Finally departed the new home in south central PA and headed west toward the big trout country in NE Utah on the Green River in Dutch John. New route for us this year due to the move and I’ll be up front that being 250 miles shorter I-70 in Ohio and Indiana sucks the big lemon even more than it did in the 70s and 80s when I was doing this after escaping the clutches of the Army in 1970.
I’ve always loved to travel via land as that way one has control over most every part of the trip if the logistics are adhered to and no surprises occur. One also gets to see how the land, the earth’s surface defines the humanity that lives upon it. It takes a certain kind of person to live in a city, on 400 acres in Nebraska, on the end of a 2 mile drive in the Rockies and in the bottomlands along the Mississippi. As much as I love to fly to Argentina, Chile, Baja, and Central America at the end of the day my preference is the plan, then the drive. And you get to meet people you never would at 38K feet of altitude.
The last four years the wife and I have hit the Green River coming from three different directions so we decided to enhance the trip, or I did, with an additional leg, Alaska. She was to fly to Fairbanks from Dulles and I was to hit the Green for a week then high tail it north and meet her at Eielson AFB outside Fairbanks to meet up with grandson #2 who is stationed there with wife and great grandson. Bonus though as we learned three weeks ago there’s a great grand daughter on the way in November. Then the fly landed in the ointment and the wife got the Gitchie Goomies about flying out of Dulles or anywhere else on the east coast after recent events. I made the executive decision that I would take her with me to Dutch John, then to Salt Lake so she could rest for a couple days then fly to Fairbanks via SeaTac and chill then ride home with me after taking our sweet time. She loves the area around DJ so it was a win win, plus she and the guide I use have become besties.
Initially I had planned three days out to DJ but decided five with a complete day off in Lincoln NE for rest and truck service which should get me to AK and back to Calgary at about 6K miles if logistics work out. Might just have an early service done at the GMC dealer in Fairbanks and be safe though. Props to Husker GMC in Lincoln for a complete service and truck wash in under 2.5 hours. With rain in every state except PA, some with hail and tornado warnings and a 25 mph headwind until we dropped off I-80 at Rock Springs and hit DJ at 2pm on Saturday it was pay attention when you open the door dear! Today at the 2558 mark the mpg is sitting at 26.7 for the 3.0 liter Duramax here in SLC.
Now, the important part. The first time I fished the Green in my travels with the wife I used the Spinner Fall service and they’ve worked out great. The last three times I’ve had the same guide everyday except once as there was an overlap with a previous client so I did the right thing and let it roll. I book again when I get home so no issues as the guide and I have basically agreed on timing. I think another reason the wife wanted to come was she and the guide really connected which makes my day (and future days) smooth as butter. His daughter and my wife share the same birthday. Wife rides at least one time, although last year it was twice. I fish and she gets a history, flora, and fauna lesson from the guide. She was born in Devon England and had never been west of the Mississippi until five years ago. Makes her happy even after 56 years with me.
We did section C the first day followed by 2 A’s then B Had a half day scheduled for Thursday but we decided to cancel and head west. When we arrived the water from the dam was running at 600 cfs and the big drop had yet to occur. Bugs were midges (groan), scuds, sow bugs, a few, and I mean few BWO & PMDs. Cicadas were loud at places but very few, less than 5 on the water in 4 days. Cranefly larvae were abundant under rocks at waters edge in a few spots about ready to blow up. If fact probably everything blew up an hour after we left so I’m happy to have been a catalyst if that happened.
Rods I brought: Sage XP 9’/6, Scott 8’4”/5, Scott 8’8”/3, and Steffen 8’6” 6/7. Never used the 3 wt even though it’s been with me since it came out of Scott’s shop in the early 90s.
Reels Ross LTX & Hatch Finatic Gen 1 - Lines were S/A and Air Flo.
After spending the last 30+ years fishing saltwater from beach and boat we sold the boat early last year and other than a couple of trips to the Green and 2 Argentina it’s been salt salt salt. A 6 wt can feel like a 3 after wielding a 10 for decades.
