Green Below Fontenelle Saturday, January 21st, 2021

Date / Time: 10-4

Location: Drove up for the day and met Brian coming from DJ. We fished one of the runs above Farson bridge and then Gold’s Bar

The Characters: KK, BK

Weather: Sunny, windy

Water Temp: Gauge not functioning, but took a reading and it was around 38-39

Water Level: Around 778 cfs.

Water Clarity/Quality: Clear

Moon Phase: Between New Moon & First Quarter

Hatches: Nada

Best Flies: Fire black balanced leech with copper bead

Fishing: Saw a weather window as the temps were going to be in high 30s, but wind was inconsistently forecast depending on the location. LaBarge showed calm, Fontenelle showed 10mph, Green River and Kemmerer showed breezier. Got there and it was ripping from the start unfortunately, but we were there so we fished of course.

I wanted to hit a stretch that I had done well on in Feb a few years ago. It was a stretch where I had nymphed up and then got into them pretty good on streamers on the way back down and surmised that it was Kokanee fry hatching since it is directly below a large spawning area. I don’t think I wrote a report about that day unfortunately, but remember it. The water was a lot lower than it was then I believe and the big eddy on the right was frozen over so it was hard to access the lower end. I nymphed up through some of the rocks and drops river right for nada. Wind was ripping and glare was tough so crossed where the large hole started to form and water slowed. I fished down the left side from the top of the eddy and started hooking fish. Got a decent cutty, then a nice bow and worked down through and stuck several good bows in the slow water. Most ate the leech, I had the worm on too and one or two ate that but the leech got most maybe because it was on the bottom of the rig. I tried some other stuff, but the leech was best fly. It wasn’t red hot, but hooked several nice fish. BK was on the other side and eventually walked up and crossed and stuck a few.

The wind was still ripping and we wanted shelter so eventually bailed and headed up to the horseshoe bend. Some dudes pulled into the bottom so we headed to Gold’s bar. Fished up through the deep gut and drops, crossed and hit the slower spots along other side. All I got were whities. Eventually worked down into the drops after BK headed down there since he never crossed. I didn’t find a good spot to fish, but he hooked a few small bows below the confluence on the river right channel. Sun was getting low and we had to drive back, so bailed out. Fun day, but not what I was hoping mainly in terms of the relentless Wyoming wind. :-)