Green River Antelope

Part of our Wyoming trip in 2008 was to fish the Green River near Cora, WY and I drove down to the Warren Bridge area to check out that part of the river prior to our trip here later in the week. I keep a finger on the pulse of all the places we fish through the friends, outfitters, and guides that I work with and through there, but I always like to check things out first hand to confirm the current conditions. Every fall the antelope migrate from all over NW Wyoming down the Hoback Canyon and through the buttes and sagebrush flats and grasslands on their way to their wintering grounds in the Red Desert near Pinedale, WY. They are interesting animals, requiring very little water to live. Go thing too, other than the river you won't find much water in this area. It is a river through a desert.

A Real Life Bullwinkle.....Well, maybe not

As I left Jackson, WY on Friday morning Aug 22 at a little past 5:30am I stopped into Smiths for a cup of strong coffee and a donut and then headed south on 189 toward the Hoback Canyon. I was headed today to sample the upper Hoback Canyon where we would end up fishing near the end of our week in Wyoming. I anticipated red hot dry fly fishing as the hoppers were everywhere. It was 36F when I got out of the van, but surprisingly even that early in the morning red hot dry fly fishing with a hopper is exactly what I found....to the tune of about 25 cutties on top. It was great. An extra treat was seeing this moose on the way in. Actually there were two moose (or is it meese......plural?...who knows but they were big!) and they calmly watched as I went by them. I felt a little nervous as they can be aggressive and are often known to be more dangerous than a grizzly. Fortunately these guys just gave me a look and decided that getting out of the area was a good idea.....what a thrill and what a great thing to have the camera on me.

Whoa.....there's a Buffalo...and another and another....

They are pretty common, at least in this part of the world anyway, but still an interesting animal and always neat to see anytime you encounter them. I encountered this group of bison on my way up to fish the upper Gros Ventre. I had just left Jackson, WY and the rental car place and was headed up the road to Kelly and had just passed the massive Gros Ventre Butte when this large group of bison decided they wanted to cross the highway. And of course, when they decide to go somewhere its a good idea just to get out of the way.......which I promptly did of course.

Wyoming Sampler Trip 2008.....Official Day Six

After a great night's sleep we had a big breakfast at the lodge, and packed our lunches, then rode to upper Hoback Canyon an hour and 15 minutes away. Munsey Wheby Jr, Gregg and Ken Williamson fished the lower section of canyon and Munsey caught 20-30 fish (several good fish including one fish that was 18-19" and several that were in the 14-15" range all cutts). Gregg caught 25-30 fish (several 10-12" and one 18" beast and a few 15" too), Ken caught 20-25 fish (several 10-12 inchers and one 15-16" cutt), Pat caught about a dozen (several 10-12 " fish and a couple 14-15" and one 17" w/great colors), Gary caught 6 fish ( one 14" and raised several large ones but missed them), Munsey Sr (caught 4 fish, all cutts). This part of the Hoback is little known- - -almost unknown for the most part, and it takes some effort getting to. The guys remarked about how they found it hard to believe such a small stream could have the large fish it has. In some places you could almost jump across it and it harbors some 20" cutties. Most of the fish were caught on PMX dries, a Jeff's Redneck Caddis (the big fish hammered this fly), and a few were caught on a Copper John Dropper size 16. We caught lots of fish, saw antelope on the way in and a large herd of buffalo on the way out. In the distance we could see the growing "New Fork Fire." We rode back as the sun set on yet another day in this angling paradise. Tomorrow is our final day, and a float on the Snake River is what we'll do.

