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.
For fly fishing we love to throw dry flies, dry flies with nymph droppers, strip streamers, drift deep nymph rigs, or work the edges with shallow nymph rigs. Some days all of the above methods will be used.
Swim baits, jerk baits, feather jigs, spoons, plastics, and flies are used by our conventional tackle guests with good success.
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.
Each guided trip includes transportation from Flaming Gorge Resort to and from the Green River, professional instruction by experienced guides, soft drinks, and water, most flies, and terminal tackle. Trips also include one of our exclusive Flaming Gorge Resort hats.
Full-day trips include a hearty lunch.
See the "What to Bring FAQ."
This is up to you and the guide. Section A is the most popular for its scenery and beauty and consistent fishing but it gets crowded and at times the lower sections fish better. If you book for two or more days we suggest doing section A one day and B the next to see different water and learn what each section has to offer. On Busy rafting days we may suggest section B to avoid the frustration and crowds on section A. Section C is a bit more technical with fewer fish per river mile but the fish average a bit bigger in size. We suggest meeting with the guide before your trip and discuss the different options.
For sure! That’s a big reason to hire a guide. They can teach you more in one day on the river than you can learn in a season of doing it on your own. Roughly half of the guests we take on the river are beginners. It’s good to learn the correct techniques early before you form bad habits that are hard to break.
Absolutely! We will cater the trip for either spin fishing or fly fishing. It is difficult when there are two anglers in the boat and one is spin fishing while the other is fly fishing. These different techniques require different water to fish and different boat speeds. The guide can only position the boat for one or the other.
Please bring rods, reels, tapered leaders, rain gear, hat, polarized sun glasses, camera, sun screen, and any special medications. We recommend a 9 foot 5 or 6 weight fly rod. The boats have quite a bit of storage in them and extra stuff is better than not enough stuff. Dress in layers with the ability to adapt to the changing conditions. Remember that our Fly Shop has most everything you need (including rentals) if you didn’t bring it with you.
For the most part the guides will provide the flies. Occasionally there are exceptions to this and the guide may ask you to purchase a few for the day. If the guide has you purchase flies at our Fly Shop then the flies are yours to keep at the end of the day.
Our start times are flexible but we usually meet the guide at 7:30 or 8:30 am in the Flaming Gorge Resort Fly Shop. Meet your guide and have him inspect your equipment and gear then off the river. A full day trip consists of about 8 hours on the water with a half hour lunch break in the middle. You will arrive at the boat ramp around 4 or 5 pm and arrive back at the Resort around 4:30 or 5:30. Please let us know if you have any special requests.
We only do half day trips on section A and we are flexible as to when we start. Half day trips are on the water for about 4 hours. These half day trips also include transportation to and from the river.
Yes a guide can be requested however if another customer has already requested the guide of your choice, you will be given the next available guide. Some of the guides have been doing this for a long time and have a big client base and book up long in advance. If you found a guide that you like, make your plans early to ensure that you can get the guide of your choice.
Yes we require the full deposit for the first day of fishing. If you have multiple boats or multiple days we ask for the deposit on just one boat.
Cancellation policy for guides: