The planets aligned mid March and during that period the wife said you’re driving her crazy. She had a hard winter with a couple of ailments (still) but arranged with grandson wife & great granddaughter to come visit for a week to get me out of the house. After weeks of some times two trips to different med facilities she determined the 58 years together was getting a bit frayed. I thought she believed the kids and great granddaughter were cuter. The debate still rages.
Going to jump in after seeing @Landlocked had the same idea. Great minds think alike.
Hmmmmm…..the most bestest fun trips have always been those like a rabbit pulled out of the hat..poof…bingo game on.
Text, call, email my guy in Dutch John. Check, open March 28-31 come on out fishings fine like late April. Confirm!
Weather report NW/US 2 weeks out: Check….looks like a good window to roll. Think back to ‘84(?) when Ut-Wy-Neb were shut down due to an accumulation of white stuff and 45+ mph wind caused 5’ snow drifts & closed I-80. Filed that one.
Travel: Ain’t flying! I don’t do lines well or act nice around people who think the world revolves around them while on the way to (fill in the blank). Here diesel is $6.19 gallon, there it’s $4.79. Fuel range is 700+/- miles summer..650 cold weather.
I’m outta here. Figure 2000 miles = 2+ days windshield time with no surprises. Looking for:
Day 1: 1075 miles slide into St Joe Missouri at 8:00pm CT after leaving house at 0530 ET.
Day 2: 748 miles arrive Rawlings Wy 1630 MT departed St Joe 0600. Windy, saw a couple of units laying on their side.
Day 3: 178 miles arrive Dutch John 1115 MT. See that the Trout Creek Flies & C Store has the cheapest diesel $4.18…hmmm. Mileage home to DJ 2001.1 miles. 70°+ the first 3 days. Is this actually Utah at 6500’ in March?
Check into Flaming Gorge Resort and it looks like others have had the same idea. “River is fishing quite well” OKEEDOOK!
Leave a message for the Man, Charlie and proceed to unpack what little I brought to the party. A 5 wt Scott 84/5/5 and a Sage XP 9/6. The Sage never left the room after the first day. Plans were made that evening.
Day 1 was A section for warm up. Plenty of healthy rainbows directly across from the launch below the dam for the first mile interspersed with nice browns further down river. Lots of fish, probably 75/25 in favor of rainbows first day. Things are looking up!
Looking for Baetis & BWO hatches from 11-3pm coming off sporadically. Fish are where they are supposed to be. A lot within 2-3’ of the bank in seams. Can be tough firing 50-60’ casts with 10’+ leaders with multi-fly setup close in while the boat is being restrained from outrunning the cast. One of the fun times on this section is fishing the reverse eddys against the banks. Lots of nice fish in there. Just above Little Hole takeout the river transitions to almost 90% browns and it delivered big time where you could set up, plan your cast and connect. Strange occurrence just above this section we ran across some cicadas! March????
Day 2 was B section Little Hole down into upper C will lunch at a site that would be considered rustic.
Day 3 Combat put in at an LZ somewhat off the beaten tract then a long day down almost to the Colorado border. Listen closely you could hear the dinosaurs. Dry dropper using a beetle midge combo w 12’ leader was the real deal. Best fish of the trip was a measured 22” brown from Swallow Canyon that dive-bombed the beetle like it was launched Polaris like from a sub and came down on it from above.
Day 4 was a in by 730 and out at 2 pm and beat feet east just in case the “potential” incoming weather might produce some iffy travel. It did because the next evening I-80 turned to skating rink from Rawlins to east of Laramie. Late winter early spring was always a potential adventure along that stretch of highway. As I typed this looking at the route on Google maps it’s appears it’s not a great day on I-80 currently.
Departed DJ at 3 pm (diesel was now $5.69 from $4.17 in 2 days) and made Sidney Neb at 2030. / Champaign IL/ home.
After seeing @Landlocked images we did cross paths a couple times on the river. Looks like a fun time was had by all.
It was a zoo out there I’ll tell you. Moose, bear, deer, pronghorn, Bighorn sheep, Bald Eagles. Love it when a plan comes together. Some images:
End of trip. Haven’t calculated final $$ but it was worth it.
