Boasting staggering numbers of up to 22,000 fish per mile, the Green river below the Flaming Gorge Dam offers the angler the unique opportunity of catching a high quantity of large trout. The river also has a reputation of extremely fickle and spooky trout that refuse flies like a fussy child. The fall offers a time to fish the Green with relatively few people compared to the crowded summer season. On October 18th a group of friends and I arrived at the river in search of the legendary pigs that inhabit the Green river.

The first day we parked at the Little Hole which marks the split between the “A” and “B” sections of the river and hiked the trail upriver on the “A” section. The trail runs 7 miles through the canyon along the river and ends at the dam and highway 191. At any point along the trail you can gaze into the river a spot large shadows just below the surface in the feeding channels that seem to be everywhere. Although it’s nearly impossible, it’s best to avoid temptation to cast a line at the beginning of the trail-head and put some distance between yourself and the parking lot. On this particular day I made it nearly a mile before succumbing to temptation and casting to a behemoth trout casually feeding near the bank. Being a tail-water fishery, the Green is best fished with very small flies in the 18-22 range. Most anglers being guided down the river are strung up with deep nymphing rigs and giant indicators. I try to avoid dredging if possible and chose to throw a para-hopper and dropped a size 20 pheasant tail 30 inches off the hopper. My success was almost immediate, first on the nymph and then surprisingly on the hopper. For the next few hours I caught and released almost a dozen good sized browns and bows. At one point fish were rising by the hundreds to a thick Blue Winged Olive hatch and a size 20 BWO took fish at will. Catching up with the group along the trail I learned everyone had a good day and we retired to the campsite to ready ourselves for our overnight float the following day.

In the morning of day two we got our two rafts from the Flaming Gorge Lodge, http://flaminggorgeresort.com and launched at just below the dam. The only hatch going off was rubber and wood as the river was congested with boats that we could never seem to get away from on the “A” section. The fishing proved to be slow for everyone but the scenery more than made up for the lack of fish. As soon as we crossed over to the “B” section below the little hole it seemed like we were on a totally different river. All of a sudden we were alone, drifting further into the remote canyon with towering red sandstone walls cutting us off with the rest of the world. The fishing also picked up and the fly of choice was the black wooly bugger stripped off the banks. Soon we reached our camping site and retired for the night under a star filled sky recounting perfect day. The next day we finished our trip rafting and fishing the lower “B” and upper “C” sections of the Green catching and releasing hard fighting healthy trout in one of the most spectacular settings in the country. We unanimously declared the lower river our favorite water on the Green and vowed to return soon for another experience of a lifetime.