Last Chance, Idaho – Of all the grand places in American fly-fishing, none commands more raw respect than the Railroad Ranch. Awe coupled with a fair share of sheer frustration makes it so. A reputation built on highly sophisticated 20-inch rainbow trout sipping tiny insects in slack, shallow water for years has attracted an army of anglers eager to face the test. Only a small percentage pass.
Put simply, there were no finer five miles of public fly-fishing in the country – certainly not when times are right. Trouble is, low-water woes have beset this section of the Henry’s Fork River that 30 years ago became the centerpiece of Harriman State Park, named for the famous railroading family that bequeathed it.
“When water is low, which was the case 5 years ago during the great western drought, we get very little juvenile survival,” Mike Lawson said.
Flows now have recovered, Lawson said, and the reach last year produced lots of rainbows a foot long or longer to go with much lesser number of holdover lunkers. Still, this remains the acknowledged place to gauge one’s ability on precise mayfly hatches during a season that doesn’t begin until Memorial weekend to protect nesting waterfowl.
