Green River

The Wife, The Green and The Rainbows

May 11th

I go fishing a lot. Most of the time I fish I’m solo. Its usually easier and it gives me a chance to practice my own skills instead helping develop others all the time. And just maybe my long hours in the coldest crappiest conditions don’t excite too many people either. There are times when I am the luckiest man in the world and my beautiful wife joins me for a day on the river. (That gives me an idea about my next blog rant, Fishing with Girls, Wives, etc…) In this particular case Liz and I made a deal. If I worked out and ate healthy with her all week, she would come fishing with me on Sat. I didn’t even second guess myself. That Monday I was already planning on hitting the Green or the Berry if the ice was still around for the weekend. As the weekend grew near the Green was looking hard to beat. So on Sat morning we packed up the Jeep and headed northeast in search of hopefully some BWOs, Midges and most importantly some good quality time together. There is something special about going on trips with Liz, the lunches are always 100 times better, plus she makes the experience fun and alive. (She is that kind of person) As we got to the river around 10am I was shocked to see a half full parking lot, I guess the economy is even affecting some peoples time on the water. Today’s fishing trip was going to be a simple easy going outing, but as we started our float I notice a couple fish rising across the stream. Better go see what going on I though, as I finally got over to the opposite side of the river I notice fish scattering everywhere. I said in an excited voice “Liz check out how many fish there are in this run” I think she was shocked to see so many fish in such a small area.

After anchoring the boat my first couple casts produced hit and misses on a dry-dropper rig. After a little thought, I decided to go with what I knew wouldn’t spoke them, but would for sure produce some fish, at least I hoped. And that it did!!! It was the right set up for the right time of the year, for the right spooky fish. In fact I caught fish after fish, Liz joined in and reeled in a nice bow too. It was red hot fishing for bright colored wild Rainbows.

After a dozen or so 16-18 inchers I decided to target some of the larger fish I could see. The first was a very dark shadow about 20 ft in front of the boat. On my first cast to it, I noticed it followed my flies and when it turned back upstream they were gone. Set the hook I thought. I lifted what felt like a 30 pound anchor and the fight was on! This fish was wise and freakin fast, the old dark bow fought until he had had enough and gave us one good pass to bring him to the net. WOW, Its size grew 5 inches when he was in the net. It was the darkest steelhead like rainbow I had ever scene caught on the green. We nick named it the freak.

With one big fish to net I was back glassing the water for another. After a couple smaller fish, I spotted what I though was a sunken log in front of a big rock, until it moved after a something and returned in its feeding lane 50+ ft from us. My first cast was too short, but my second cast was right on the money. My line went tight and the water tossed like killer whale in the shallows. I had a huge fish on and I knew it. Luckily it went in front of the rock on a 100 ft run downstream and not behind. After letting up on the pressure the big beast turned and came straight back up stream and right pass the boat giving me a look and doubling the stress on another nail biting run. With only 6X on I didn’t want to do anything stupid, so I took my time and wore the beast down until I finally got him to the surface. Liz reached out with the long net, but the beast wasn’t done. 5 other attempts and I couldn’t pull him up to the surface so Liz could net him. Finally I pulled a little harder and SNAP. Just kidding!!! Its a happy story. Finally I pulled a little harder and Liz got the net underneath him and in the boat. I was speechless…It was the largest wild rainbow I had ever caught on the green and prefect in every way. It was a magical time to share such an amazing experience with my wife and one we won’t both live down for a long time.

It was this Big!

We could have stayed in that area and caught fish all day, but with two hours of non-stop fish we decided to move in search of other fish and a new scenery.

The rest of the float was was as I had planned, simple, easy going with a fish or two in each area I decided to get out and fish. I was hoping for a good hatch, but with the constant breeze and bright sun it just didn’t happen, until the sun went down and we were just about off the river. Oh well, next time I’ll stay out past dark and just kill them, but this time it wasn’t about the fishing it was about spending time with my real true love, Liz.

Waking up at 5am calls for a mid day nap on the water.

Why do you think my last name is GILLespie

So made the rules about throwing and rolling rock at people and lesbows? Just wonderin

Green River Part 2

Apr 27th

Posted by Dr. G in Fly Fishing Stories

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In a rush to get my last post out before the feeling of the trip faded. Which it does if you wait too long. Its not so much that you forget, but it is the little things that get forgotten. In my rush I neglected to get some of the best pics of the trip from my friend Wayne. So here is another look at the trip from Wayne’s prospective.

Late Night at “The Wall”. To give Waynes fish justice the smaller brown in the pic is 17 inches

Second Wall Hog in 5 mins

What Rain?

