Flaming Gorge Reservoir

Flaming Gorge backs the Green River up for 91 miles from the dam at Dutch John, Utah, into the open sage country south of Green River, Wyoming. The two halves fish like different lakes. The Utah end is a deep, narrow canyon of red rock, cold and clear; the Wyoming end is broad, shallower and windier, with more feed and faster-growing fish. It is best known for lake trout, including the old state records, and it also holds kokanee, rainbows and a strong smallmouth bass fishery in the rocky canyon water.

For a fly angler the lake rewards a boat and a plan. Rainbows cruise the shorelines after ice-off in spring and take leeches and streamers along rocky points; smallmouth come up onto the boulders and ledges in June and July and eat crayfish patterns and poppers; in fall lake trout move shallow to spawn on rocky reefs. The wind is the rule here, and on a lake this size it builds big water fast: watch the forecast and stay near a sheltered bay in a small boat. The managers want small lake trout taken out to protect the kokanee, so there is no limit on lake trout of 28 inches or less.