By Diana Rupp

The big brown trout rose to the surface, opened its mouth, and engulfed the dry fly. I hauled back on my fly rod to set the hook and felt the thrilling weight of the fish as it surged downstream. My index finger burned from the searing of the fly line as it shot through the rod guides.

“Let him run!” James, my guide, shouted, hauling on the left oar of the drift boat and expertly clearing a large rock that knifed up from the rapids. The boat thudded down through the roiling whitewater, rocking me where I stood in the bow. 

“Stay in the leg locks!” he reminded me. I quickly repositioned to a more secure stance in the boat’s built-in supports and focused on keeping my rod tip pointed upward in order to tire the fish as quickly as possible. As the boat drifted into quieter water, the fly reel whirred as the trout made another headlong run. When it eased, I began stripping line in as fast as I could. Slowly, the fish yielded.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see James getting the net ready, his bearded face split by a grin. In the other end of the boat, I heard a whoop from Robin, my fishing partner, as she caught sight of the big trout as it rolled close to the boat in the crystal-clear water. “He’s a beauty!”

The trout made one last surge before James was able to scoop it into the long-handled net, and he held it over the side to keep the fish submerged in the water as he extracted the barbless fly from its jaw. I wet my hands and hefted the fish quickly for a photo. Gorgeously colored, heavy, and healthy, the brown trout was as wild and beautiful as the red canyon walls that surrounded us. James returned the fish to the water, holding it carefully in the current until it recovered and swam away from us, unharmed and undoubtedly wiser.

“That was fantastic!” I said to James. “These Green River fish sure are fighters!”

He leaned into the oars, nudging the drift boat around a bend between the soaring cliffs, and smiled. “Let’s go find another one.”

When Major John Wesley Powell first saw the spectacular canyon carved by the Green River in 1869, he was impressed by the vibrant red colors in the sandstone on the canyon walls, which appeared especially brilliant when lit by the setting sun. He dubbed the canyon, which runs through the Uinta Mountains of present-day eastern Utah, the Flaming Gorge.

Construction of the Flaming Gorge Dam in the late 1950s and early 1960s submerged most of the actual gorge under a reservoir, but the cold, clear water released by the dam turned the Green River below it into one of North America’s premier trout fisheries. The thirty-mile-long tailwater, which runs through Red Canyon, as well as the Flaming Gorge Reservoir itself, have become world-famous for spectacular blue-ribbon trout fishing. The entire complex is known as the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

Rumors of this combination of scenic beauty and thousands of hungry trout lured me to this remote region of the Rocky Mountains this summer for two days of catch-and-release float-fishing. The little town of Dutch John, Utah, which sprang to life when the dam was built, is a buzzing hive of anglers and whitewater rafters this time of year, and it boasts at least four fly shops and a large contingent of knowledgeable and experienced fishing guides, making it the starting point for any fishing adventure. 

Utah’s Division of Wildlife estimates there are an incredible 8,000 to 22,000 trout per mile in the first few miles of the tailwater below Flaming Gorge Dam. Most of them are naturally reproducing wild brown trout in the 15- to 17-inch range, but anglers catch 30-inchers here with some frequency. The Green River in this section also holds a good population of rainbow trout, as well as a few cutthroats and cuttbows. 

Fishing in the tailwater below Flaming Gorge Dam is restricted to artificial lures and flies only, no bait, and no motorboats are allowed, so drift boats are the preferred method of transportation down the river. The river has crystal-clear water and prolific insect hatches from April to October. All of this combines to make this stretch of the Green a paradise for fly anglers.

Despite that, catching trout here isn’t easy, and it takes patience and skill to have a successful trip. The Green gets a lot of fishing pressure, and the trout are highly educated and can be choosy about what flies they will take. The clear water also means that the fish are spooky and can easily spot your drift boat, so it’s advantageous to be able to make long casts. And, as I discovered, even once they’re hooked, the fish are very good at taking advantage of the rapids and rocks to shake your fly loose and swim free. I lost several big fish after epic fights, including one that took me all the way into my fly line backing.

Anglers divide the Flaming Gorge tailwater into three parts. The first seven miles of the Green River from Flaming Gorge Dam to the Little Hole Recreation Area is known as the A stretch. This part holds the most fish, and it also sees the most fishing pressure. The middle stretch, known as the B stretch, is flatter and wider, with fewer but larger fish, a trend that continues to the lower, or C stretch. 

There are lots of options for guided and DIY fishing trips in Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. If you prefer not to float the river, there’s a hiking trail that runs along the shoreline of the A and part of the B stretch that allows access for wade-fishing. The B stretch has great shoreline campsites that double as nice spots to relax and have a shore lunch if you’re doing a day trip. And because the A stretch is the most popular, the farther downriver you go, the more you’ll leave the crowds behind.

On the last hour of our float trip, as the heat of the day wore off and the evening light turned the walls of the canyon their namesake flaming red, I landed another big brown trout and Robin reeled in a large rainbow. Not ready to stop fishing even after eight hours on the water, we were sorry to see the takeout point come into view as our boat drifted around a bend at sunset. We’d had a magnificent time and had experienced a colorful fishing adventure in Flaming Gorge, catching beautiful brown and rainbow trout beneath red canyon walls in the crystal-clear waters of the Green River. 

Main image credit: Trail’s End Media.

Family, Food, and Fishing: Our Trip to Thailand

By Shan Cunningham

With my wife Sali having been born in Thailand and raised in Canada, and still having family there, we try to make the most of our travel plans to visit her family, hit the beaches, and of course get lots of fishing in.

It had been six years since we last visited Thailand, and on that trip we visited Gillhams Fishing Resort and caught some amazing fish on their 12 acre lake that holds 52 species, several of those being over 100lbs! We also fished their smaller pond where we were able to fly fish and managed to catch numerous fish on the fly including an arowana which was no easy task with their sharp teeth and bony tongue. CONTINUE READING