After three days of floating the Newfork and Green River we dropped off the drift boat and decided to wade one of our favorite tributary’s of the Green River.  After the hike-in to the stream we made our first casts and quickly realized it was going to be a tough day.  The water was crystal clear, perfectly flat, and the Cutthroat’s were extremely spooky.  Our first couple attempts presenting the fly to the trout had them darting off before the fly line even landed on the water.  That’s when we lengthened our leaders to 13′ and decided the best approach for success would be to wait until we spotted a rising fish before we made a cast.

Blind casting to likely spots like we did last year would only end in spooked fish.  Shortly after implementing our new strategy we landed a few brook trout.  With the skunk out of the way Louis spotted a nice Cutthroat tucked in a small eddy next to the bank.  He moved into position and made a beautiful cast, which drifted perfectly into the trout’s feeding lane and was quickly eaten…, FISH ON!

A nice fight followed the hook up while Louis fought to keep his prized Cutthroat out of the undercut banks.  Moments later he netted the wild trout and snapped this sweet photo.  Next was Brad’s turn a few bends later upstream as he also sight fished to a trout that made the mistake of showing itself rising to a buggy morsel floating along the bank.  Brad delicately laid out a long cast and once again we heard the yell of, “Fish ON”!

It took me a little longer to get my Cutthroat than the other guys but I eventually found myself in the same situation they both encountered, and I capitalized on the situation, hooking up with another pretty wild Cutthroat.  The year before conditions were different.  The hoppers were out in full force and most of the big Cutthroat’s had dropped their guard to take advantage of the plentiful food source.  That year the trout still demanded a well presented cast, but they were far less spooky compared to this year.  It just goes to show you streams can fish much differently depending on the time of year your there, even if its just a week or two.  You have to be ready to adapt your fishing if you want to consistently hook into fish.

That day we didn’t catch the numbers of trout we were hoping for, but we were happy in the fact that we all outsmarted a few nice Cutthroats and a handful each of colorful Brook Trout.  It was a fun day and we reminisced about the memories we had made up until that point of the trip as we hiked back out to the 4X4.

Brad still had two days of fishing left while Louis and I had four days, but we already were talking about the WY fishing BLUES that were going to follow when we returned back home from the trip.  It happens to us every year and takes a few weeks for us to kick the sorrows.  We all agree, however, that the sorrows that follow the trip are well worth it.

Click on Photos for Larger View and Slideshow