After getting a small taste that first evening in camp, I was excited to really explore this new to me section of the Green River. Having read about this incredible fishery, I knew it had some serious potential. Only time would reveal some of the secrets held by this fine trout stream.
The interesting thing about this trip is that it helped me make significant strides forward as both an angler and a guide, at least in one way. Even as long as I've been fishing, I still learn a TON every single year. In fact, the longer I fish and learn the more I realize how little I actually know. Still, each bit of knowledge adds up to enough information to be dangerous. I'll return to this idea a bit later. For now, let's dive right into the Green River.
Day One Fly Fishing the Green River in Wyoming
The cool morning had us up and out of our sleeping bags and in the warm truck as soon as the sun came up. It was frosty, and neither of us were prepared mentally for that I think. Still, the warm truck got us excited while the cool morning kept us driving all the way to Green River Lakes. After a quick look around, we drove a short distance back downstream to a spot we had passed on the way up. A nice high vantage point quickly gave us the opportunity to spot several very large trout. Even better, a light hatch was coming off, apparently a few tricos and some blue-winged olives.
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| "John fishing a picture perfect pool." ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
We quickly rigged up. The warm sun had things downright comfortable at this point, and we were soon casting to rising fish. I say fish instead of trout, because we would learn some interesting things about this rise in subsequent days. For now, we assumed we were only casting at trout and our success affirmed that perspective. Several quality trout and some much larger fish missed later, the hatch petered out.
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"What appears to be a little western BWO (attenella) but I'm not certain." ©2023 David Knapp Photography
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| "My best day one rainbow trout on the Green River." ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
Trying to extend the morning, I switched to a nymph rig and managed one hard pulling native, a whitefish. The big brown trout I had originally spotted in the pool eventually eased away in all the commotion, and finally we decided it was time to move. I'm not much of a stationary angler, and we had already fished that one pool very hard. It was time to cover water.
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| "Whitefish!" ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
Moving downstream in the truck, we found several other great spots to fish. To be fair, aren't they all? My favorite section was a piece of beautiful meadow water that reminded me of some of my favorite brown trout streams across the west. My favorite rig was put together for that scenario (top secret, sorry!) and I caught a few fish including a nicer brown trout. By this point, lunch had come and gone and the day was winding down.
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| "Green River brown trout." ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
We wanted to fish that water back in camp again, so we headed back for a relaxed evening of supper and fishing at camp. A few fish were caught, but nothing noteworthy, and it was time to get some sleep in preparation for another big day the next day.
Day Two Fly Fishing the Green River in Wyoming
On our second day on the Green River, we wanted to hit some of the incredible meandering meadow sections that we had passed going up the valley on our first day. Undercut bends went on for seemingly miles. John's truck could pretty much go anywhere we wanted to, so there weren't really any limitations on accessibility. We finally settled on a section that had those big sweeping bends that look so fishy.
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| "Parked to fish the Green River in Wyoming." ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
While I didn't have any particular big goals for the Green River, John was locked in on fishing big dry flies. I was experimenting with various methods and flies and catching a few here in there, but John persevered with some big foam and was ultimately rewarded with our best fish of the day by far. It was an incredible eat that happened after he had seen a rise on the far bank. The fly had to be within inches of the bank, and a great cast got it in the feeding lane. A big slurp, a great hook set, then some serious side pressure as the fish dove for cover all worked to get the big rainbow trout out in the open.
I happened to be close by at the moment and helped with the net while also witnessing the eat. It was an incredible sequence and was our first really nice fish of the trip. It got us excited to keep fishing hard for a few more days. I eventually caught a few on dry flies as well, so it was an exciting day.
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| "Hopper caught rainbow on the Green River!" ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
It was on this second day that I made an interesting discovery that would lead to my enlightenment. John's big rainbow kept us focused to work all the way through a long section centered on where we had parked the truck. We were getting close to turning around when a particularly deep bend pool caught my attention, mostly because of the high bank above it that allowed me a good view of the stream.
