Fly Fishing the Green River near Dutch John, Utah

Right before COVID-19 impacted our lives, my good friend Darren and I were lucky enough to travel to Utah to fish a special creek as well as the Green River below Flaming Gorge.

It was a surreal experience because everyday we fished and enjoyed the splendor of nature and every evening we read about everything that was going on back in "reality."

It helped me realize once again that fly fishing truly is an escape from real life.

We made it a three river trip in order to drive part way the first day before breaking off the largest chunk of travel on day 2.

Day 1 we fished the Eagle River on the way to Glenwood Springs and caught some nice fish.  I wouldn't say that the fishing was "on fire" yet, but the river yielded some healthy browns and rainbow trout.  I caught this very nice brown on a dry fly when the midges started coming off.  They were the big "Spring Midge" and this particular fish gobbled down a Palomino Midge.

Darren was downstream from me catching fish as well.  He caught this FAT rainbow.  She hasn't missed any meals this year...

After feeding the fish our flies for a few hours we were hungry!  We found a great Mexican place in Glenwood Springs that was still relatively open for business so we indulged in their delicious fare.

Day 2 we woke up early in the morning and headed to Utah.  Finding ice for the cooler was a bit of struggle, but we located some and were on our way.  We saw a lot of wildlife on the road including these Mule deer and a few turkeys as well.

The mule deer buck on the left was the biggest I've seen.

Gobble, Gobble

I asked the manager of Trout Creek Flies up in Dutch John if there was anywhere close to fish aside from the Green, since we were going to fish there from Tuesday - Thursday.  He told us about a cool little spot, which is located at the site of one of our National Fish Hatcheries.  The road there was very scenic and descending down into the canyon was a sight I will not soon forget.  

It was amazing to be nowhere again considering everything that was (and still is) going on back on the populated part of the planet.

The gorge you can see to the left in the photo above is where we were lucky enough to fish during our first day in Utah.  Since it is a special place I will not divulge the name here, but if you are really interested you can message me on Instagram @mayfly musings.

However, I will share a few pics from this place because it was stunningly beautiful (even for March) and I think in some way we were supposed to find out about it, get lost for a few hours, fish the heck out of it, and enjoy this amazing place.

 It felt like Spring!

 The creek was full of beautiful browns and rainbows.

 Petroglyphs made by the Freemont people between AD 900-1400.

Now that's a beautiful rainbow.

I caught some beauties and Darren caught some BIGGIES.  The bug life is incredible in order to sustain some of the larger fish, which is pretty special in itself.

We eventually found one another again on the trail.  We probably were separated for 2 1/2 hours with no cell service so as I was walking back up the trail I was playing music just in case he heard it.  It couldn't have been 10 minutes of playing some tunes before I ran into him on the trail while I was listening to "Notorious" by Duran Duran.  I will always have positive memories of that song after our adventure.  After going over how we somehow got lost, we hiked back up to the car and fished a few more spots before heading to Dutch John.  

We put a lot of miles on foot (and in the car) so I feel like we earned some delicious adult sodas including some good stuff from Four Noses in Lafayette, CO.  If you haven't tried any of their stuff, I would highly recommend it.

When we got to Dutch John we quickly realized there was almost no one in "town".  I felt even further away from society, reality, and the global pandemic.

They have pretty sweet cabins that you can rent and they knock off some money per night if you book a guide, which we had done for the following day...

Day 3 came and the weather was decent.  Having gone out with 4-5 guides or so in my life has intrigued me.  As every person you meet on the water is different, every guide is different as well.  Their goal is always for people to catch fish because you are paying them quite a bit of money in order to do so. 

We floated the B section and our guide set-up some deep nymph rigs for us.  We were into fish pretty quick and the fly they were the most interested in throughout most of the day was a brown zebra midge.  I made a fly tying video for this particular fly that you can see here.

Mud Creek enters the Green River below the rapid of the B section and its name is no lie.  The river was stained and clear at the same time.

Our guide hooked us up with some big 'ol streamers and we proceeded to fish the "Mud Bite."  I fish streamers sometimes, but probably not enough.  We hooked into some and Darren landed a nice one.  I did enjoy fishing two different ways during a guide trip, but unfortunately the dry fly fishing was non-existent.  We missed the epic blue wing hatches that occur on the Green by about a week.

Note: Because of the time of year up there, the Flaming Gorge Resort was kind of open, but not really.  I brought some frozen meals and a crock pot, which turned out to be a good move!  The cabins have a fridge and microwave, but there aren't bowls, plates, etc.  If you head up there remember to bring some of those things, especially if you go during a shoulder month like March or November.

The next two days we fished on foot in good, bad, and in between weather.  Mostly we nymphed and I was able to get a few fish on dries.

Darren nymphed this beauty out of a nice run.

Flaming Gorge Reservoir

A nice rainbow I caught out of the A section on a WD-40.

 This was one of my favorite fish on the trip.  He was sitting on a ledge and took a little black flashback nymph.

 The ever-changing weather led to solitude, and more fish.

 You can't beat the scenery if you hike up or down the A section.

The Green River gets extremely busy during the summer months, so fishing there with very few people around was special.  There are some beautiful fish there and although we didn't land a tank, some of the holes and runs the Green supports clearly hold some BIG FISH.

We were forced to return to the reality of quarantine, but the pictures and memories of our trip to the Green will live on...

Stay safe and until next time, tight lines!