Wyoming Sampler Trip 2008....Official Day Five....The New Fork Fire

When I fished the Green River on Friday 8/22/08 one day ahead of our group I noticed a couple of small smoke plumes that appeared to be a small forest fire. In two days of high winds and dry weather the flames were fanned so much that the fire is now a widespread thing. It has been named the "New Fork Fire" by the locals, as it is right on one of the best trout streams in Wyoming, the New Fork River. The fire has burned thousands of acres and still rages on. In the photo the coverage of the fire has more than tripled in size from only a few days ago. If it continues we'll likely see this one on the national news as it is very close to threatening some homes and ranches that are nearby. We noticed the thick air, the smoky haze covering the valley. At night, you could see the "glow" of the fire from miles away on our deck. Fires are a part of the process but it sure feels scary knowing two mountain ridges less than 10 miles away separate you from a raging fire.

Wyoming Sampler Trip 2008....Official Day Five

We rose early, it was below freezing! We had a big breakfast at the Village Inn, then we were off to the Green River, and more specifically the lodge we had reserved, the DC Bar Guest Ranch's Wind River Lodge. When we arrived, we quickly hopped out and unloaded, packed up our fishing gear and lunches, and headed down to Green. It was very windy, to put it mildly. It was also chilly (20-25F degree drop in temp from when I fished the Green on Thursday of last week), and near 40mph wind with gusts to 50 .....tough casting conditions to say the least. We fished at the beginning of the Bridger Teton Forest, Pat caught 7 or 8 a few rainbows, several whitefish, Gary (3 Rainbows, had a large brown on, 3 whitefish), Munsey Jr (caught a dozen to fifteen with some plump rainbows, a couple of large ones where we ended), Munsey Sr caught a couple rainbows, Gregg(caught 15-20 fish, 1 near 20" brown and several rainbows) , Ken caught 10 fish, several rainbows, and broke off a good one later in the day on a dry. Where we finished up there were fish rising, Gary nailed a rising rainbow, Pat a brown, and Gary had a large fish splash his dry. Since it started to turn even cooler and the wind never laid down we packed it in and headed home. Last week when I drove down to Cora I saw what appeared to be a forest fire, and sure enough it was. The "New Fork" fire (the New Fork is a famous trout stream also) in a couple of days would turn into a large forest fire- - - -so much so that the whole valley had tons of smoke and haze. Many thousands of acres were charred and still more are burning as I write this. The fire is uncontained at present. A tough day but everyone still caught some fish....and some did quite well considering the conditions.

Wyoming Sampler Trip 2008.....Official Days Two, Three, and Four

After a great dinner at Merry Piglets Mexican grill on Main Street in Jackson Hole, we got some rest and then were up bright and early on Sunday. We headed to the Virginian (the best breakfast eats in town!) and had a hearty breakfast, then we headed north to Turpin Meadow in Buffalo Valley to meet up with our backcountry guide Josh Roth. Josh and his trail hand Gil would accompany us into the backcountry seven miles on horseback. We saddled up, the guys packed our gear, and soon we were off. It took us two hours by horse to reach camp, we passed several breathtaking views of the Buffalo Fork of the Snake, some of which we were riding a trail that was about 1000 - 1500 ft above the river and STRAIGHT DOWN. I have fished in mountain areas most of my life and have seen some great scenery but this ranked right at the top.
It was quite dry and dusty on the way in, Josh had packed us lunches and water and we ate when we reached camp. Then it was unpacking the gear, grabbing the fishing gear, and we all geared up and headed off for the river. We were in one of the most beautiful meadows you could imagine, ready to fish the famed Soda Fork of the Buffalo. We would soon find out why the stream received so many great accolades......because it was loaded with large cutthroats who gobble size 8 and 10 dry flies with reckless abandon. Several of the guys caught double digits, when we all met back up at camp I always like to find out how everyone did, there were sheepish grins on nearly every face. Several guys caught some really nice fish, Gregg Williamson and Munsey Wheby both caught fish of almost 20inches long. Both of them caught several large fish, all of them cutthroats. All together there were probably 50-60 fish caught all together....the majority of them 14-18 inch cutties. And the river was like a winding, serpentine like blue/green snake, winding its was through an alpine meadow lined with firs, willows, and tall grasses. Simply stated, it was a jewel of a trout stream. And devoid of any sign of other fisherman....not one single footprint anywhere.

