Flaming Gorge, Utah River Fishing FAQs

The Flaming Gorge Resort Guide Service main goal is to provide you with the best possible day for you on the Green River. This includes safety, casting instruction, technique tips, trout behavior, and catching fish.  Most of our guests come to fly fish but we are happy to accommodate the conventional tackle folks.  At the beginning of each trip our guides will present you with different techniques that we use to catch fish and give you a ranking of effectiveness and estimated catch rate.  We want to do what you want to do! A lot of anglers want to fish dry flies and others don’t care how they fish but just want to catch as many trout possible.  The guides will put as much or as little pressure on you based on your comfort.

The Flaming Gorge Resort Guide Service provides year around service but our busy season starts in April and goes through September. We suggest to book with as much notice as possible to ensure a great day on the river. The bigger the group size the more notice is best.  June is typically our busiest month of the year followed by July and May. We encourage you to book May through July at least a couple months in advance.

Please give us a call with any reservation requests because often we have available guides ready to go with an hour notice.

We get this question a lot and I think the answer varies depending on what type of experience you want to have. Factors include weather, fishing techniques, and angler pressure. November through February is mostly subsurface action nymphing or stripping streamers. There is very little river traffic with lots of winter scenery and solitude.  Frozen guides on the rod and numb fingers can slow down the catch rate.

March the traffic picks up a bit but the fishing does as well. Surface action with small midges requires precise casting and presentation but very rewarding. Nymph fishing is great. Mid April is when we start seeing the Blue Wing Olive hatch in decent numbers and this event attracts more traffic on the river. We usually nymph the morning and switch to dries around noon when the hatch begins. The hatch carries into May when we start getting real comfortable fishing weather. This nice weather gets the terrestrials going and trout start looking for the big bugs on top.

The Green River is famous for its Cicada hatch that typically starts the end of May. This hatch usually last through June and if there are a lot of Cicadas we fish this pattern through July even if the naturals are not present.  Around the third week of May is historically when they start the spring releases from the dam. The water is high but still clear and fishable but may limit wade fishing some. High water tends to concentrate trout more and forces them from the middle of the river to seams and eddies along the bank.

Late June the higher flows are usually gone and big dry flies continue to fish throughout the summer. June is the busiest month of the year on the river for several reasons including nice weather; school is out, clear water, and great fishing. Other non-angling users start showing up when school gets out for added traffic on the river.  Hatches that occur during June through August include: Cicadas, Hoppers, Ants, Crickets, Yellow Sallies, Caddis, PMD’s, and Midges. Nymph fishing is consistent throughout the summer if the dries are not producing.

After Labor Day the non-angling users are gone for the most part and the anglers continue on. By this time of year the trout have seen about every fly and presentation and tend to be a bit pickier than earlier in the year on A section. B and C section are fun and productive to fish late summer and early fall. Fall Blue Wing Olives start again but smaller bugs than the spring hatch and other terrestrial or attractor patterns usually produce more trout than the tiny Blue Wings. October offers consistent nymph fishing with comfortable fall weather and big dry flies on sunny warm days.

The third week of November into mid- December is brown trout spawn with real good catch rates and probably the best time of year to fish if you are looking for something big.  Not much going on the surface but nymphing and streamers will bring a lot of fish to the boat. Off season rates and lodging packages start November 1st to March 31st.