Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Dumb Fish In Smart Water


Destination:  Flaming Gorge ~ The Green River in Utah.  It was a nice weekend to get out.  25 degrees as a low and hoping to reach 40 degrees as a high.  A last minute trip to the Green River, about 4 hrs away.  I have never been there before.  I have always talked about going, but it never came to fruition.  But, when I told my friend Jeri that the Provo was planned... Well, she had another idea.  And I'm not the River Damsel if I don't take on an adventure...right?  I was a little skeptical as it had snowed about a foot the week before.  But, when we got there... the snow was just in the forest with the deer, elk, and the many hunters in their hunter orange.  The drive was gorgeous.


As we approached the small community of Dutch John, we had to cross over a dynamic bridge and the 500 foot dam (elevation 6,048 ft) where the Flaming Gorge Reservoir ends its 91 mile run from its beginnings near Green River, Wy. 


Below the dam, the cold and clear Green River resumes the journey it started as a small stream in the headwaters of the Bridger Wilderness Area of Wyoming. 


Well, I was definitely glad that I drove out the night before putting my line in... And a "welcome" at the restaurant made me grateful that my bear spray was packed. 


The next morning, it was just a five mile journey down the road to "Little Hole", the popular Green River access point.  There are several boat launches as this is a popular place for drift boats and guided floats.  The river is divided up into Sect. A, B, and C.


We headed upstream towards the dam in Section A on the first day.  This is about a 7 mi stretch of some of the finest trout water you can find.  There is an estimated 20k per mile of cuttbows, rainbows and brown trout in this section.  Incredible!!  And guess what?  Most of these fish are extremely smart as they see many anglers and drift boats.  So, we had our work cut out for us.  We headed out to the "Aquarium" as it is affectionately called.  What would we find???


An hour or so in... My brown trout felt like an anchor had been dropped at the end of my line!  Whoohoo!!  The newly tied on flies made the difference!  One red, San Juan worm was the appetizer... Definitely the toothiest trout that I have caught... And how do you like that gnarly jaw???  = )


Saying goodbye is never easy... But, we put him back to let him continue his journey.

  
And now for the sad tale of not hiring RD as a photographer.  Jeri had the first fish, a beautiful rainbow.  But, as I was snapping away with the camera, it wasn't being saved.  Hence, a decision was made as we headed back to town.  We had to come back the next day and fish Section B.  We knew that we could find a few more "dumb" fish amid the 20k that were swimming in front of us...surely! 

Another trip to the Trout Creek Fly Shop. (They loved us!)  And a drive down to the Flaming Gorge Resort to find the "Gorge Burger" that my friends had told me about...

The next day was spent downstream on the B Section.  And Jeri got a chance to find yet another rainbow... And a pretty nice one!


And finally a brown trout.


I know what you are thinking... Are all of these fish this big?  The answer:  YES!
Honestly, the smallest fish in this river stretch is probably 15" and that is no small taking...  The challenge is fooling these educated cruisers.  They might even have PHD's for all I know.   Each fish, we relished... Even if they were "dropouts".

Wading...
 Walking...
Enjoying...

The fall browns have to be my favorite trout to catch...

And so we had success with a few, dumb trout out of thousands of smart ones and left behind memories of a great fishery... The Green River. 

Flaming Gorge Reservoir

As in every "RD Adventure", something unusual happens.  But, I really didn't think that I was going home via the Mothership...
   
Picture taken by Jeri Simms~Masters as I departed...

Well, I guess that it is time to "Phone Home..."





21 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great trip! Beautiful fish can't beat the fall color of those Browns.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kevin ~ The golden under belly was so prominent on these Browns... Yes, this is the best time of the year to see the full beauty of these fish.

      Delete
  2. Wow. Great trip, and fish. The A section of the river is where I reconnected with fly fishing just over 2 years ago. Such a place. Nice to see a couple gals out there working those fish like you two did.

    Also, every fish I catch is dumb. Or is it every fish I catch thinks I am???? hmmmm......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, Marc! ~ I'm sure that fish think we are the dumbest people to stand around for hours trying to catch them... you are absolutely right! Oh, but what fun it is...

      Delete
  3. I've been wanting to get out there as well...looks like the trip would be well worth it!

    Glad you and Jeri were able to fool some of the resident scholars...well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sanders ~ You must make this trip sometime. I promise that you won't be disappointed. Wading is best between Sept. and April. The rest of the year, it needs to be floated. We had a great first time on the water. Will be back next spring!

      Delete
  4. RD, fishing the Green in Section A, has been one of the greatest fly fishing memories I have. A couple of friends and I fished an Easter weekend and just walked or waded the near shoreline. Nice fish taking Midges all morning. Hail the Griffiths Gnat! Happy that you two had a great time. Nice fish, gals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mel ~ Now why I didn't throw out the Gnat, I'm not sure. Oh well. I tried midges all through the day, but came up empty handed each time. And usually I can catch one on a midge. Hmmm... No, they were after white and gold buggers and red san juans this time around.

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. Mark ~ It most definitely was! And for a last minute decision too. Thanks to Jeri, we chose the best water you can find this time of year out here.

      Delete
  6. RD. You must have enough material for a small book now? I'm sure many female fly fishers (and male ones) would like the different angle you bring on fly fishing.

    Just a thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard ~ I don't know if I am "book worthy"...but, I sure do have fun on my adventure train... Just trying to give a glimpse of different water out there that others might enjoy going to someday also! Thanks for the high compliment.

      Delete
  7. I'll take dumb fish over the highly educated ones any day. There's nothing more frustrating than getting a nice drift and having a fish follow your fly for maybe two or three feet and then finally saying to himself, "fake." I certainly don't fish for trout as often as I do for bass, but believe it or not there are educated bass out there... especially in heavily pressured water. Sometimes being the only fly fisher showing them their first ever fly helps, but I think most of the time when they're following they're evaluating the odor. If it doesn't smell like food, it's fake... you lose Mr. Fisherman!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jay ~ Hi, buddy! "Educated" vs. "dumb" or "hungry" is a lot of it, but how you drift and articulate that fly is also important. Odor? That is the first time that I have heard that one...good grief. This just got a bit tougher... = )

      Delete
    2. A pretty large chunk of the average fish's brain is devoted to its olfactory senses. It just makes sense to me. Sorry to make things tougher. ;)

      Delete
  8. Wow. What a great trip. San Juan river in New Mexico is similar. I'm glad you went and caught some good fish.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. F.R. ~ How are you?? I have heard good things about the San Juan. But, how many places can a girl get to??? I think that I'm booked out right now until 2014 with the plans that I have... = ) Haha.

      Delete
    2. RD - I am up for a trip to the San Juan anytime you are ready. I have it on my short list.

      Delete
  9. Did Jeri use her tenkara rod at all?
    Brian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No Brian - I did not use my Tenkara rod. I have been patiently waiting for you to call me to go fishing. I did go to Christmas Meadows this year and caught 4. I will use it when conditions dictate, but right now I want to learn how to do it the traditional way. When are you coming fishing??!@!!???

      Delete