FISHING REPORT-GREEN RIVER FISHING REPORT
By Dennis Breer
07/02/2008 01:04 PM

GREEN RIVER FISHING REPORT
TROUT CREEK FLIES 435-885-3355, 800_835_4551, FAX 435_885_3356
P.O BOX 247 DUTCH JOHN, UTAH 84023 
dbreer@union_tel.com or info@fishgreenriver.com
Website_www.fishgreenriver.com

Thanks for subscribing to Trout Creek Flies Green River Report by Dennis Breer. Here is the report for  July 2, 2008 A reminder: You should be able to manage your subscription to this report, but if you need assistance to change addresses or cancel your subscription to this report, please send me an e-mail at dbreer@union-tel.com

PLEASE NOTE: HEADERS WITH AN *** preceding the title indicate no changes from the previous report.

RIVER WATER TEMPERATURES-
Water temperature is 52.0 degrees. Checked 7/1/2008. Temperatures are BOR readings as released from Flaming Gorge dam.

WATER QUALITY- Water quality rated poor, fair, good or excellent is currently: DAM TO LITTLE HOLE= Clear, Excellent LITTLE HOLE TO RED CREEK= Excellent.  BELOW RED CREEK= Excellent. Best to check locally before depending on conditions to be favorable enough to fish.

A NOTE ABOUT RED CREEK: Rain storms or early spring run-off may cause Red Creek (12 miles downstream from the dam) to flow on occasion, it's effect depends on how much flow is occurring into the river-just a little, not bad, a lot, cloudy but usually can be fished with streamers. A heavy flow will cause the lower Green River to run completely red at times and be entirely unfishable.

 AVAILABLE AQUATIC INVERTEBRATES, AQUATIC INSECTS AND TERRESTRIAL HATCHES:

***FLY PATTERNS

***THE "HOT" SIX

The fly list above suggests the available trout food and their imitations. Each week I will list the top six flies that were productive from the week before. The danger here is that things change from week to week, so while trends in fly selection can be consistent, keep in mind they do also change with current fishing conditions.

Many of the patterns for  higher  flows  should have color or flashbacks, anything that draws extra attention.

Small scuds- olive, grey #18-22
Blue Winged Olives: your choice of patterns #16-18. Compara-duns, Para BWO, Para extended bodies, Wingers, any other low profile dun pattern.

Para Crickets #18-10

Tungsten Zebra Midges #14-16 brown, wine, red.

Cicadas #12-8, various patterns, fish are showing increased selectivity. Olive colored cicadas have been effective.

Fat Alberts #14-8 Tan

RS2's and WD 40's (flashbacks) grey, olive or wine #18-24
 

Black Ants #18-12 regular, #10-8 longer shanked hooks.

Para Adams #22

Small scuds #18-14 olive or grey.

Streamers #2-6 Buggers in tan, black, olive, Goldilox Buggers, Double Bunnies, and because of recent stocked rainbows- a good rainbow imitation #4 or larger.

Emmett's Sneakin' out 2007

THE PAST WEEK IN REVIEW - RATED  6-8 

Summer has finally settled in on the Green River. It hasn’t turned to “hot” as some summers do but has run along comfortably with daytime high air temperatures in the seventies and low eighties. Very pleasant days sometimes accompanied with some afternoon cloud cover that threatens but seldom delivers any moisture.  I still believe we are running two to three weeks behind normal this year.

If you noticed that the river rating has been posted up significantly, here’s why! The fishing has been terrific! The flows are down to summer levels averaging 1500 cfs daily. All three river sections are running clear and are in beautiful condition. There are aquatic insects (PMD’s, Caddis, Little Yellow Sallies) still hatching alongside the ever increasing terrestrial food base. Cicadas that are normally fading by now are not only increasing at present, but we are seeing the diversity of at least two different species, the 3-5 year cycle and 12-15 year cycle cicadas together at the same time. They are geographically located in differing parts of the river (with some overlap) with the strongest presence of the smaller cicadas above Little Hole and the stronghold of the larger from Little Hole down all the way into the C Section of the river. It is rare for such a wide distribution. The river was recently stocked with small rainbows and of special interest Colorado River Cutthroat trout have been re-introduced to the river. Rumors have it that a few big ones were stocked, not just small planters. It’s good to have the cutthroat presence back on the Green River after the years past programs of stocking Snake River Cutt’s. The SR Cutt’s did very well, but it will be interesting to see how the Colorado Cutt’s do in their native home waters. Lastly, and most importantly, this all adds up to the river being in the best condition we have seen for some time. Doesn’t mean we accomplished anything environmentally during the higher flows that needs attention. We still have those needs for a flushing flow. But the river is currently in the best overall condition and fishing better than it has for some years now. Great time to be here just for the fishing. Too, most important for some anglers, river usage has dropped in the past ten days or so too. Of course, the 4^th of July weekend is just ahead and river usage will change. Of special note: Dutch John will have its fireworks and the band “BOOMTOWN” will play Saturday evening  July 5^th. 

