Sometimes the Fish Wins

The real reason we fish the Green River below Fontenelle is not for the scenery.  It is not to avoid the crowds or even to catch a ton of fish.  It is for the chance to catch a big brown trout of a lifetime, or at least hook into one.

At about 5:00 P.M. we drifted into the last stretch of river before the take out.  The truck and trailer were in sight.  We were on the far side of the river fishing a deeper run and Ryan decided to row back upstream to give us another shot at the stretch.  With my line still deep in the water as Ryan commenced to row upstream, I began to bring in the line.  Just then my line went tight and the hugest brown any of us had ever seen jumped clear of the water with my streamer in its mouth.  This was a huge male with a pronounced kype jaw and spawning colors.  The girth on this fish was amazing.  I thought to myself “this is what I’m talking about”.  This fish alone made the whole trip worth it.

Well, the next thing I know the fish is well into my backing.  He took me from one side of the river to the other.  After a long run upstream and another jump where we were able to be amazed by his size again, I got him somewhat near the boat and all the line on the reel, only to have him dart downstream and into the backing again.  After twenty minutes I admit my arm was getting sore.  This fish had to be tired also.  The next thing I know I see a ton of moss and weeds on the line causing a lot of pressure on the line but no line going out.  Could it be?  The fish must have run the line through the weeds and gotten the top fly, a leech imitation, caught in the weeds and managed to get loose.

What an experience, to have a fish of this size and beauty on for twenty minutes!  To have it jump clear out of the water twice so it could be seen.  To have it take me into the backing twice, run upstream, downstream and to both sides of the river.  The guide said this was the biggest fish he’d ever seen hooked in this river, upwards of 30 inches long.  This is why I keep going back to the river, for experiences like this.  I fought this fish perfectly and made no mistakes.  There is nothing I can look back on and say I should have done different.  Sometimes the fish wins.

Guided Float on the Green River in Wyoming

When someone mentions fishing the Green River they are usually referring to the river in Utah below Flaming Gorge.  This is the popular, more famous and definitely more crowded stretch of river.  

Upstream in Wyoming is The Green River above Flaming Gorge, below Fontenelle Reservoir.  This section is far less crowded.  It has fewer fish per mile but you do have the chance of hooking into some really big fish.

Nick and I had a Guide scheduled for October 9^th.  We met our Guide, Ryan, at 8:30 at the Fontenelle store, a mile from our camp at Slate Creek. 

 

We launched the Clackacraft drift boat at the Dripping Springs Campground. 

 

Nick stayed to fish and keep an eye on the boat while Ryan and I took the Truck, Trailer and my vehicle to the take out a mile or two below the bridge on the Lincoln Sweetwater County Road 8 on BLM property.  We then used my vehicle to return to the put in at Dripping Springs. 

Ryan already had his nymphing rods rigged up so we used those, six weight Temple Fork rods with Ross Cimarron reels.  The terminal rigs were tapered 12 foot monofilament (mono) leaders with 4X fluorocarbon tippets.  The top fly was a blood worm. 

 

Tied next in tandem a foot lower was a red midge nymph with a smaller nymph like a pheasant tail also tied in tandem a foot below as the point fly.  One medium split shot was placed about nine inches up from the top fly.  A Thingamabobber strike indicator was placed seven or eight feet above the top fly.

After launching the boat Ryan rowed us upstream to an island and we drifted downstream while fishing the far side of the drop off.  After each drift through the run, Ryan would row us back. 

 

After an hour or so, he would drift us on the near side of the drop off. 

 

We fished this stretch two or three hours before moving on.  The day before the fish were keying in on the red flies.  This day however, they didn’t seem interested and we only caught a couple of trout in this section.

From time to time we would switch to our second rods.  These rods were set up with streamers and sink tip lines. The leaders consisted of a couple feet of 20 pound mono and a couple feet of 12 pound mono.  We frequently switched streamers, styles, colors or sizes. 

 

None of which were that successful although we did catch a few medium size fish.  For the most part we would cast toward the shore, strip in, and repeat.  If it was deep water, we would let the streamer sink for a couple of seconds before slowly stripping in.

At one point along the river we encountered a huge herd of sheep heading toward the river, noisy and dusty but fun to see.

In the meanwhile we kept catching a few more medium sized rainbows, white fish and one nice looking cutthroat. 

Our guide, Ryan, brought along his guide dog.  This was the best trained dog I’ve seen.  It stayed still the whole float, never barked and never bothered us. 

 

I would scratch under its ears once in a while and it would nudge me under my arm once in a while.  When we got out of the boat, Ryan would throw boulders and it would fetch them, even in the water.  It also went chasing after a rabbit.  It had a lot of pent up energy to expend after being cooped up in a boat all day.

Floating the Greys River

 

Then next morning, after having a breakfast of waffles, eggs, sausage and bacon we pulled out the pontoon boat to go float the Greys River. The logistics of this float were as follows: we placed the pontoon in the back of Kevin’s truck. 

 

He would ride an ATV to the spot where we would take out. I would follow him in the truck to the take out.  We would all ride in the truck to the put in.  We would float the river to the take out. 

 

All of us would ride the ATV back to get the truck.  Kevin would drive the ATV back to the pontoon at the take out while I would drive the truck to the take out.  We would load the pontoon onto the back of the truck. 

 

Kevin would drive the ATV back to the cabin and I would drive the truck with the pontoon back to the cabin.  On these maneuvers, Isaac would usually ride in the truck watching Duck Tales or A Bug’s Life, although sometimes he would want to sit on his dad’s lap while riding on the ATV.

For the float, the pontoon boat was set up as follows: the car seat for Isaac was strapped to the front seat and he was seat belted in.  Kevin sat in the back seat to man the oars and keep an eye on Isaac. 

 

I stood in front of the car seat on the casting platform. 

 

This setup worked great. We floated 5 or 6 miles.  We stopped to fish at promising looking spots or I would fish from the front while Kevin rowed. 

 

Isaac was a real trooper this whole trip. 

 

He was happy and excited about everything.  

 

He even managed to fall asleep on the float.  Kevin caught lots of big cutthroat trout while I caught lots of white fish – even from the same holes, go figure.