Finally A Bow!

Annual Green River BWO Trip

Apr 21st

Posted by Dr. G in Fly Fishing Stories

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Every year it’s tradition for me to plan a trip to the Green River during the famed Blue Wing Olive Hatch. Its the one trip each year that I am so excited about that I am thinking and planning for it all year. In a way its an adults Christmas. The first trip I took was a little crazy. We caught more fish than I have ever seen caught in one day on bwo’s and ended up with $1000s of dollars in tickets and fines. (Stupid Obstructing Justice Rule) Another memorable trip was the first trip with my boat. We we floated 3 days with great weather and the rivers resident big browns would not leave our PMX’s alone. But just as time changes all things, this years trip ranks up top as my new favorite bwo trip. The trip started well before the scheduled date of April 17-19th. During that time flies were tied, the boat was refinished and customized, needed gear was bought, and people that swore they were going to be there dropped like flies. We started the trip with only 4 of the original 15 group members. (Weather, wives, dogs, girl friends, money, jobs, and everything else seemed to be an excuse. I guess its all Obama’s fault) So with Gunner, Mallary, Wayne and myself, we set off for the Green and in search of a rising fish.

Day 1 (Friday 17th)
After a snowy drive we reached the red rocks of the Flaming Gorge Valley. Its always a warming feeling when one descends down the windy path and reaches the clear cool water of the green. The days fishing was red hot from the start. Mallary caught one of the two fish caught with a nymph rig the whole trip as we launched the boat. After that I noticed midges everywhere, so we hit up a couple of my favorite scum lines and had a blast, as we fished little midges for rising trout. The fishing turned up another level as we zeroed in to what they were really wanting and how they were wanting it. The fly of choice was a customized Orange Asher that I created on a wim. (I am sure glad I did) The scum suckers wouldn’t leave this fly alone. It caught fish all day for us. By the end of the day and after a trip to “The Wall” we were about 50 flies short and 25 of those were ashers.
Highlights:
Waynes and Mallarys huge browns at “The Wall”
“Spread Eagle, I mean bald eagle” good one Mal (What was that eagle?)
Frozen Hands, Feet
Last ones off the water, floating the last mile in the dark
Staying in a warm condo and not camping
Tying flies watching AEG-New ZDay 2

With a better idea of the fishing and the bugs. We started the day with a better idea of what we wanted to do. We started off with dries and never looked back. Midges and BWOs were the flies of choice. We only fished areas that held rising fish, which wasn’t very hard to find. With ideal weather the fishing was off the charts. It rained for about 30 mins as we had lunch and then after that the fishing was even better than before. In places the midges were so thick that it loked like their was sand on top of the water. On the way down “The Wall” produced right before dark with bwo’s. If Mallary didn’t fall in and get all wet, I would have been able to catch even more than 3 fish in 5 mins that she gave us. It was an amazing site to see hundreds of rising fish in the shallow water run. That night we met up with the rest of the crew Jeff, Laura and Addie. (The Family) They had a nice warm dinner ready as we got off the river and back to the condo.

Highlights
“I love your boat” Happy B-Day Tristen
Meeting Scott and his girl
Trav and Mall fishing together-just killing it
Watching the Rocker
Day 3

Bright skies, warm weather and rising trout is a good way to sum up our last day on the river. We fished our favorite spot from the last couple days and it produced like we knew it would. The fish were a little picky, but a size down or 5 was all one needed to temp them to take our little midges. As the afternoon fell upon us, I noticed bigger fish were rising in a fast water seem. I studied the water and noticed the trout were only talking the emerging bwos. With this in mind I hooked and quick released the largest fish of the trip. Guessing it would have pushed 25, but who knows. I was able to pick up a very nice 22 to end the trip and fill my pot for another year. We rowed down the rest of the river fulfilled. As we reached little hole we were greeted with another prepared lunch and a chance to share our days stories, before we had to call it quits. In all it was some of the finest dry fly fishing I have experienced, as well as great company and experiences that will teach us for a life time.

Highlights
Osprey catching fish
Warm Weather!!! not for fishing
Addie first float
22 inch brown on 28 midge

Time to get ready for next year!

Blast from the Past

Nov 8th

Posted by Dr. G in Fly Fishing Stories

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The First Float with the New Drift Boat. Oct 2005

Some of my Favorites from The Green River

Family Memorial Day Trip 2006

Gunner and the Brown

My Fishing Teacher: My Grandpa introduced me to the art of fishing and I have never been the same since. He is truly a fine fishermen and a great man I respect!