Fall Fly Fishing On the Ham's Fork River

Wednesday Nick and I decided to hit the Ham's Fork River.  It fished so well for large rainbows last June that we didn’t want to pass up another opportunity.  Our thought was that maybe there would even be some spawning browns that have moved up from the Kemmerer City Reservoir.  We had caught quite a few browns in the lower and upper sections of the river; it would make sense that there would be some in the middle stretch, especially in the fall.  If not, hopefully the big rainbows would still be there.

We noticed there were only two other fisherman that had signed into the trespassing permission box.  Good news, it wasn’t crowded.  We hiked downstream to where the fence crossed the river signaling the end of the private property.  We did this so we could fish upstream, and better avoid spooking the wary trout. 

The water was lower than last spring.  Some of the runs that held trout then, seemed too shallow now.  There were plenty of deeper holes upstream that we quietly passed on our way down. 

Right off the bat I hooked a 22 inch rainbow in the first set of riffles leading into some deeper water.  It was a relief to see the large rainbows were still residing in this section of river. 

The fish fought well and was in good physical shape.  It is fun to net these fish that are longer than the net itself. 

I had on the same nymphs that I had used on the Greys River, a size 18 bead head caddis nymph imitation and a size 20 bead head mayfly nymph imitation.

From this same hole I caught a smaller rainbow and checked its throat contents with a stomach pump. 

Sure enough, a mixture of nymphs, caddis and mayflies as well as a majority of midges. 

I caught up with Nick just as he was fighting a nice rainbow. 

I let him know about what the fish were eating.  We kept fishing good holding spots as we made our way upstream, each of us catching quite a few rainbows as well as a white fish. 

We didn’t however; catch any browns that we were hoping for. 

If they were going to be entering the river to spawn, it seems like they would have been there by now. 

Nevertheless, we were very pleased with the size and quantity of rainbows.

As evening approached and we were taking turns hitting the good spots, Nick hooked into the largest fish of the day. 

I ran downstream and readied myself with the net.  With a big fish like this, it is often difficult to get the fish close enough to net it yourself. 

With a friend downstream, it is possible to maneuver the fish downstream to be in line with your friend’s net and let the current take the fish right into the net without it ever seeing what is happening. 

As it turned out however, Nick was able to bring the fish to the net himself.  

This male rainbow measured 24 inches long, a perfect way to end the day.