Day 1: C Section Browns Park - Swallow Canyon 12+ miles
Dry dropper Cricket & big ant with various nymphs including perdigon. Tough water at low level which it was running at. Being the first day focused on seeing and fishing pockets close to bank and seams behind rocks. Caught & released maybe 15 +/- fish with Browns being the predominant trout vs rainbows. Lots of white fish showing but none to net. Didn’t bother with camera much as I was focusing on warming up and getting the rust off. One aspect of the C section that I continued to see were the runs of riffles, bank to bank that screamed Syl Nemes and a brace of soft hackles. Kept thinking of @Dave Westburg. I’ve got this penciled in for next time as there are multiple opportunities but would have to be planned prior due to length of the section. Did have a weird mishap with a new AirFlo 6 weight 2.0 line on the Ross LTX. Stripping line off I noticed the core and the coating had come apart for about 2 feet. Second time with an AirFlo and I spoke harshly at it. After getting that out of my system thought more about it and the LTX being L/A and narrow might I have stripped line off the reel against the near edge and split the line where it engaged the edge when stripping? Inquiring minds.
Days 2&3 A Section Dam - Little Hole 7 miles
Dry droppers cicada - cricket w baby fry & assorted nymph. This area by far has the most fish, the most holding areas, along with the least glare due to the high canyon walls. It is also the heaviest fished area. Over the course of the the two days probably had 25-30 fish come to the net on average including bonus points for 2 Cuts. Math wise 60/35/5%, Browns/Bows/Cuts. Really focused on learning to read seams 3-5’ out from the bank, see where the bottom fly was in relation to top fly, eliminate drag, and watch for movement away from the fly. Practice practice practice! With the new eyes (cataract surgery & lenses) I had to learn to focus on an area rather than a spot. Peripheral sight became tricky but the more I focused on the area, rather than the indicator, the easier it became. Browns were 18/20”, bows really fat and the same size wise with the cuts heavy & healthy. Bossman awarded me 2 Green River ‘Slams. Fish were happy, the wife was happy on the day she rode and the so was I. Sorry if I missed some bow images. Eyes are crossed at the moment.
Day 4 B Section Little Hole - Browns Park 9 miles
Fished the Sage & the Steffen, both with 6wt floaters. Same type of flies.
I love this water. It has everything to get the juices flowing. Best day by far probably due to previous 3 days of practice. A lot of fish from the seam and edges on back eddies with their reverse flows. Fish laying face downstream mode waiting in ambush mode then attacking. This was the only area where fish rose to top fly and engaged. Biggest fish including a couple each, Browns and Rainbows that went 20”. Didn’t take a lot of images as I was busy casting, hooking realeasing fish. Did get 3 fat Cuts so more slams. This stretch is more open so the glare, especially with the new eyes was tough on me but bossman would call out 10 o’clock 3’ from the bank and more times than not connect. The wind would come screaming down the river then disappear for an hour then do it again so he waited for a good area to baptise the Steffen and it was a trip moving from an XP to a glass rod. I did come unglued from 3 in a row on the Steffen due to what I think was the softer tip and operator error. Probably more so operator. Three or four nice fish, browns and bows were introduced to the net via the Steffen so good times all around. Thanks again @clarkman for reigniting my interest in ‘glass.
Learning to see the area of the water, location of both flies, and upcoming water, rocks, submerged and above water was key along with a guide that speaks to trout and knows what you’re thinking before you do really helps.
A couple more for posterity’s sake:
Thanks again for coming along. We’re currently in Salt Lake where she is going to hop on an Air Alaska and do a SLC - SeaTac to Fairbanks while I’m headed to Shelby Mt today on the first leg North to AK. Wanted to connect with a friend’s son who guides on the Big Mo but he’s booked solid at this time so maybe on the way home. Might try to catch up with @up2nogood as he’s along the way northbound unless he’s already departed for his honey hole on the Madison. Working on a tablet while the bride snores by the window so any misprints, poor English, weird colloquialisms, out of focus images are the responsibility solely of the author, wherever the hell he’s at!
To be continued from somewhere in the great Northwest!