After fishing, we returned to camp where Josh had prepared a dinner of fajitas made with Elk, peppers, and seasoning, it was so tasty we all wanted to lick our plates. We also had a salad, and finished it off with a golden cake with chocolate frosting that Josh prepared over the open fire...it was incredible. After the cake, we all sat by the fire for a while telling stories and recounting the day's incredible fishing. Then each of us one by one retreated to our tents for a good nights sleep under an incredibly clear, blue, and starry Wyoming night sky.

We started Monday with an awesome breakfast, Josh made a great casserole dish with potatoes, cheese, eggs, and bacon, and cowboy coffee (my favorite)....everyone raved over it and constantly remarked about how good it was. After breakfast, we packed our gear and Josh and Gil loaded up the gear and our lunches . Soon we were off to fish what everyone after today would call the "Dream stream".....the North Fork of the Buffalo. And a dream stream it was. Munsey, Pat Burney, Gregg Williamson, Ken Williamson, Gary Lee, and Munsey Sr.- - all of them caught tons of fish, some up to 20" - -Gregg's monster cutthroat was the largest of the day. The fish smashed a dry fly, Gregg was quite excited about it. I worked with Gary most of the day as the fishing was slow for him the first day..... not so on this day. Gary caught several nice cutthroats including one beautiful 18" fish, plus a ton of brookies, and what was a slow day the day before ended up being a 60 fish day for Gary- - and "most fish" honors for Gary on the day. I must say Josh took us to one of his "backcountry jewels", and I must say if I designed a perfect trout fishing stream for dry fly fishing it would look a whole lot like this one. Deep, blue-green bends, foam lines, undercuts, overhanging willows, you name it....the perfect dry fly fishing stream. I don't think I am exaggerating in saying the guys caught somewhere between 100 and 150 fish, a combination of cutthroats and brookies, and the most of the being on big dry flies....Schroeders parachute hopper (I keep "preaching" about the merits of that fly- -and go thing that the guys loaded up on them too ), yellow PMX's, Dave's Hoppers, Adams Parachutes, Various caddis in a light color. They simply killed dry flies today. Gary caught a double, a pair of brookies, something I have never personally had happen out west when guiding someone. I'll be posting a picture of those fish when we return home at the end of the month.

With the sun starting to fall, we packed it in, packed up the horses, and headed back for camp. Josh wanted to get us back before it started getting dark/dusk as grizzlies frequent this area and they commonly walk the horse trails and paths during low light periods. We made it back to camp, unpacked our stuff, and sat by the fire while Josh and Gil got dinner going. We had some large marinated pork chops (awesome!) , cowboy potatoes, salad, and a peach cobbler that Josh whipped up and cooked over the fire. Pretty impressive to have those types of dishes and especially desserts like that out in the wilderness. And was it tasty .....incredibly delicious would be the best way to describe it. After dinner and sitting by the fire we all turned in in hopes of getting a good night's sleep.

We got up early, had French toast and sausage by the campfire, then geared up for a few hours fishing before we had to pack up and begin the ride out of the backcountry. It was extremely windy, like a weather system was moving in, and the wind blew 40mph sustained at times and gusts even higher than that. The guys caught maybe a half dozen of cutthroats, maybe 8 or 10 whitefish, but definitely more difficult fishing with the weather. Also, it was early and cutties don't always come up during the cool morning hours. We all came back to the camp, ate our lunch, and headed out 2hrs on horseback back to the trailhead where our cars were.

We all thanked Josh and Gil, loaded our gear into the cars and back off to Jackson were were. It took us a little over an hour but we made it back and checked into our rooms. After unpacking and doing some laundry, we were off to have dinnner and then back to get some rest and get ready for our jaunt down to Cora, Wyoming on Thursday to fish the Green River and also the upper Hoback Peak canyon. It should be great fun.....the adventure continues....