We covered a lot of water, but this pool in particular had me intrigued. We fished our way through and on up until we ran into some other anglers before turning around. On the way back down, I wanted to look at that one pool again. Sure enough, when I climbed up high for a view, I saw some big dark shadows. By this time we were starting to recognize whitefish versus trout and the majority of these big shadows (quite a few actually) were big brown trout for the most part. I didn't have one big "Ah Ha" moment, but the wheels started turning.
Following Days Fly Fishing the Green River in Wyoming
The next few days were more of the same with a town trip or two thrown in for good measure. We also made the long run down to the first big tailwater on the Green below Fontenelle Reservoir. Unfortunately, water temperatures there were significantly elevated near 70 degrees, so that adventure ended up as a bust.
On one particularly relaxing day, we ran up to the same pool we fished on our first day. It was cloudy with a threat of rain, and the bugs poured off. It was just exactly as you imagined and dreamed of. The only problem was that we didn't see as many of the big fish as we had on our first day. Then we noticed even more rises down in the heart of the pool. I had caught one nice brook trout and John and got a fish or two, but overall we felt like there was an opportunity to do much better if we could just crack the code.
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| "Reflections on the Green River." ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
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| "Brook trout from the Green River in Wyoming." ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
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| "Brook trout are gorgeous." ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
The possibility of something amazing convinced us to cross the stream and drop down the far bank. The fish were rising hard and good dry fly fishing has to be enjoyed whenever possible. It took a while to hook that first fish, and I don't really remember which of us did that. What I do remember is that it was a whitefish. Okay, no problem, there are lots of other rises, so on to the next one.
After we had each caught several whitefish, it began to dawn on both of us that maybe, just maybe, all of these podded up fish were whitefish. Dry fly fishing is exciting no matter what, and I recalled a story in one of John books about fishing on the Madison for rising whitefish. Still, they were whitefish and not trout. Both of us were there for trout, rightly or wrongly. Eventually, we tore ourselves away from the still voracious feeding and went looking for other options.
One section had more gradient than much of the valley and appealed to me because it looked more like the water I was used to back home in the Smokies. We made a point to fish through the heavier pocket water, runs, and fast pools and caught a lot of nice fish on nymphs. Nothing noteworthy, mind you, but still a good time.
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| "Faster water on the Green River." ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
It was at the end of that section that both of us realized that the ongoing cloudy weather could produce a good evening hatch back at camp. We headed back intent on taking advantage of another opportunity to fish the camp pool. It turned out to be the right call.
The Camp Pool
That evening, we got a little burst of late sunshine. That was just what we needed to trigger that evening hatch. Bugs started to pop as the sun sank lower over the western hills. Fish started rising, slowly at first, then more and more. It was a difficult pool to fish. Apparently all the fish were well aware of the camp and the fact that pressure almost always came from that side of the river. Thus, the best rises were right in the far current or across it along the far bank and structure. It required long accurate casts, stack mends or similar for slack, and maybe even a reach cast.
We both downsized to 6x tippet for the small bugs that were hatching. A spinner fall started and the fish went from the occasional rise to a feeding frenzy in minutes. We took turns every other fish. The best spot was towards the middle and back of the pool and the long casts required meant you couldn't fish too close to each other.
Both of us lost several flies to some rather large fish that made quick work of our 6x. John finally got the eat of the evening on a long cast to the far bank. He got just the right mend, fed a little slack into the drift, then the fly was sipped by an athletic rainbow trout. While not the largest fish of our trip, it was easily one of the most memorable. It was one of those moments that burns into your memory and will bring me back to fish that same pool again someday. The light was fading fast when John landed that fine rainbow trout. We gave a few more casts out of general principle, but it was clear that the rise was just about done.
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| "Do you see the spinner in the trout's mouth?" ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
Back To the Brown Trout Pool on the Green River in Wyoming
On our last day on the Green, we weren't certain that it would even be the last day. Our trip still had several days, but because we had gotten ahead of schedule by cutting our backpacking short, we had some wiggle room. The North Platte had come up in conversation and we were learning towards starting back towards home with a stop at the North Platte along the way. However, I had one place I wanted to revisit: the brown trout pool we had discovered on our second day fishing the Green River.
