Fly Fishing Green River Utah
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Please see the bottom of this column for ordering options.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Type of Stream
Tailwater
Species
Brown Trout (Wild)
Rainbow Trout
Cutthroat Trout
Hybrids
Size
Medium
Location
Northeastern Utah
Nearest Towns
Dutch John, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Season
Year-round
Access:
Poor
Non-Resident License
State of Utah
Seasons:
You can fish the river year-round provided you can get there. The roads are sometimes closed during bad weather days.
Winter:
The fishing can be good during the winter since the water stays a constant temperature.
Spring:
Springtime is an excellent time to fish the Green River.
Summer:
Summertime can be crowded with
non-anglers especially on weekends but the fishing can be okay along the banks.
Fall:
The autumn season is an excellent time to fish the tailwater.
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 & 12 ft., 5 or 6X, Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Superb Five or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Green River, Utah (Flaming Gorge) Fishing Report – December 15, 2024
The discharges are pulsing but still near a normal level most of the day and the water is clear. Good hatches continue to take place. Don’t overlook our articulated streamers. Our tandem rigged midge larva and pupa are also working very good. Keep in touch with us. We update the Green River fishing report weekly.
Stream Conditions: Rate: 1250 cfs
Level: 8.74ft
Afternoon Water Temperature: 40
Clarity: clear
USGS Real-Time Stream Flow Data At Greendale UT
7 Day Weather Forecast: Click the link below to see detailed weather information
Recommended Trout Flies:
Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
Blue-winged Olives: size 16, 18 nymph, emergers, duns and spinners
Aquatic Worms, size 12, pink, red, and others
Midges: Cream and Red (Blood) midges sizes 20/22, larva, pupa and adult. Our larva and pupa midge flies, pre-rigged in tandem, are very popular here. You can fish them under a strike indicator keeping the larva fly near the bottom. https://perfectflystore.com/product/pre-rigged-tandem-midge-larva-pupa-tippet
Scuds, size 14/16
Perfect Flies are designed and tied to to imitate and behave like the natural foods the trout rely on to survive as much as possible. The more your fly looks like and moves through and on the surface of the water like the real things, the higher your odds of success.
Fly Fishing On The Green River In Utah
The Green River Tailwater below Flaming Gorge Dam is one of the top tailwater fly fishing destinations in the West. It is located in a remote area of Northeastern Utah but it is fairly close to Salt Lake City. The river has a very good population of brown, rainbow and cutthroat trout. Fly Fishing the Green River in Utah is a completely different experience than fishing it in Wyoming. The Flaming Gorge Dam is something to behold itself. It is about 300 feet high which means the bottom discharge of water is always cold. Below the dam the scenery is spectacular. The Green River flows through a very Red Canyon. There is an eleven mile long trail that follows along one side of the river in the Red Rock Canyon. You can fish along the bank the entire way but wading is very limited even during periods of low water. The river is best fished from a drift boat. The water consist of deep pools with fast moving water between fast water runs and riffles. There are three main sections broken up such that each one can be a separate drift boat trip. There are launch
and take out areas at each of the three locations. By far the most popular section is the one just below the dam. The first section is called section “A” and is about seven miles long. The reason is popular is two fold. It has the largest population of trout and it is the most scenic section. It is enclosed by the canyon walls. Section two or section “B” as some call it, is about nine miles long and contains some very large trout. Part of it is in the canyon and part of it flows through more open terrain. The lower section, called section “C”, is about 12 miles long and has several launch ramps. It is the least fished section but still provides some great fly fishing opportunities. Fly fishing the Green River in Utah is quite different from most fly fishing destinations. After fishing the canyon, anglers have a common word used to describe their adventure – beauty. They can’t get over the beauty of the canyon and the clear water. There’s no shortage of wildlife along the river. Bighorn sheep, mountain goats, moose, mule deer, black bear, beavers, muskrat, bald eagles, golden eagles, osprey and others animals and birds also add to the value of a Green River fishing trip. Another feature of fly fishing the Green River is that it can be fished year-round. The water temperature of the discharge stays about the same throughout the year. This offers anglers an opportunity to fish when most of the other trout streams in the western states are closed.
