Green River Utah

[saltydancindave]

Been over 10 years since fishing this Blue Ribbon river with lots of BIG trout per square mile, but recall the crowds on most of the western streams. Probably still need prior reservations to drift boat the river or others as it seemed they only let so many have access; local lodgeing a few miles away plus a nice campground for tents & maybe some RV's in the park . Recall being told by park rangers how during the week there's not as much flyfishing pressure, but Thursdays have about 500 people, Fridays about 700 with Saturdays & Sundays around 1000; but that was over a long Memorial Day weekend .

[CO_Flyfisher]

You should have searched first. There is a thread from not to long ago HERE with TONS of good info!!! (watch the videos I linked)

The river has recently been at ~9,000cfs (they're trying to lower the reservoir level to allow for the ~170% of normal snowpack which has not yet started melting), and is now at powerplant capacity of ~4,600cfs. They anticipate to LOWER the flows to around 2,000cfs when the Yampa River peaks to prevent flooding downstream, however, once the Yampa subsides they may increase flows back to 9,000 for awhile. These kinds of flows have not happened in 10 years or more!!! (The river will do well with the long needed 9,000cfs flush)

If you've never been to the river, it is a must-see / must-fish! The canyon is beautiful! Wade fishing at the end of July shouldn't be a problem, however, read my post in the other thread. That's the time of the mid-summer lull in fishing there, and things aren't as good as other times (not that you can't catch fish, it just typically seems to be slower). That being said, this is all relative, and an average day on the Green (especially if you float the canyon) still beats a great day many other places. There are plenty of fishing opportunities within a couple of hours of Basalt if you choose to go somewhere else.

Saltydancindave, I cannot recall the last time they were limiting floaters down the river. The canyon is a nat'l rec area, so there is a small fee, but they'll gladly take your money and let you float if you so choose.

[CO_Flyfisher]

The San Juan is the same amount of time away...Better fish, More of em.

(and is only fun if you enjoy fishing shoulder-to-shoulder, and fighting for a spot to fish)

I missed this post when I read this previously.

[saltydancindave]

Saltydancindave, I cannot recall the last time they were limiting floaters down the river. The canyon is a nat'l rec area, so there is a small fee, but they'll gladly take your money and let you float if you so choose.[/QUOTE] Might have been other western rivers, or they just didn't want too many floating down that weekend because after we got dropped off from the drift boat at an eddy; the drift boat that was supposed to come back to get us never did because a float tube fisher turned upside down, drowned & had to take the body down to the lower take out ramp to the ambulance.

[Grizzly Wulff]

For shear beauty and the number of fish per mile, the Green River below Flaming Gorge is hard to beat. The last electroshock they did showed something in the neighborhood of 14,000 fish per mile. Near the dam you'll find Rainbows, Cutthroat and Cutbows. As you drop down stream the Browns become more prevalent. The area around Little Hole and down stream is great Wet Fly/Soft Hackle water and you can catch fish all day long without moving more than a couple of hundred yards.