Tight Lines and fun filled days,
Vagabond.
Going to jump in after seeing @Landlocked had the same idea. Great minds think alike.
Hmmmmm…..the most bestest fun trips have always been those like a rabbit pulled out of the hat..poof…bingo game on.
Text, call, email my guy in Dutch John. Check, open March 28-31 come on out fishings fine like late April. Confirm!
Weather report NW/US 2 weeks out: Check….looks like a good window to roll. Think back to ‘84(?) when Ut-Wy-Neb were shut down due to an accumulation of white stuff and 45+ mph wind caused 5’ snow drifts & closed I-80. Filed that one.
Travel: Ain’t flying! I don’t do lines well or act nice around people who think the world revolves around them while on the way to (fill in the blank). Here diesel is $6.19 gallon, there it’s $4.79. Fuel range is 700+/- miles summer..650 cold weather.
I’m outta here. Figure 2000 miles = 2+ days windshield time with no surprises. Looking for:
Day 1: 1075 miles slide into St Joe Missouri at 8:00pm CT after leaving house at 0530 ET.
Day 2: 748 miles arrive Rawlings Wy 1630 MT departed St Joe 0600. Windy, saw a couple of units laying on their side.
Day 3: 178 miles arrive Dutch John 1115 MT. See that the Trout Creek Flies & C Store has the cheapest diesel $4.18…hmmm. Mileage home to DJ 2001.1 miles. 70°+ the first 3 days. Is this actually Utah at 6500’ in March?
Check into Flaming Gorge Resort and it looks like others have had the same idea. “River is fishing quite well” OKEEDOOK!
Leave a message for the Man, Charlie and proceed to unpack what little I brought to the party. A 5 wt Scott 84/5/5 and a Sage XP 9/6. The Sage never left the room after the first day. Plans were made that evening.
Day 1 was A section for warm up. Plenty of healthy rainbows directly across from the launch below the dam for the first mile interspersed with nice browns further down river. Lots of fish, probably 75/25 in favor of rainbows first day. Things are looking up!
Looking for Baetis & BWO hatches from 11-3pm coming off sporadically. Fish are where they are supposed to be. A lot within 2-3’ of the bank in seams. Can be tough firing 50-60’ casts with 10’+ leaders with multi-fly setup close in while the boat is being restrained from outrunning the cast. One of the fun times on this section is fishing the reverse eddys against the banks. Lots of nice fish in there. Just above Little Hole takeout the river transitions to almost 90% browns and it delivered big time where you could set up, plan your cast and connect. Strange occurrence just above this section we ran across some cicadas! March????
Day 2 was B section Little Hole down into upper C will lunch at a site that would be considered rustic.
Day 3 Combat put in at an LZ somewhat off the beaten tract then a long day down almost to the Colorado border. Listen closely you could hear the dinosaurs. Dry dropper using a beetle midge combo w 12’ leader was the real deal. Best fish of the trip was a measured 22” brown from Swallow Canyon that dive-bombed the beetle like it was launched Polaris like from a sub and came down on it from above.
Day 4 was a in by 730 and out at 2 pm and beat feet east just in case the “potential” incoming weather might produce some iffy travel. It did because the next evening I-80 turned to skating rink from Rawlins to east of Laramie. Late winter early spring was always a potential adventure along that stretch of highway. As I typed this looking at the route on Google maps it’s appears it’s not a great day on I-80 currently.
Departed DJ at 3 pm (diesel was now $5.69 from $4.17 in 2 days) and made Sidney Neb at 2030. / Champaign IL/ home.
After seeing @Landlocked images we did cross paths a couple times on the river. Looks like a fun time was had by all.
It was a zoo out there I’ll tell you. Moose, bear, deer, pronghorn, Bighorn sheep, Bald Eagles. Love it when a plan comes together. Some images:
End of trip. Haven’t calculated final $$ but it was worth it.
Tight Lines and fun filled days,
Vagabond.
and never did her post trip CPA thing of “how much did this cost us?” 
if you will. The MoMos on the other hand can cause mental anguish when they migrate in hordes down the canyon walls. So many calories to consume the fish can ignore everything else, including your fly. Someday…maybe.