Category: Bugs
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Last Chance Ghosts
I’d spent the last several days staring at the surface of the river. I was on the Henrys Fork of the Snake at Last Chance, Idaho, and I’d been there for two weeks. The Harriman Ranch stretch of Henrys is world renowned as a dry fly fishing paradise. On opening day, June 15, you can…
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Labor Day Fish Tales from Montana
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks on Hebgen Lake, near West Yellowstone, chasing callibaetis-eating rainbows and browns. Today, on my last day on the lake, I found an honest to God “gulper”, a fish that’s eating bugs on a steady tempo… about one every three seconds. That allows you to predict where to place…
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July in Montana, Broken Bikes and Brown Trout
My last post had me dreaming of dry fly action on the Henrys Fork, and sad to say, it was a two week exercise in “hope springs eternal”. Maybe tomorrow the bugs will come out and the fish will start looking up? Apart from a few nights of substantial brown drake hatches, where I at…
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Dreams of June on the Henry’s Fork
The clock is running down on my stretch of work in 2025. I’ve got a date with a river in Idaho, opening day on the Railroad Ranch, at the little fishing community of Last Chance on June 15. Looking back, I think I’ve only hit the opener once, in 2021. Lets see, in 2015, my…
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Wyoming Rambles: The Ham’s Fork
I’ve made it to Wyoming after a somewhat leisurely drive across the Great Basin in 100 degree heat. I had been eying West Wendover, NV for the first night, about five and a half hours out of Reno. But as I approached one of my regular stops, Carlin Canyon on the Humboldt River, I thought…
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Bugs of Fly Fishing Seasons Past
One of the things that draws me to fly fishing is the consistently interesting topic of, “what are the fish eating today?” Sure, some people like bugs more than others, and maybe go a little too far down the rabbit hole. Some little boys that play with bugs grow up to be scientists, some grow…
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A Week on the Big Mo in July
Tricos, Caddis and PMDs, Oh My! The Missouri river in Montana is one of the top destinations in America for fly fishers who prefer the art of the dry fly over chucking bobbers and lead. I first visited “the Big Mo” in 2018, the year that I spent trying to hit all of the big…
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August on the Bighorn: 2021
I had spent a couple of weeks on Hebgen lake near West Yellowstone, and after getting my fill of that top notch dry fly action, I decided it was time to move on. As often happens in my meandering travels, I didn’t have a plan set in stone. The skies had been getting more smoky from…
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Another June Day on the Henrys Fork in Idaho
Some Fish, Some Bugs and a Bugatti When I only have to go back three posts to find last year’s story about brown drakes on the Henrys Fork river, it’s a pretty clear indication I’ve not been keeping up with the demands of my little stake on the Internet here. Well, I’ve been busier than…
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Henry’s Bugs: Opening Day at Harriman Ranch, Henry’s Fork, Idaho
I’ve turned over a lot of rocks in the knee-deep waters of the Henry’s Fork, the famous Snake River tributary that flows past Last Chance, Idaho. There are long stretches of time where there are no rising fish to be spotted, and my curiosity leads me to wonder what they are eating when they are…
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