Fly Fishing the Ham's Fork - Day 1: Teddy Bear Corner

Nick and I had a guide lined up for fishing the Green River below Fontenelle on Wednesday June 20^th.  Sara and Nick arrived from Cincinnati on Sunday the 17^th after a 26 hour car ride.  Monday evening our guide called and said that the Green River was blown out.  Apparently there was a larger snow pack in the Wind River Mountains than expected and maintenance was being performed on the dam, letting out more water than usual. 

This of course, put down the fish so they weren’t eating.  The guide let us know we could reschedule; or as an alternative, he could guide us on the Ham’s Fork.  He had reports of several fish over 20 inches being caught there.  Originally I agreed to this but after discussing it with Nick, we decided that we really didn’t need a guide to nymph fish a small stream like the Ham’s Fork.  We needed a guide to row the boat, show us the logistics of fishing the Green below Fontenelle and how best to fish it.  I called back the guide and let him know I’d like to reschedule in the Fall.

We drove up to the Ham’s fork and stopped at the BLM and DWR in Kemmerer to get directions and ideas on the best places to camp.  Originally we were planning on camping along the Green River where I had camped previously, but since the river was high, we decided to camp in the Bridger National Forest. 

The forest is a lot more scenic than the desert along the Green.  This ended up being a good decision.  We camped right along the river. 

That evening we even had a moose visit the river right in front of our camp. 

The road to the national forest is a gravel, dirt road (good by Wyoming standards) which was sprayed for dust control. 

This “dust control” red dirt was quickly making the car look two toned and I was sure it was going to take some high powered spraying to remove all the mud.  Around one particular bend in the road is what looks like Teddy Bear Corner. 

There was a pile of Teddy Bears around a pole cemented into the ground.  A stuffed banana had been thrown to the other side of the road the next day, so apparently this is exclusively for “Teddy Bears”.