Hey all, i will be going up to Island Park next week and am hoping to have a grand old time with my fly rod. I have gone up to Island Park almost every year of my life, and have recently discovered the joys of taking a fly rod up there. I was wondering, I know that there is the buffalo river up there, and I don't believe I have fished it since I was 10. What are people's thoughts on it. The last few years I've gone I inevitably fish the warm river down to Ashton, but I want to try some new spots this year. I'm also curious about Henry's outlet (that little stream that goes out of the lake). If any one has fly fished any of those recently, and/or knows what would work, please let me know!
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Buffalo river = Brookies, Brookies, and Brookies!!!!!! fantastic brookie fishing i have done some damage on the brookies in that river with a fly rod. stimulator patterns and dont forget to bring some mayflies.
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Do those brookies get to a decent size or are they runts? I would love to catch some decent brookies in a stream, but I'm spoiled by Henry's Lake.
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most are your typical brookie between 10 and 12 inches but there are a few that are bigger we have got couple around a pound to a pound and half out of there. easy wade fishing also and when the hoppers come out you will see some of the most explosive dry fly fishing ever on that river 4 to 5 fish smashing your hopper pattern all at the same time. i really do like fishing that river.
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fished the buffalo river on saturday and there were plenty of fish to be caught. I am not yet very good with the hookset on a dry fly and i missed many more than i caught and i still caught plenty. i think the fish would take just about anything that I threw at them. none of the fish i caught were very big.
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Talk to me about Buffalo. Do you fish right where it goes under the highway? Can you work your way all the way upstream or are there areas that are off limits? My wife got a fly rod two weeks ago and we were wanting to go fish somewhere this weekend. I was thinking about hitting Birch Creek or something equivalent: a body of water where you can catch a lot of fish on dries. Is Buffalo a better option?
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Thanks for telling me about the brookies, sounds worth checking out, even if I am in the western end of the state, I might make the drive in August to rage on the hoppers.
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i might make a trip down so i will let you know if im in the area we might need to hook up and put the smack down on the the little guys
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what flies were you using?
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i used a small pink cahill and an adams and a pmd and all of them worked. I really think that a lot of those fish will take just about anything.
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[quote Rexburg_rabble]Talk to me about Buffalo. Do you fish right where it goes under the highway? Can you work your way all the way upstream or are there areas that are off limits? My wife got a fly rod two weeks ago and we were wanting to go fish somewhere this weekend. I was thinking about hitting Birch Creek or something equivalent: a body of water where you can catch a lot of fish on dries. Is Buffalo a better option?[/quote]
I don't think the Buffalo is a better option than Birch Creek for ease and numbers of fish, but it sure is pretty. Fishing from the bridge up or down isn't as good as going to the lower end where it goes through the power plant and then hiking upstream. Bigger fish hold in the lower reaches, but you need to hike up far enough to where it is still comfortable to wade. The properties are all leased Forest Service, so access is good. A good old Elk Hair Caddis or a Renegade in sizes 16 and 14 will always do the trick on those brookies in the evenings. Try nymphing under a dry fly during the day with a Pheasant-tail or Hare's Ear dropper.
Kelly.
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I was just up there camping with my family. I am from out of state and we camped at Buffalo campground (nice place). I caught about 15 brookies the first night. As the sun went behind the hills it heated up. They were all small to minnow size except one pretty 16 incher. She put a nice bend in the rod and livened up the evening. The next night I had to work for 3 fish. I caught most of them on an elk hair caddis (yellow 14?). I had a couple other dries, but I am new enough to the sport that I have know idea of what they were; some types of stimulators. I fished from half way up the bridge to the wood docks. I tried one morning, but got a late start and didn't have anything but a couple looks. It is a pretty area and look forward to coming back.
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Thanks, Kelly, for posting. We fished a few different places this weekend. We camped at Coffee Pot, so the first night after we ate we fished the Henry's fork right there. As the sun started setting, fish were rising everywhere. They were 6 inches and smaller...so nothing big, but it was very enjoyable. My wife had a great time, which is what matters the most!
The next day we tried Buffalo. We got out later than planned, which slowed our success a bit. We were still able to get into 3 fish and miss a bunch more. Again, my wife loved it so it was fantastic. Most of our luck, on both rivers, came on a size 16 parachute adams.
Thanks for all your input!
Peter
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