|
The Green River tailwater below Flaming Gorge Dam in northern Utah has long been afavorite destination among Wilderness Fly Fishers and I am no exception. So when we were fortunate enough to win a high priority draw during the holiday raffle we wasted little time selecting guide Gordon Tharrett’s generous donation of a 2-for-1 guide trip during the 2018 season. Since this destination has been written about previously (several times) I will try to focus on a few things that distinguished our visit from those of other WFF members. First, we visited during a time of year when the River was amazingly uncrowded – mid-May. Although fishing can be outstanding right on through the entire summer and fall, the river, especially “A”-Section (the 7-mile stretch immediately below the Dam) does get very crowded not only with fishermen but also recreational rafters in all variety of watercraft. In April there is a daily floatilla of drift boats fishing the famous Baetis hatch and beginning in June fly fishers start focusing on cicadas, Mormon crickets and lots of other terrestrials. So, we were somewhat caught in between hatches, which, as it turned out, was not a problem fishing wise and a fair tradeoff for the lack of hordes of other anglers. And saying that we were there “between hatches” is a bit of a misnomer. While the peak Baetis hatch had passed several weeks earlier, there were still periodic hatches of Baetis mayflies, along with the very reliable daily midge hatch. Indeed our largest fish of the trip was a lovely 17” rainbow caught walk-and-wade fishing above Little Hole on an adult Baetis imitation. Water releases from Flaming Gorge Dam will often dictate where and when the fishing will be best on any given day. An early morning release will generally flush moss and other debris into the flow starting in A-Section and gradually working its way down to B-Section. Fortunately Gordon carefully watches the water managers’ expected flow releases for each day. In our case we were scheduled to float A-Section on day one when my phone rang on the preceding evening. Gordon gave us a choice to stick with A-Section and take our chances, or begin by floating B-Section starting seven miles downstream from the dam before the higher water releases would catch up with us. We did B-Section our first day following Gordon’s suggestion and his advice was right on the money. Before we even left the vicinity of the put-in at Little Hole, Sue had boated four nice rainbows. That was a great start to a thoroughly enjoyable day on B-Section. The next day, we did indeed fish A-Section (how could you not?) but got a very early start around 7:00 a.m. before the water releases began. We were the only boat at the put-in along with one local fisherman in a single person pontoon. There were lots of midges already in the air and on the water surface and it wasn’t long before we started catching fish. I saw no sign of cicadas and was surprised when Gordon suggested switching to cicada patterns with and without a dropper. I was even more surprised when a few minutes later we had our first hook-up of a 16-inch brown that was holding within one foot of the bank and cleared the water to gobble the dry fly. Gordon’s explanation – even though it was early season, there may have been a few cicadas that we didn’t see, but more importantly the fish are simply “expecting” these big bugs to be on the water this time of year. This was totally unexpected and good advice as we spent the rest of the day hooking rainbows, browns and cuttbows on the surface, during a non-hatch period, with large cicada patterns that were easy to see for both Sue and myself. For our accommodations, again on Gordon’s recommendation, we chose the Alpine Cabins at Red Canyon Lodge. This turned out to be a great choice. The cabins are large with spacious bedrooms, and are newly renovated. They are equipped with microwaves and small refrigerators (sorry, no TVs) but no cooktops. Although the Lodge is located about 20 minutes from the river (there are closer accommodations at Dutch John), we were very pleased with the comfortable cabins, the beautiful grounds surrounding the Lodge, and a very decent small restaurant (no breakfasts were served, however). And, at the risk of letting the cat out of the bag, the Lodge also has its own private lake that just happens to be full of rainbows and tiger trout of very large proportions. In the evenings as we were walking to the Lodge for dinner, the surface of the lake was dotted with rising fish. You needn’t ask - off course we tried it, just as a warmup naturally. Sue caught one smallish 15-inch rainbow on a streamer before it was time for dinner. About a half mile or so beyond the Lodge the road ends at Red Canyon overlook. The scene here will absolutely take your breath away – sheer red vertical cliffs straight down to an arm of Flaming Gorge reservoir 1700 feet below and separated only by a low chain link fence. |
Sue with a nice brown of her own |
|
Gordon Tharrett and Rich headed down section B |
|
|
Nice trout |
|
|
7:00 a.m. preparing to launch at the A section |
|
|
Sue with Red Canyon Lodge private lake rainbow |
|
|
Sue on the trail above Little Hole |
|
|
Nice Green River trout |
Lunch stop on B - Section |
| In closing, I also want to give a shout-out to our guide, Gordon Tharrett. Gordon spends his winters in upstate New York not far from the Canadian border, and has been guiding on the Green for over 28 years. He has also fished all over the world. He is a gentleman, smart, articulate, knowledgeable, direct without being offensive, and patient. Sue felt that she learned more from Gordon in two days on the River than from all of our other guides combined. I especially appreciated Gordon’s personal touch on everything from fly patterns, to nymphing techniques, to the lunches he prepared for us on the river (smoked chicken Caesar wraps made with fresh ingredients while on shore that he had prepared himself). There are a number of excellent guides on the Green River but none better than Gordon Tharrett. I would highly recommend giving Gordon a call before your next visit to the Green River. You will end up learning a lot about the history and geology of the Green River, and probably catching all the fish you want during a supposed non-hatch period.
Gordon’s contact information is: |
Beautiful scene for lunch on section A |
|
Typical run an section A |
The Green River tailwater below Flaming Gorge Dam in northern Utah has long been afavorite destination among Wilderness Fly Fishers and I am no exception. So when we were fortunate enough to win a high priority draw during the holiday raffle we wasted little time selecting guide Gordon Tharrett’s generous donation of a 2-for-1 guide trip during the 2018 season. Since this destination has been written about previously (several times) I will try to focus on a few things that distinguished our visit from those of other WFF members.
