Green River, Utah

[spilunkr]

This past weekend I joined several friends on a winter fishing trip to the Green River. Several of the group drove over on Friday the rest of us joined on Saturday. Winter fishing in the mountains can present problems. On the drive over Saturday I-80 through southern Wyoming we encountered ground blizzard conditions from just west of Laramie to Rawlins. In that space of interstate we passed no less than a dozen tractor trailers jackknifed off the road along with several cars some of which were upside down. Being an easterner ground blizzards are new to me. It is odd having the sun out in a blue sky yet have the wind blowing snow along the ground so hard you can barely see to drive.

The wind caused the drive to be two hours longer than normal. We finally arrived at Little Hole on the Green around 1:30 giving us about 3 hours to fish. As it turned out Saturday was the most productive fishing day for everyone but me with at least one person landing a couple dozen fish. I stayed pretty close to where we had parked, but those who had arrived the day before were about a half mile upriver from me and doing very well on rising fish.


The Green above Little Hole

I did find an eddy with a couple of rising fish but the wind was blowing strong enough to riffle the surface enough that I was having great difficulty seeing the #24 flies I was casting. I think I missed a couple of rises but by not being able to see my flies I wasn’t sure. I did manage a pair of fat 13” rainbows and a 15” brown on size 22 nymphs.


View from our lodgings

Fortunately the day time temperatures were around 30 for most of the time we were in Dutch John. The biggest problem was the wind which got stronger each day. Sunday the wind blew at about 20 mph with wind gusts to 30. But at least the sun was out most of the day.


On the trail from Little Hole

A couple of people managed to find a few rising fish in some sheltered eddys in the early afternoon, but for the most part everyone was nymphing. But the wind was making things difficult for everyone. After four hours without a hit I finally gave up on nymphs and tried streamers which resulted in a nice 15” brown. But, that was it for most of the afternoon. Towards the end of the afternoon I switched back to nymphs and did pick up a 12” rainbow. Unlike the day before the best anyone did was about eight fish.


Alan with 18” brown nicest fish anyone caught on the trip


Listening to the NOAA weather channel it sounded like the weather was going to do nothing but get worse. It snowed 3” overnight and the wind was howling. Two people decided to leave first thing Monday morning in order to get home before the next snow storm predicted for Monday night. That left four of us to fish on Monday which started out pretty nice, sunny and degrees 30 at 9:00. But, the wind was now up to 25 mph with gusts to 40. So we decided to try just below the Flaming Gorge dam hoping the area would be a bit more protected from the wind.



Fishing below the dam turned out to be a pretty good decision. It was sunny and it felt warm as we pretty much protected from the wind which had continued to blow straight up the river. Most of the fish caught were again taken on small nymphs, although one person did find a few rising fish around noon and took two on dries. I had my best day with a dozen hook ups and landing eight - all rainbows except for one 16” brown.


15” rainbow with #22 red zebra midge


16” brown my best fish of the trip, also on red zebra midge

But, unfortunately the weather went downhill in a hurry about 12:30. the wind shifted 180 degrees, the sun disappeared and snow started coming down pretty hard.


Fishing in the snow at the launch ramp by the dam.

The snow had accumulated almost an inch by 1:30 and we decided to get out before the road up from the boat ramp got much more snow. But it had been a productive 4 ½ hours of fishing.

That evening and overnight it snowed an additional 3 inches. Tuesday morning again started out sunny. But, the NOAA weather station was forecasting an even stronger storm for early Tuesday evening. We had hoped to fish Tuesday morning until noon before driving home but decided we should leave early in order to make sure we could make back over the mountain passes before the snow hit.

At the lodge office we found out that Rt 191 the road back up to Rock Springs and I-80 was closed due to the snow the night before. Also, I-80 was closed from Rock Springs east to Cheyenne due to the previous night’s snow being blown by 45 to 50mph winds. So we had to come home via an alternate route south to Vernal than east on US 40 to Rabbit Ears Pass outside of Steamboat Springs, then CO 14 over Cameron Pass.


Scenic shot south of Dutch John

Most of the roads were snow covered which made for slow driving making the normally 5 ½ hour drive a bit over 8 ½. But, we did manage to see a half dozen bald eagles, a golden eagle, a dozen or so mule deer and several dozen elk on the drive home. We also managed to hit one two or three mile stretch of road west of Walden, CO where the wind was blowing ground snow so hard there were times we literally could not see the road. But, we did manage to beat the storm. We got over Cameron Pass just before sunset. Not much later it did start snow up at the pass and it accumulated about 8”.

All in all it was a pretty good trip despite the constant wind and threat of snow. Everyone had a good time and caught fish.

Guy

[Jeffrey Rasband]

Guy,

Awesome report. Winter fishing is really something else isn't it? Looks like its turning out to be a superb winter out there for the skiiers as everytime I turn on the news it seems theyre talking about how much snow is pounding the rockies.

[spilunkr]

Jeff,

At this point in time it looks like it will be a good water year at least here in Colorado. The snow pack in the mountains varies from about 105% in the northern part of the state to almost 170% in the south west. Other than I read that AZ and N. M. recieved a lot of snow in December, I have not investigated how the other moutainous states have fared.

I hope the snow continues for awhile as what is on the ground can disappear pretty quickly. Two winters ago there was a good snow pack in early February but then it stopped snowing and by mid-April the various river basins were only at 60%-70% of normal.

Guy

[mike cozzens]

Thanks for the Western report. That's a cool river and it must have been a treat to fish it without crowds. Great Pics as usual!

Mike