Last Day, Back to Weeping Rocks on the Green River

Since it was the last day of the trip; Friday already, Nick and I had to make a plan so we would leave on time.  We needed to be home by 5:00 for the big birthday celebration for the four family members with birthdays in October.  This meant we needed to leave by 1:00 so we would have time to stop in Evanston for a Chinese buffet Late-lunch.  There is also the tent to put away and the car to load. We better give ourselves two hours for this, especially if we want to eat a sandwich while we’re at it.  So we better finish fishing by 11:00. 

Since our guide, Ryan, seemed to have so much faith in the fishing at Weeping Rocks, we decided to fish there.  This seemed to be a stretch of the river that could be easily fished by wading.  Plus it is only five miles away from our camp.  Except after we had travelled ten miles, I asked Nick if we had passed the turn off, oops. 

At Weeping Rocks Campground, we parked in one of the closest camping spots to the river and we were the first ones there.  Shortly after we arrived, three rigs with drift boats pulled up.  This group, however, didn’t seem too anxious to get going and didn’t launch until Nick and I were leaving.

Nick rigged up similar to how the guide had us rig, which is also similar to how we rigged up for the North Platte - a large red midge imitation and a red San Juan Worm.  Although the first fish was somewhat small, Nick consistently caught rainbows during our brief stay.

 

 

Earlier in the week I saw a couple of veteran fly fishermen fishing in the evening at the bend in front of our tent.  They would wade out from shore five to 10 feet in water about knee deep and as they waded downstream, would cast straight out towards the middle of the river.  Without stripping the line in they would let the current take the fly downstream until it had drifted directly below them.  They would take a couple steps downstream and make another cast.

This seemed like a good technique.  I put on a bullet head wooly bugger, brown with yellow rubber legs.  I waded in about knee deep and with a double haul, cast straight out as far as I could, perpendicular to the bank.  I allowed the current to take the fly downstream on a tight line.  When the fly was straight down stream, I would strip in a few feet of the line and then double haul another cast out to the middle of the river. 

 

Doing this, I would fish downstream through what looked like the most productive stretch of river.  As I got to the end of this stretch I had a strike.  The strike on a streamer is so definite it is sure to start the adrenaline running.  This was a hard fighting fish. After a few good runs, I ended up landing the large rainbow, a good reward for an hour of chucking a streamer.

More Twenty Inch Rainbows on the Ham's Fork

With the success from the previous day, Nick and I couldn’t resist fishing the Hams Fork a second day.  The night was quite a bit warmer than the previous few nights and the day was gorgeous.  

We put our lunches in the back of our fishing vests and left our jackets in the car.

This time we went ahead and fished the best spots on our way downstream, being careful not to spook the fish. 

 

Beaver dams are quite noticeable here and we scared a large beaver on our way downstream. 

I went exploring a bit further downstream and crossed the fence to fish the public side of the river.  The water was deep but featureless.  I walked downstream around the next couple of bends of the river and took note that there didn’t appear to be any good fishing water as far as I could see.  Having learned this, I quickly returned to the private section and commenced fishing upstream. 

I started out fishing the shallow, somewhat riffled water which we overlooked the day before. 

 

Surprisingly I managed to catch a couple of large rainbows from this shallow stretch. 

As good as the fishing was, I was surprised we were the first fishermen there.  Later in the day we did see two others, but that was all.  We pretty much had the river to ourselves.

This day, Nick and I took turns fishing each hole.  This was enjoyable because we could congratulate each other on our successes, take pictures of one another’s catch, and aid in netting the fish if needed.  After I had successfully fished one particular hole, I told Nick to give it a try. 

 

After a couple of casts, he tied into a large one.  Not as long as the one the evening before, but one with a much larger girth.  The size of these fish is amazing. 

 

This was another wonderful day of catching many trout over 20 inches long.  Our only thought was, is it Thursday already? 

One crazy thing happened to me I have never seen before.  You know those dust devils, little whirl winds that kick up dust?  Well, as I was fishing, one develops on the water on the other side of the river.  This tunnel of water started whirling around and then took off across the river right at me.  Nick witnessed this as it happened.  He thought it was some animal or something that took off after me.  It sound like a boat prop right on top of the water.  Anyway, it hit me right on, like it was aiming for me.  My whole face ended up wet as well as my waders and everything.  It was really quite freaky. 

Back at the car, parked right next to us was a Hummer.  I wondered aloud to nick, would be a great fishing rig? Maybe, except for the gas mileage.

I took a few pictures of the ranches accommodations before we left. 

 

I resisted riding the blue bull swing.

 

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.