Wind River Rainbow Orgy

It's a wild orgy up on the Wind River these days; the rainbows are spawning.  When I arrived there were two guys throwing egg patterns to the spawners on the beds.  They eventually got bored shooting fish in a barrel and left as I was getting geared up. I won't fish to the spawners on their beds and so I drifted midge patterns through the deeper runs. This one, the only fish I caught in three hours, took a size 20 WD40.

North Platte, Wind River, Big Horn

Gerry fishing on the North Platte upstream from the raft.

Synopsis: Spent a week fishing with Gerry Cox.  We started with a day and a half on the North Platte river at Gray Reef. Wade fished the dam the first day and floated from the dam to Lusby the second.   We stayed at Sloan's cabins in Alcova.  From there we drove overland through the Rattlesnake Hills to the Wind River at Boysen State Park.  That was about 60 miles of dirt through some rather beautiful sage country.  We wade fished the Wind in Boysen State Park for the afternoon and into the evening catching many large rainbows (18" to 24") on size 18 caddis.  We probably should never have left Boysen. We drove north, spending the night at the Greybull Historic Hotel (which I can recommend should you happen to pass through Greybull WY.)  Continued north, over the Big Horns and up into Montana.  We did a quick tour of the Little Bighorn Battlefield and then to Fort Smith on the Big Horn below the Yellowtail damn.  Stayed in a small but very new and clean room at the Bighorn Angler. It was an unbearable 98°F and we waited until almost 5PM to wade fish at the three mile access - and it was still brutally hot with icy water at about 47°F.  On the fourth of July we floated the Big Horn from Afterbay below the dam to 13 mile takeout at Bighorn.  The final day we floated the three miles from the Afterbay to the three mile takeout.  The fishing on the Big Horn was difficult and the average fish is nowhere near the size they were fifteen years ago, and we were not the only ones saying so.  We left Fort Smith at 2PM and were at home, sitting on the couch sipping bourbon, a bit after 9PM.

Gerry with a nice North Platte rainbow.

Dates - 30 June 2013 to 5 July 2013
Miles Driven: 1042
Miles Floated: 24 - Grey Reef to Lusby (8), Afterbay to Bighorn (13), Afterbay to Three Mile (3)
Longest Overland: 42.5 of dirt (Dry Creek Rd. Alcova WY to Gas Hills Rd. Riverton WY)
Best Sleep: Greybull Historic Hotel, Greybull, WY
Best Meal:  Pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw, Up in Smoke BBQ, Buffalo WY
Weirdest Meal: Subway, Garryowen MT
Biggest Fish: 25" Rainbow - Wind River, Boysen State Park, Shoshoni WY
Coldest Water: 47°F - Big Horn River, Fort Smith, MT
Warmest Water: 66°F - Wind River, Boysen State Park, Shononi WY
Hottest Air Temp: 98°F - July 3rd, Fort Smith, MT

Wind River cutthroat - over 18"

Fishing the Wind River Canyon

A nice rainbow caught in the Wind River canyon.

The Wind River starts up high near the summit of Togwotee pass, flows south and east through Doubois WY and then into Boysen Reservoir.  From Boysen reservoir it flows north into the Wind River canyon.  After exiting the canyon, at the "wedding of the waters" it becomes the Big Horn river which flows north through Thermopolis WY and into Montana eventually to flow into the Missouri.  

For about a mile (maybe less) after the Wind flows out of Boysen Reservoir and just before it drops into the  canyon proper, it flows through Boysen State Park.  In the state park a WY fishing license is all you need. Once past the park, the river flows on the Wind River reservation which is the home of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes.  To fish or hike in the canyon (or anywhere on the reservation) you need a Tribal Fishing/Trespass license plus a $5 conservation stamp. For WY residents the license costs $20/day, $50/7days and $80/year - non-residents pay $25, $75 and $125.  I purchased a yearly permit at the Fast Lane in Shoshoni.  Last year I tried to buy a permit on a Sunday in Thermopolis - no can do.

Looking upstream - I am bringing in a nice fish.

Starting around noon I fished a deep run low in the canyon for a couple of hours in the sun, the air temperature was around 50F.  I hooked up pretty consistently on a size 12 bead-head pheasant tail.  In an hour and a half or so I managed to land five nice fish and hooked up with another five I did not bring to hand.    I fished further upstream later in the day - after the sun had disappeared in the clouds - and was frustrated to not hook up again.

A smaller rainbow in beautiful form.

On the Wind River

"Catching fish is undeniably a pleasure, and I'd rather do it than not, but there is a pleasure too in fishing, the savor of pure possibility always on the brink of realizing itself - or not - and the attraction of fishing has much to do with the keenness of  expectation and desire urged against the uncertain and the unpredictable."   

                                     Ted Leeson, The Habit of Rivers, Lyons and Buford, 1994

Two large rainbows.

Driving to Cody for the weekend we got to the Wind River at Boysen State Park about an hour before the sun dropped behind the canyon walls. This was not really a fishing trip but I'd carried my gear. After getting suited up for winter fishing and rigging my rod and tying on some small midge patterns I only had about a half hour left before the sun fell behind the canyon rim. Once the sun was gone I was blind as far as sight fishing was concerned.

These two fish would move out of the main current into a back eddy. In the photo above they are facing downriver, heads into a small upstream eddy. This kind of lie often presents one of the trickiest situations for getting a good drag-free drift. I was optimistic that I'd hook-up, but my optimism was unwarranted.

Wind River just below Boysen Reservoir

The east slope of the Wind River mountains is the source of the eponymous river.  After flowing east it turns north at the Boysen reservoir. Downstream from Boysen the Wind River flows onto the Wind River reservation dropping into a deep canyon which is about 12 miles long.  The river becomes the Big Horn at the Wedding of the Waters, just past the end of the canyon. It  flows north through Thermopolis WY and into Montana merging with the Yellowstone and eventually the Missouri.  The canyon part of the river is known for seriously large brown trout.  As I understand it, one guide has the rights from the tribe to float the canyon and charges a premium.  I'm told it's worth it. You need a permit from the tribe to fish on reservation waters. The canyon is famous for its rattlesnakes.

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On Sunday we stopped again at Boysen on our way back south.  The weather was not nearly as pleasant; it was snowing and heavily overcast so sight fishing was out of the question.  Overcast weather is by no means bad fisherman's weather; most anglers would claim the opposite, but a snowy March day in Wyoming can be biting cold.  I fished for a bit more than an hour while P read in the truck and though I never got cold I never caught a fish either. I briefly spoke to a young local hotshot (who wasn't catching anything either) and he told me to tie on a pink sow bug, or a Ray Charles midge.  I didn't know the Ray Charles pattern  but looked it up when I got home; it's another sow bug pattern. I did tie on a pink sow bug, I always carry a few in my nymph box.

Sow bug soft hackle: tied and photographed by the author.

A sow bug is an aquatic crustacean, an Isopod. The pink sow-bug soft hackle pattern is popular on the Big Horn tailwater below Yellowtail dam. That's 100 miles or so north (downriver) of where I was fishing. I find it interesting because I've never seen that pink sow bug pattern used anywhere except on the Big Horn and it really does work magic there.   I have to wonder if there is an entomological basis for using the pattern on the Wind River or if its use there is a cultural artifact, having migrated upstream. 

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I've admired the beautiful section of river below Boysen Reservoir before but had never fished it.  Although I didn't hook up I learned quite a bit about the river there. There is a large body of common fishing knowledge but river knowledge is local knowledge. It takes time to learn about the habits of a river and each river has its own particular habits.