blog-June-10-11-2014-1-Henrys-forkIt’s been grueling since returning from Bhutan.  I hope everyone enjoyed the Bhutan blog because I must have more than 70 hours into it.  Then the catching up on emails, mail, bills, yard work and etc – it’s been a major grunt.  But I remained focused and by Monday afternoon I was ready to head to Last Chance on the Henry’s Fork.

 

blog-June-10-2014-2-jeff-currier-and-whitefish-edThe Henry’s Fork in June is my favorite fishing venue on the planet.  Naturally I enjoy parking my car and catching huge rainbows on small dries a minute walk away, but it’s the friends (photo is me and Whitefish Ed Tuesday night) I only see once a year that I enjoy best.  Granny and I rolled into the gravel pits around 8 PM and immediately had a visit with our good friends Vic and Sandy Colvard.

 

blog-June-10-2014-3-granny-currier-on-the-henryy-forkThe Henry’s Fork is incredibly low.  Sounds strange I’m sure because we had a good snowpack this year.  But May was crazy dry and the state let out too much water from the Island Park Dam and now the reservoir is too low.  Word has it they’ll have the reservoir filled back up by July 1 and will raise the river back to normal flows.  This will be just in time to help the rainbows for when it really gets hot.

 

June 10

 

blog-June-10-2014-4-winston-boron-IIIAfter a good night sleep in the back of the Explorer Granny and I waded across the Last Chance section of the Henry’s Fork and immediately came across a nice fish rising to caddis.  I’ve been fishing enough lately so I put Granny on him.  She took my new Winston 4-weight Boron III LS and went to work.

 

blog-June-10-2014-5-last-chance-idahoFour hours later Granny had fooled six big fish in to eating her fly.  She missed two of them and got destroyed by another two during the fight.  But the other two she landed.  One respectable bow of about 17″ that must have jumped six times and a big fat 18” rainbow that started with a backing long run then came in quite easily.

 

blog-June-10-2014-6-granny-currier-henrys-forkThere’re no hero shots of Granny from Tuesday as she picked up the name butterfingers.  Each of the two nice fish she landed managed to slip from her hands before we got a picture.  I must give her credit though, she lands them fast and there’s always a lot of fight left in them.

blog-June-10-2014-7-jeff-currier-on-the-henrys-forkI’m glad we enjoyed an excellent morning and early afternoon session of fishing because at 3 PM a storm came through and even though it got nice out right after, the fishing was done.  I mean not a fish rose again all day at Last Chance.  Naturally I never gave up.  I stayed in my waders until 9 PM before we headed to Trout Hunter for some food and beer.

 

June 11

 

When we left home Monday we planned on getting up early Wednesday and heading home to do errands and etc.  Granny and I are going back East on Monday for my parents 50th anniversary so we have plenty of chores to do.  But after yesterdays stellar morning we couldn’t resist.  Granny and I marched right back out on Last Chance at 9 AM.

 

blog-June-11-2014-8 granny-currier-henrys-forkThings weren’t rocking like yesterday.  There was in fact a threatening north wind that always kills the fishing on the Henry’s at Last Chance.  But luckily it settled and from 10 till noon Granny put on another clinic on these normally difficult rainbows.

 

Granny has become very attached to my Winston 4-weight LS and she’s finessing these fish with the fine rod like a pro.  She was getting all of her fish on a parachute caddis attached to a 15’ 4X leader.  That’s not a favorite leader size for most anglers but on the Fork, if you can handle it you’ll convince far more fish.

 

blog-June-11-2014-9-granny-currier-on-the-henry's-forkGranny put four fish in the air and landed two of them, both big fish.  She still had the butterfingers but she managed to hold on long enough for me to click one mediocre frame.

 

It was great weekend.  I’d been having problems sleeping and couldn’t get my mind off all the work I’m behind on, but the Henry’s is always the best cure.  I’m back on the saddle and ready for the famous Henry’s Fork Ranch Opener this weekend!

 

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

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I started fly fishing at age 7 in the lakes and ponds of New England cutting my teeth on various sunfish, bass, crappie and stocked trout. I went to Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, where I graduated with a Naturalist Degree while I discovered new fishing opportunities for pike, muskellunge, walleyes and various salmonids found in Lake Superior and its tributaries.

From there I headed west to work a few years in the Yellowstone region to simply work as much as most people fish and fish as much as most people work. I did just that, only it lasted over 20 years working at the Jack Dennis Fly Shop in Jackson, WY where I departed in 2009. Now it’s time to work for "The Man", working for myself that is.

I pursue my love to paint fish, lecture on every aspect of fly fishing you can imagine and host a few trips to some of the most exotic places you can think of. My ultimate goal is to catch as many species of fish on fly possible from freshwater to saltwater, throughout the world. I presently have taken over 440 species from over 60 countries!

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