I’ve always loved to travel via land as that way one has control over most every part of the trip if the logistics are adhered to and no surprises occur. One also gets to see how the land, the earth’s surface defines the humanity that lives upon it. It takes a certain kind of person to live in a city, on 400 acres in Nebraska, on the end of a 2 mile drive in the Rockies and in the bottomlands along the Mississippi. As much as I love to fly to Argentina, Chile, Baja, and Central America at the end of the day my preference is the plan, then the drive. And you get to meet people you never would at 38K feet of altitude.
The last four years the wife and I have hit the Green River coming from three different directions so we decided to enhance the trip, or I did, with an additional leg, Alaska. She was to fly to Fairbanks from Dulles and I was to hit the Green for a week then high tail it north and meet her at Eielson AFB outside Fairbanks to meet up with grandson #2 who is stationed there with wife and great grandson. Bonus though as we learned three weeks ago there’s a great grand daughter on the way in November. Then the fly landed in the ointment and the wife got the Gitchie Goomies about flying out of Dulles or anywhere else on the east coast after recent events. I made the executive decision that I would take her with me to Dutch John, then to Salt Lake so she could rest for a couple days then fly to Fairbanks via SeaTac and chill then ride home with me after taking our sweet time. She loves the area around DJ so it was a win win, plus she and the guide I use have become besties.
Initially I had planned three days out to DJ but decided five with a complete day off in Lincoln NE for rest and truck service which should get me to AK and back to Calgary at about 6K miles if logistics work out. Might just have an early service done at the GMC dealer in Fairbanks and be safe though. Props to Husker GMC in Lincoln for a complete service and truck wash in under 2.5 hours. With rain in every state except PA, some with hail and tornado warnings and a 25 mph headwind until we dropped off I-80 at Rock Springs and hit DJ at 2pm on Saturday it was pay attention when you open the door dear! Today at the 2558 mark the mpg is sitting at 26.7 for the 3.0 liter Duramax here in SLC.
Now, the important part. The first time I fished the Green in my travels with the wife I used the Spinner Fall service and they’ve worked out great. The last three times I’ve had the same guide everyday except once as there was an overlap with a previous client so I did the right thing and let it roll. I book again when I get home so no issues as the guide and I have basically agreed on timing. I think another reason the wife wanted to come was she and the guide really connected which makes my day (and future days) smooth as butter. His daughter and my wife share the same birthday. Wife rides at least one time, although last year it was twice. I fish and she gets a history, flora, and fauna lesson from the guide. She was born in Devon England and had never been west of the Mississippi until five years ago. Makes her happy even after 56 years with me.
We did section C the first day followed by 2 A’s then B Had a half day scheduled for Thursday but we decided to cancel and head west. When we arrived the water from the dam was running at 600 cfs and the big drop had yet to occur. Bugs were midges (groan), scuds, sow bugs, a few, and I mean few BWO & PMDs. Cicadas were loud at places but very few, less than 5 on the water in 4 days. Cranefly larvae were abundant under rocks at waters edge in a few spots about ready to blow up. If fact probably everything blew up an hour after we left so I’m happy to have been a catalyst if that happened.
Rods I brought: Sage XP 9’/6, Scott 8’4”/5, Scott 8’8”/3, and Steffen 8’6” 6/7. Never used the 3 wt even though it’s been with me since it came out of Scott’s shop in the early 90s.
Reels Ross LTX & Hatch Finatic Gen 1 - Lines were S/A and Air Flo.
After spending the last 30+ years fishing saltwater from beach and boat we sold the boat early last year and other than a couple of trips to the Green and 2 Argentina it’s been salt salt salt. A 6 wt can feel like a 3 after wielding a 10 for decades.
