Big Wyoming

It's a different river up here in the arctic barren wasteland known as Southwest Wyoming.  An hour and a half from the house.  There's hardly a tree or bush taller than the sage across the huge 100 mile expanse of sage flats between two 12,000+ foot mountain ranges of the Uintas to the south and the Wind Rivers to the north.  On the clear days, I can see both ranges in the distance, 50 miles away in each direction.  The river runs out of the northwest Winds, and right through the plains known to pilots as the Wyoming wind corridor.  My pilot/clients say controllers often guide all commercial aircraft around it to avoid turbulence.  But this damn river sure holds some big trout, and I shouldn't drive past it on my way to somewhere else as often as I do.  Its a long one too, with plenty of public access and trout in every mile, but the tailwater below the only dam on the main stem in Wyoming gets most of the attention.  Word's out on it these days, but pre-internet in the 90's, oh my god.  The stories I could tell.  We didn't know how good we had it, or at least didn't appreciate it as we should have.  I'm fortunate enough to catch two giant fish on back to back days, a rainbow and a brown. The brown is probably my last fish of the month, if not the fall season.  I'll have a little buzz from this one right through the winter.

Not sure what the spike was about the other day, but its a smooth, easy-to-wade 654 now.

This River won't win any beauty awards, though many say it has a "beauty of its own."  Ya, brown most of the year, windy as hell nearly all year, hot for a few weeks, cold nearly always, really cold most of the long winter, and home to a shitload of antelope and some really big trout.  I do like the solitude that still remains in the off season, and its the closest thing I have to the MO in daytrip range.

The picture doesn't come close to doing this fish justice.  I shit when I see it.  The heaviest rainbow I've taken all season.  "Only" 21 or 22 inches, but a football.  My hand never comes close to fitting around it, but I have a bank to balance it on.  Hell, my hand won't even cover one side of it!

Back in the day we used to float down from the dam and camp on this island, wading and casting parachute Adams all around it to big rising fish with no humans in sight for days on end.  We called it "Cow Shit Island" for obvious reasons, but we could always clear enough space for a couple tents and the fire pit.  

Riverside trees in the floodplain.

Cows are still allowed to graze on the BLM land.  Before the wind!

I find a place further upriver with less wind, and where it blows from behind me, off my right shoulder.  Hero casts!

This is the scene for most of the 90 mile drive here. You pass a car every 10 or 15 minutes, but definitely more antelope.

The river's origins in the wind River range off in the distance.

I've caught fish in this side channel during the high water of spring and summer.  The last couple of trips I've been driving through it.

This side channel doesn't get floated this time of year, and it was the magic spot today.

The salmon spawn has been over for a few weeks but they still remain in this form.

These guys know where to fish.

Wide water with very long riffles and pools.

I was pretty sure this was going to be the fish of the day.

I knew this would be the fly of the day since the hatch was extremely sparse and brought up mostly small fish.

And then the biggest trout I've caught all year ate it!  I'm still shaking a little.

Pictures can't do him justice, and I sure as hell couldn't hold him.  He is one of the most beautiful browns I have ever seen.  Have to hurry too.

25 inches based on the net and the mark on my wading stick.