Fly Fishing Guide to the Green River, Flaming Gorge in Utah
Fly fishing the Green River below Flaming Gorge depends on the season and flows. They vary by season but are basically stable each day.The river is basically divided into three sections, mainly because of the access areas and put in’s and take out’s. The first section, which is about 7 miles long called section A by some, is the most popular and it carries the largest population of trout. Its entirely within the Red Canyon. The second section, called section B is about 9 miles long. It doesn’t have quite the population of the upper section but still has plenty of trout and some very large ones. About half of this section is within the Red canyon. The third section, or section C, is about 12 miles long with several launch ramps. It is the least popular section and hold the least fish per mile but is still good fishing water. There is one notable tributary, the Red Creek, and it flows into the Green River with muddy water at times, making the lower section unfishable when this occurs. The upper part of Section A is generally flat and deep with mostly a smooth surface but it also has some areas of class 11 and 111 rapids. It’s almost always extremely clear. It has mostly rainbows but also browns, cutthroat and some hybrids.The lower part of section A, has some good wading water with some pocket water and shallow riffles. It also has some rapids. Section B is dominated by browns with fewer rainbows, cutthroats and some hybrids. It runs from Little Hole to Indian Crossing at Brown’s Park. The canyon widens out and the water slows slow some. This is where Red Creek enters which can muddy the water after a heavy rain. This section contains some class 111 rapids. This is a good area to wade with some pocket water and some flats.
Section C may hold the largest fish but the fishing is considered inconsistent. It loses it’s canyon and the surrounding terrain levels out, making windy day as big factor in fishing this area. It’s easy to wade this section and it also makes for a comfortable float with less traffic and pressure from other anglers.
Green River (Flaming Gorge) Hatches and Trout Flies:
Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in the Green River and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726.
Tailwaters get their aquatic insects from the original stream or river that was dammed. In this case, the Flaming Gorge Dam formed a large reservoir that lies in both Utah and Wyoming. The discharge is from the cold water in the bottom of the lake. That changed some of the aquatic insects in the stream below the dam from that of what once lived in a warmer river for most of the year. Even so, the Green River has a unique and diverse aquatic insect population. The hatches change depending on the distance you are fishing below the dam. Most of the insects are midges and scuds. There are also some mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies. Over the years, there have been more and more of these. The first mayfly and the most abundant mayfly is the Blue-winged Olive. They start to hatch in late March and peak in late April and early May. The hatch ends in late May. These are bi-brooded and hatch again in September, October and early November. Pale Morning Duns hatch start hatching in June and last on into mid August. Tricos hatch in late July, August and September, mostly in the lower section of the river. Little Winter Stoneflies start showing up in March and last into the first of May. Golden Stoneflies hatch in June and last into mid July. Little Yellow Stoneflies are also present. They start hatching in June and last well into August. These are called Yellow Sallies by most anglers. American Grannoms, or Little Black Caddis, start hatching in April. There are more than one species and the hatch last on into August, depending on the section of the river you are fishing. It isn’t normally a heavy hatch except for a short period of time in late April. Scuds and sowbugs are among the most plentiful trout foods found in the tailwater. Trout feed on them year-round. Minnows, baitfish and sculpin are in all sections of the Green River. Streamers are effective all year on the Green River, but especially during the fall spawning time of the brown trout which peaks in November. Craneflies start appearing in April and last for at least six months. We have imitations of their larvae and the adults. The terrestrial insects along the banks of the Green River tailwater consist mostly of beetles, crickets, grass hoppers, Mormon Crickets, ants and Cicadas. The Cicadas hatch begins in the middle of May most years and stretches well into June. Grasshoppers, ants and beetles start showing up along the banks in late June. Trout can be caught on imitations of them on into early October. We recommend our “Perfect Flies”, not only because they are the most realistic of all the insects and other trout food, but also because they are the most effective flies to use to catch trout. Our canefly, scuds, sowbugs imitations are far superior to any. Our caddisflies, such as the Great Gray Spotted Sedge, are unique to the species and perform far better than generic caddisfly imitations. If you haven’t already tried “Perfect Flies”, then we certainly hope you will do so. We are confident that you will find them very effective on the Green River. Spotted Sedges will show up in April and last all the way to September. The hatch peaks in July. Their Little Sisters are also present. They start hatching in May and last until August. Green Sedges are fairly plentiful. They start hatching in July and last on into the first of October. Trout can be taken on imitations of their larvae, or the Green Rock Worm, year-round. You will find some Great Gray Spotted Sedges on the lower river in July and August.