Day 1: C Section Browns Park - Swallow Canyon 12+ miles
Dry dropper Cricket & big ant with various nymphs including perdigon. Tough water at low level which it was running at. Being the first day focused on seeing and fishing pockets close to bank and seams behind rocks. Caught & released maybe 15 +/- fish with Browns being the predominant trout vs rainbows. Lots of white fish showing but none to net. Didn’t bother with camera much as I was focusing on warming up and getting the rust off. One aspect of the C section that I continued to see were the runs of riffles, bank to bank that screamed Syl Nemes and a brace of soft hackles. Kept thinking of @Dave Westburg. I’ve got this penciled in for next time as there are multiple opportunities but would have to be planned prior due to length of the section. Did have a weird mishap with a new AirFlo 6 weight 2.0 line on the Ross LTX. Stripping line off I noticed the core and the coating had come apart for about 2 feet. Second time with an AirFlo and I spoke harshly at it. After getting that out of my system thought more about it and the LTX being L/A and narrow might I have stripped line off the reel against the near edge and split the line where it engaged the edge when stripping? Inquiring minds.
Days 2&3 A Section Dam - Little Hole 7 miles
Dry droppers cicada - cricket w baby fry & assorted nymph. This area by far has the most fish, the most holding areas, along with the least glare due to the high canyon walls. It is also the heaviest fished area. Over the course of the the two days probably had 25-30 fish come to the net on average including bonus points for 2 Cuts. Math wise 60/35/5%, Browns/Bows/Cuts. Really focused on learning to read seams 3-5’ out from the bank, see where the bottom fly was in relation to top fly, eliminate drag, and watch for movement away from the fly. Practice practice practice! With the new eyes (cataract surgery & lenses) I had to learn to focus on an area rather than a spot. Peripheral sight became tricky but the more I focused on the area, rather than the indicator, the easier it became. Browns were 18/20”, bows really fat and the same size wise with the cuts heavy & healthy. Bossman awarded me 2 Green River ‘Slams. Fish were happy, the wife was happy on the day she rode and the so was I. Sorry if I missed some bow images. Eyes are crossed at the moment.
Day 4 B Section Little Hole - Browns Park 9 miles
Fished the Sage & the Steffen, both with 6wt floaters. Same type of flies.
I love this water. It has everything to get the juices flowing. Best day by far probably due to previous 3 days of practice. A lot of fish from the seam and edges on back eddies with their reverse flows. Fish laying face downstream mode waiting in ambush mode then attacking. This was the only area where fish rose to top fly and engaged. Biggest fish including a couple each, Browns and Rainbows that went 20”. Didn’t take a lot of images as I was busy casting, hooking realeasing fish. Did get 3 fat Cuts so more slams. This stretch is more open so the glare, especially with the new eyes was tough on me but bossman would call out 10 o’clock 3’ from the bank and more times than not connect. The wind would come screaming down the river then disappear for an hour then do it again so he waited for a good area to baptise the Steffen and it was a trip moving from an XP to a glass rod. I did come unglued from 3 in a row on the Steffen due to what I think was the softer tip and operator error. Probably more so operator. Three or four nice fish, browns and bows were introduced to the net via the Steffen so good times all around. Thanks again @clarkman for reigniting my interest in ‘glass.
Learning to see the area of the water, location of both flies, and upcoming water, rocks, submerged and above water was key along with a guide that speaks to trout and knows what you’re thinking before you do really helps.
A couple more for posterity’s sake:
Thanks again for coming along. We’re currently in Salt Lake where she is going to hop on an Air Alaska and do a SLC - SeaTac to Fairbanks while I’m headed to Shelby Mt today on the first leg North to AK. Wanted to connect with a friend’s son who guides on the Big Mo but he’s booked solid at this time so maybe on the way home. Might try to catch up with @up2nogood as he’s along the way northbound unless he’s already departed for his honey hole on the Madison. Working on a tablet while the bride snores by the window so any misprints, poor English, weird colloquialisms, out of focus images are the responsibility solely of the author, wherever the hell he’s at!
To be continued from somewhere in the great Northwest!
Will meet up with a couple friends tomorrow , same ones we do our annual Bighorn trip in April . We are going to give Hebgen a shot tomorrow. Both of them are bringing their boats , so it will be a group affair . Both these guys live here in Montana, both of them spend a lot of time on Stillwater , so hope to learn more about fishing Hebgen.
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