Something else had happened between our first discovery and our final visit. We had noticed a Subaru with rod racks making the rounds of the valley just like us. They had Wyoming tags and at least appeared to maybe be local. One day, as we were passing by, we noticed them pulled off at this particular location and scrambling in a beeline down the hillside to fish that pool. That was my second clue that this pool was a special place.
I had also had time to reflect on many of the streams I have fished closer to home. It was occurring to me, slowly but surely, that brown trout will stack up in a handful of spots prior to the spawn and often much earlier than most people realized. I know quite a few places where they will be congregating by sometime in July, both here in Tennessee and out west. My suspicious were growing that in just a few days on this new to me stream, we had stumbled onto one of these extra special spots full of big fish. The spawn was still plenty far enough away that we could fish for them in good conscience.
The day was cloudy, perfect for chasing brown trout. The roads were seriously messy. The deep mud was slick and I was thankful we were in John's truck. When we got to our spot, we eased down a side road and parked out of the way. The made driving down seemed extra slick. When we got out of the truck, we realized it wasn't just a little slick, it was like greased ice. Oh well, we were here now.
My fishing pack was reorganized for this final day on the Green. I had switched out some fly boxes and was fully prepared for targeting big browns podded up in deep water. A quick glance from above confirmed that they were still there. I also saw one of the biggest shadows gliding around that I've seen in a long time. A fish in the 15+ pound class and over 30 inches was just one of the monsters in this pool. Unfortunately, it soon disappeared and never made an appearance again. The other quality fish were still there waiting for us though.
We started working the pool with deep nymph rigs and plenty of weight. I cycled through my favorite flies for brown trout in this particular scenario. Eventually, we started getting some eats. Some were big whitefish, but some were quality brown trout. The biggest fish eluded us, giving me some major incentive to return to this spot someday, but we found some great fish. Fittingly, our fish of the trip on the Green River came on our last day which is as it should be.
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| "John's nice brown trout." ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
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| "My quality Green River brown trout." Photo courtesy of John Bates ©2023 |
At some point while fishing that pool, the light became some of the most dramatic of the whole trip. Dark clouds in the background framed the brilliant foreground, lit up by the late season sun. It provided the perfect setting for fishing this great pool.
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| "Contrasting light." ©2023 David Knapp Photography |
By the time both of us had caught a quality brown trout or two, our minds were going back to the truck. We had a steep hillside to get back up and the slick mud had us slightly concerned. While we could have fished that pool for the rest of the day, neither of us wanted to be stuck for the night. Working on getting ourselves out of the potential predicament and hitting some water with better access to round out our day seemed like the thing to do.
Finishing Our Green River Adventure in Wyoming
We hiked up the hill to the truck and got everything put away. Then it was time for the moment of truth. John fired up the truck and started backing up the hill. That initial part wasn't too bad, and despite some slipping and sliding, he was soon on the final short section approaching the main road. This was where things got really sketchy.
John already had the truck in 4WD. That part was mandatory just to get back up to where we were. The next part would challenge the off road credentials of this truck. I won't drag this part out other than to say that before all was said and done, we were using crawl control, driving through fields, bouncing over rocks, and by some miracle eventually cresting the rise back onto the main rode. The truck was already super dirty, so it wasn't obvious from appearances that we had been through quite the adventure getting back on the road. Thankfully, that is what these trucks are made for.
Cruising back down the main (also dirt, but better) road, we agreed on one thing in particular: the rest of our fishing that day would be in spots where we didn't risk getting stuck. It had been a close call. That actually took us to some neat spots, but it was clear that our trip was winding down. Everything that I wanted to explore had been explore, but checking a new river off my list sounded good.
That evening in camp, we discussed our options and decided to make the drive over to the North Platte. We didn't even know where on the North Platte. That would be determined the next day with some cell service in town and our old friend Google. We got as much ready to travel as possible that evening, then hit crawled into our tents for one last night with the Green lulling us to sleep as it chattered away behind camp. Little did we dream that the best was yet to come...
