The Green River introduction

Howard has been to the Green River Flaming Gorge area many times, with all his kids in fact. He added another trip with me this year. We drove out on a Monday and arrived in time to view the area and see the cabin. The cabin had two bedrooms with two bunk beds in each room and a futon in the living room. It was very nice. He purchased a deal that included a guided tour, a night in the cabin, and three meals. In comparison to the guided trip in Wyoming, this was a bargain. That first night was absolutely beautiful. There was a full moon and all the stars in the sky were visible.

The next day we ate our breakfast and headed down to the river to scope it out. Our guided trip didn't start til noon. After a nice lunch of fried steak, we met Roger Trout in the parking lot. That's right. Our guide's name was Roger Trout. Anyway, our trip started out slowly. It took Roger quite a long time to set us up with nymphing rigs. This is where Howard first started using the system that he prefers to use. the weight is on the bottom with two separate lines above with the nymphs. We had wd40's and zebra midges on. We saw tons of fish, just none on our lines. Eventually Howard and I turned to dry flies. After awhile I had some luck.

Now it was VERY windy that day. We struggled to keep our lines from tangling and to get a drag-free drift. I first put on a fly Roger had never used before. It was a regular house fly. I was a little skeptical. We were casting to the shores where we saw the fish. This was exciting and the first time I dry fly fished. After a while I cast right to one and he took it. It fought differently than a rainbow. It just plain started to dog down deep and not come up. Eventually it did though and I had myself a nice brownie.

A few minutes later I threw a perfect cast right into some rocks and the trout rose beautifully. I set the hook timely and fought this guy in. He was another fine brown trout. I was thrilled because I haven't caught many of these yet. They sure are pretty.

We had a hot meal for dinner and while Roger cooked our Philly steaks I wondered away to find some good photos. It's not hard to do there. The sheer cliffs on both sides of the canyon are all red rock and full of characteristics. The river is clear and green and the flora is beautiful amongst the red rock. After the great dinner, the wind picked up even more.

Howard caught a couple after dinner, all brownies. Roger had us fishing the banks only. Howard and I both saw some opportunistic areas that we missed because we focused on the banks only. We tried steamers on the last stretch but without any luck. Overall we caught only a few fish the whole day. At least we weren't skunked.

We ended up camping out that night. It got a little chilly but was really a perfect night. It didn't even dew overnight. It is a beautiful area to not only fish but to visit and experience.

The next morning we fished the area where we took out the day before. We had little luck. Howard had some takes but none landed. I caught 12 fish but they were all small. I did actually catch two fish on the same line. That was a first. I did hook into some larger ones but they got away. I think a fought them too hard.

We tried down near the launch one time before leaving. This was a bad idea as the strong wind slammed the back door shut on Howard's pole. It was a devastating blow that snapped the rod. He decided he wanted to use his spinner rod anyway. I again got into two fish, both were rainbows but I lost them both. I was quite frustrated with all the lost fish. I decided I didn't let them run enough and give them enough respect. We left for home after that small hike back up to the car. We took some snap shots though on the way out. I later learned that there are many dinosaur fossils found in the are and the reservoir above the river held world record class lake trout and brown trout. It gets really deep. I really enjoyed the entire area. It was a lot more than what I expected.