So, is it all running perfect?  About ninety percent yes! There are the days that are breezy and days when the fish naturally are fussy and you have to work for them. Despite the fact that some anglers might struggle from hour to hour, and for a few anglers that might be day to day, the river has been a study for fishing in ideal conditions.

Cicadas are our current best approach to the river.  After the fish see all the standard cicada patterns that we throw at them, we sometimes have to get trickier with some variations like crickets, stimulators or PMX’s and play games with sizes too. But of all the factors that need to be considered, the longest dead free drifts are possibly more important that pattern as long as the fly is close to form and color as the natural cicada itself. When the fish are aggressive, the standards   work well. Droppers under the cicadas are only important when the fish are off the feed and need the different approach. For me, under the current conditions, I think droppers are a last resort when I can successfully fish the stand alone dry flies without attachments.

So you might think it is cicadas, cicadas, cicadas! And for the most part you are right. With them being river long, they are a huge part of the current fishing. But they are not alone on the trout’s agenda. On a recent windy day near Little Hole smaller tan hoppers were being blown into the river on one shore and caused a real commotion. Caddis are in the Rock Garden area, PMD’s are on the water (in a small way right now) at Secret Riffle and through B and C Sections as well. On the B Section you pick up Little Yellow Sallies along with the aforementioned bugs. And Lower B and C Sections haven’t seen such a large presence of cicadas for some time now. See the FLY PATTERN section above for the pattern and size recommendations. 

 Nymphing, if you choose, will still pick up the slower portions of the anglers day. Small scuds, Tungsten Zebra midges, San Juan worms will all add to the effort. With PMD’s, the best emerger pattern is often a Pheasant tail nymph. Beadhead versions are popular too.

With the small stockers in the river, it might be time to pass a few small rainbow patterns in front of those aggressive browns. This is the most important time to go for the truly large trout in the river.

P.S. - We welcome you to stop by for a visit with us in our fly shop located on the corner of the Highway 191 and the Little Hole Road in Dutch John. Our daily hours are 7:00 am to 7:00 pm Sunday through Thursday, until 8:00 pm Friday/Saturday.  

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS AHEAD- RATED 5.0 and higher.
While the cicadas are running strong for now, their day will end in the near future. My guess is that we will still see some into at least early August with the largest species hanging on possibly even longer. Barring a real change towards wetter weather all three river sections should fish well. The river is currently fishing very solid and should remain so for the immediate future.

THIS PAST WEEKS CROWD MONITOR-Rated 1 to 10, with one being an empty river and ten stay home. I posted this note last year and it is still appropriate! Important to remember: Waders: There are only two access points on the upper river, Little Hole and Spillway. Everyone has to enter at one of these two areas. It's not important how many people are there, but what you do to separate yourself from others makes for solitary fishing. If you are unwilling to walk a little, expect to fish with others. Boaters: Seems there are always a large number of novice boaters trying out their river skills, not all are successful, hopefully they will improve as the year progresses. The worst transgressions:  Following too close to others boaters, cutting too closely in front of other drifting boats, floating through or over another anglers fish, competing for fishing holes and fish already occupied by other boating or wading anglers. There's plenty of river and fish, let's give each other a little courtesy and room (i.e. try practicing the Golden Rule when it comes to our fellow anglers). This is supposed to be fun for us all!

These ratings are the lowest possible anytime.
Weekends A Section (Friday/Saturday)= 6 for fishermen, 5-6 for rafters (maybe higher on 4^th of July Fri/Sat.  .
B section (Friday/Saturday)= 2 for fishermen- 4 for rafters.
Weekdays, all sections =5-6

RECENT WEATHER
Daytime highs- 72-84 degrees
Night time lows, 44-50 degrees
This past week: Sunny, beautiful, afternoon cloudiness.

***EVALUATION RATINGS
On occasions I'm asked about my rating numbers that are used to evaluate the fishing in this report. The questions are generally things like: do you ever rate the fishing a ten? You won't see a ten from me very often, it has to be consistently incredible for a ten rating. Though we do get incredible days, we seldom get a full week of it. Other comments are that I'm to conservative only rating the river at a five or six. So here it is: 1,2,3 very poor to poor; 4 below average; 5,6 average to good; 7 great; 8 excellent; 9 superb; 10 incredible. So you can see, a five or six rating is not a poor rating and should be a great time to fish the river.

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