Flat Creek, Snake River, Greys Creek-- August 2,3 2011

Fly Fishing the West
Vol. 25, Issue 1
August 2,3 2011

Flat Creek, Snake River, Greys Creek
Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Tuesday, August 2, 2011—Jerry, Steve, and I arrived at Flat Creek. It is a meandering, middle-sized meadow stream just north of Jackson Hole, by the National Elk Refuge. We arrived at about 6:45 and parked at the fish hatchery next to Highway 26 about 3-4 miles north of Jackson. This stream just opened to fishing on August 1. There were no other cars there. The weather was slightly overcast but otherwise comfortable. We hiked east to the stream through small sage brush about ¼ mile. We fished working our way down stream about ½ mile with no luck trying nymphs, wet flies, and dry flies. I had one fish break the surface after one fly, but no other activity. We left about 8 am as other fishermen were arriving. This was a big disappointment.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011—Jerry, Steve, and I left Flat Creek and fished with Les and Emma (Steve’s daughter) on the Snake River below the Highway 22 bridge over the river leading west into Wilson, WYO. (This place was only about 1 mile away from where we were staying in Wilson.) About 100 yards downstream of the bridge on the west side of the river the water of the very big, cold and swift Snake river washes over a gravel bar into a ‘side stream’ next to the bank . Jerry and I fished by wading out on the gravel bar and Steve, Les and Emma fished in the same side stream from the bank. Emma caught a 20” Snake River Cutthroat Trout on a small piece of a nightcrawler. (It is legal to fish with bait below Wilson bridge.) I had one fish on using a San Juan Worm fly for about 5 seconds, then it was off. The fish Emma caught had many fine spots across its body and the distinctive orange ‘slash’ below its gills. A beautiful fish. We fished about 1 ½ hours then left.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011—Todd, Jason, Erika, I and Jerry travelled to Greys Creek about 40 miles south near Alpine, WYO. We drove up the Greys Creek road to about 9 miles to where the Little Greys Creek joined the main stream. We arrived about 9 am the weather was warm and the water was green and not yet fully clear from snowmelt runoff, which was unusual for that time of year. We fished above and below the bridge over the Little Grey, but only on the main stream. Above the bridge off the bank Jason caught a 15-inch Snake River Cutthroat trout on a size 14 Prince nymph. I fished in the same spot and had a fish on briefly on a size 18 flashback nymph. Jerry, fishing at the junction of the two streams had one on as well, but lost it. At the junction I caught a 13” Mountain Whitefish on a size 8 black stonefly. In hindsight we probably should have driven another 10 miles or so south of Alpine and fished the Salt River, which appeared to be much like the Provo River in Utah with a reputation to match. We left about 11:00 am.

Other Miscellaneous Information/Observations:

1. Non-resident Wyoming fishing license for 2011 is $14/day. There was no weekly rate for a license.
2. We tried to fish on Fish Creek running through Wilson, WYO but could never find any access to the stream. (We drove along it south of Wilson about 5 miles.) It is essentially all blocked off by private land owners, which is unfortunate for the public.