Green River Greed

My husband Justin is a born fisherman. I call him the Fish Whisperer because despite needing glasses and no matter how little daylight there is, he'll catch a fish. He just knows exactly where they are and how to present the fly to tempt those trout up to the surface. My first real fishing trip was on our honeymoon, and excuse the bad pun, but I was hooked.

In the years since that honeymoon he has been teaching our children how to fish, and Christmas gifts from him usually include a river-related item. He's gone with our older boys and several other men fishing on the Green River with a guide, but this year he took me -- at my request. We decided to celebrate our anniversary a month early since it falls right around the start of school. It was a perfect day out there just below Flaming Gorge Dam. 

The top of a small bluff in Dutch John. There was a massive wildfire in 2002. The wildlife has recovered well, though, because I found plentiful deer and rabbit scat all over this hillside.

We put in right below Flaming Gorge Dam. It's pretty impressive from this angle! I spotted an osprey high in a tree and tried taking some pictures. I'll spare you the grainy, smudgy results, though.

The Green River. Gorgeous mountains. Beautiful crystal water. Even I could easily see the fish in the water.

Caught the first fish of the day, a nice little cutbow. They're a sterile cross between a cutthroat trout and a rainbow trout. It was all catch-and-release. Our guide, James, was a patient, encouraging, thorough teacher. I felt like I really learned how to use my fly rod better. He's holding the fish because the cutbows, rainbows, and cutthroats are super wiggly. I got to hold all of the browns I caught.

Justin with a nice brown he caught. It was a hard fight for him and not just because browns are notoriously feisty, but because he is still so physically weak. I don't know how many he caught because I was too busy keeping track of my own. He was happy just to be in the boat and flick his line into the water. By day's end he was worn out and hurting, but so glad he could even go.

Justin and the true rainbow he caught. It was the only true rainbow of the day. 

I'm especially proud of this brown trout (bar of gold, as KSL's Doug Miller used to say) because it's the first I ever caught, on purpose, with a dry fly. We used nymphing patterns all morning and early afternoon, but switched to dry flies -- a Double Triple for the last mile of our run. By this time in the day my right arm was so tired! My total for the day was 15 fish: nine cutbows and six browns. So AMAZING!!

He got a little wiggly!

Right at the end we saw this mama merganser and her crew of ducklings in the river. 

What a great day of fishing. Trout Creek Flies in Dutch John, Utah runs a classy operation and I really liked our guide, James. He was full of great stories and information besides being a good fly fishing instructor. I was sorry the trip was over, although my arm was ready for a break. It was so lovely to spend a day and a half with Justin all to myself and forget about everything for a little while. I have to admit that catching a mess of fish certainly helped, but the scenery was gorgeous, the weather perfect (overcast for most of the day, so it wasn't too hot), and the company wonderful. Justin was hurting and anxious to get his pain meds by the time we finished, but he kept saying it was all worth it. 


It certainly was.