Red and Green

          The “A Section” of the Green River, just below the Flaming Gorge dam in northern Utah, runs through the beautiful Red Canyon. Best floated with a guide, it is one of the most magnificent trout fisheries in the world. An aquatic paradise loaded with giant trout winding its way through some of the most remote and scenic terrain, this portion of the Green River is one of my absolute favorite fly fishing destinations.

          However, on this particular trip, I did not have the time to do the float. I was camping near the bank of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, and I needed to be back in Breckenridge Colorado by nightfall. The morning was going to be my last opportunity to fish for trout this trip and so I decide to hike the Canyon Rim Trail, upriver from the first take out to see what I could do. Along the way, red rocks rose up to two hundred feet on each side of me. It was one of the toughest days of fishing I ever had.

          Wade fishing the canyon is nothing like gracefully floating through it. There is plenty of climbing, scrambling, and swearing that takes place. And top it off, I just could not get a bite. Finally, and with only 15 minutes left before I needed to be in the truck and on the road, my line went tight. But from the large boulder on the bank of the river, I simply did not have the leverage I needed to horse the monster out of the swift current, and after a few minutes – he was gone. Normally, I would be very disappointed but knowing how many fish I’d already caught the last 30-days, I decided it was a just punishment from the fishing gods for pushing my luck and I humbly accepted that there would no more trout this summer.