More Twenty-inchers on the Wind River

Part 2: I continued to fish from the same pool and caught another rainbow. 

This one was a little smaller, 18 inches, yet a harder fighter; a perfect specimen from which to extract a throat sample.

It had been eating mostly size 16 to 18 green caddis larvae.  I swapped the prince nymph for a size 18 green caddis nymph.  

Working my way upstream into another set of riffles I caught a 20 inch brown.   

Guess what fly he took.  No, surprisingly it still took the half-back.  

Hiking back to the truck a couple of fishermen approached me and said they had seen me catch the brown from the road across the river.  They wondered if I could hear their cheering.  They said they were visiting from Florida and wondered what I was using.  The also said they had just spent $30 on a tribal permit.  I explained to them that the tribal permit allowed them to fish the canyon stretch of the river which was probably even better fishing.  They thought this was that stretch and didn’t realize it started at the tunnels.  I let them know they could fish this stretch between the dam and the tunnels on the days for which they didn’t have the tribal permit.  They quickly headed to their SUV to fish downstream inside the reservation.

I also fished the stretch of river further upstream, right below the dam.  Across the river a guide rowed upstream to the dam and had his clients fish right where the water came out of the chute.  I thought maybe the guide new this as some hard to reach, secret fishing spot.  I never saw them catch a single fish but finally one of the dam workers told them they couldn’t be that close to the dam.  How would you like to be referred to as “a dam worker”?   

I ended up only catch two fish along this stretch; however they were good size; a 22 inch brown and a 20 inch cutthroat. 

After dinner I tried the stretches of river by the campgrounds again but didn’t catch a single fish.

The next morning, before taking down the tent, I headed back to the other side of the river.  Starting again at the lower-most section I wanted to fish, I fished upstream through the entire section I had fished the day before.  I didn’t catch a thing, even on the half-back.  Hiking back to the truck, I decided I would try my spinning rod before leaving.  With it I can hit the water on the other side of the river I couldn’t reach with a fly. I tied on a floating, brown trout Rapala.  On the first cast a large fish snatched it right as it landed.  Boy was I glad I tried this last-ditch effort.  I could tell the fish was a big one.  Each time I would get it close enough to see, it would take out more line.  Finally I brought it to the net.  

It was a thick rainbow measuring 24 inches long and had a clipped fin.   

I checked a throat sample and it had been eating midges, size 22 or 24.  Since I was heading out this morning and it was a hatchery fish, I decided this would be one fish I would keep.   

Cleaning the fish I discovered it was full of eggs.  I had never seen a fall spawning rainbow before. The meat was dark red.  I washed the cleaned fish off at the campground and put it in the ice cooler.  At home, the fish was the best trout I had tasted, feeding the whole family plus my son’s family and grandparents. 

Lower Wind River Campground Fly Fishing

This fishing trip to the Wind River below Boysen Reservoir I dedicated to my daughter Karen who was killed this past summer in a motercycle accident.  She was my one child who really liked going fishing with me.  Often we would go for my birthday.  This year for my birthday I went on my own.  I’m sure Karen was with me in spirit.

Last summer when I went with Nick to the Wind River the water was so high it was hard to wade and difficult to fish.  I was hoping for a chance to check out the river in the fall when the water would be at normal flows.  Last July it was at 3700cfs.  In September it was 1300cfs.

This trip I camped at the Lower Wind River Campground near the first tunnel.  It is a nice campground with plenty of space, picnic tables and shade.  

It has running water and an outhouse.  Camping runs $17 a night and the facility is kept up well.  Cell reception is poor although I was able to text from moment to moment.  One thing I thought was interesting was that there were more people camping in the middle of September than on the first of July.  The Sherriff did pay me a visit to make sure I had paid for the two nights I camped.  Weather-wise it was a perfect trip.  Not too hot during the day and still pleasant at night.  The elevation is only about 4400 feet above sea level which keeps the weather somewhat mild.  Whereas on the Green River below Fontenelle, the elevation is about 6500 feet and it gets real cold at night. 

I tried fishing with streamers along the river below the campground but didn’t have any luck.  I tried brown and black wooly buggers, and larger Home Invaders.  I then tried nymphing with Prince nymphs and Halfback nymphs (a larger attracter peacock herl nymph) and still didn’t catch anything.

The next day I drove across the dam and down the dirt road that ran along the other side of the river.  Driving past the bridge almost directly across from the upper campground I found a stretch that had more structure than most of the river below the dam, riffles, pools and islands, etc.   

Here I hiked down to the river to the lowermost part of the riffles so I could fish upstream.  Where the riffles entered the deep section of the river I began casting.  I would cast the nymphs to the shallow riffles and allow them to be carried into the drop off.  After a couple of casts I hooked a nice rainbow.   

It took the size 12 Halfback.  

I measured the fish at twenty inches and released it.  After I released it, I realized I should have taken a throat sample.  I would on my next fish, I promised myself.

Wind River 21 Inch Trout

After tying on another brown leech pattern, I headed upstream.  Here the water was fast because it was so high, but not white water like it was at the start of the canyon.  After a few more casts into the deep, middle of the river I had another strike.   

This fish also headed downstream into the rapids.  I kept the pole high and tried to lift the trout’s head above the water.  This was a strong fish and it just kept going until I thought I was going to hit the end of my backing.  At this point I put on as much pressure as I dared.  With this additional pressure I was able to get its head above the water and scooted it across the top of the waves as best I could.  

I finally got it towards the slower water near the edge of the rock cliffs.  In this slower water I was able to fight it again and bring it to a point that I could step into the water and net it.  It was a brown that measured 21 inches.   

The weather was now in the upper 90’s, I was soaked with sweat and decided it was time for a Gatorade and a rest in the shade.  As I started heading up the trail I witnessed a dragonfly come out of its shuck and drying its wings.  It occurred to me that the trout may have taken the brown leech pattern in the slow water as a dragonfly nymph.

After the much needed break we drove to the upper campground.  In order to find access to the river we drove to the uppermost part near the boat launch.  With the water so high there wasn’t much structure but we fished anyway.  Nick caught another 21 inch rainbow.  

It is amazing to me how these fish are consistently so big. 

I definitely need to come back when the water is not so high.  The fall would be perfect.

On the way home we stopped at the Green River again to break up the drive.  As we pulled off the dirt road to drive down to the river we could see fish rising.  Getting out of the car we saw yellow sallies and caddis flies in the air.  Nick tied on a yellowish orange bodied stimulator, an attractor pattern which would match either one.  I kept on a big brown streamer and ended up not catching anything.   

Nick however, caught several on the dry fly.  The first one was a nice brown, at least 19 inches long.   

The next one was a gorgeous cutthroat which measured 19 and a half inches.  Then he caught a smaller rainbow.  Lastly, right before leaving, Nick caught a white fish.  What an amazing finish to this trip; catching four species of fish on a dry.  This was done in one section of river and included a brown and a cutthroat trout, each over 19 inches long.