October 2021 - 44

We were off the river before the heat
became too intense. Back in the truck, Sam
regaled me with wild stories of grizzly bears
and his single days in Dubois. He had enough
material for the whole ride to town.
After a day on the river, I parked at
Expedition Island Park and walked along
the pathway that parallels the river. There
were water effects placed in the current for
kayakers and rafters, but the water was low
and murky. Kids were playing in the shallow
back eddies. They jumped in and out of the
water with their socks on. The river wasn't
singing. The town's motto is " Fish it. Float it.
Live it, " and yet, the river was hardly getting
by. How could this be the same Green River
that John Wesley Powell famously explored
in 1869? In his journals, the Green River
was described as wild, and untamed, a river
that could take lives.
Only one angler was out, casting a shiny
Zoby carefully releases a trout from the Seedskadee section of the Green River. (Photo courtesy of Dave Zoby)
All morning we caught gorgeous rainbows
and cutthroats that ran drag and leapt.
We anchored and waded in places. We
found pods of trout that rose lazily to
our offerings.
a break. There was no refuge
from the heat.
Frequently, Sam and
Nick paused and looked at
the brown, scorched hillsides
that framed the Green. They
remarked they had never seen the landscape in
such shape, and the low river astonished them.
We used big stonefly imitations. I tied on a
dropper, a nymph tied about a foot under my
main fly. My boat mates reprimanded me. But,
as I told them, I hail from Casper, where we
use two and three flies at once. It's not pretty,
but it's effective.
All morning we caught gorgeous rainbows
and cutthroats that ran drag and leapt. We
anchored and waded in places. We found pods
of trout that rose lazily to our offerings. When
Sam missed a strike, which happened quite
a lot, he'd reprimand himself and drop his
shoulders in feigned disappointment. I missed
just as many fish, but I tried to play it off. But
Nick saw. He's one of those fishy guys who
doesn't miss much.
" Who owns all of this? " I asked.
" You do, " Nick said, " this is all part of
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge. You're the
owner. "
I forget that sometimes, and it's nice when
someone reminds you.
44 | October 2021
spoon for all he was worth. I walked downstream
and encountered the huge artistic
homages to the trout culture: brushed metal
cutouts shaped like salmonids swimming
upstream. The sun struck the artwork, and
I could feel the heat radiating off them. I
could hear the traffic gnawing up and down
Interstate 80, a steady stream of 18-wheelers
and pleasure trailers. I went back to my motel
and pulled the blinds and cranked the AC.
At least I had found a cool place to ride out
the heatwave. My dog snored on the floor.
Dugan said trout have developed some
strategies to survive these kinds of warm
weather cycles and pool habitat is crucial
in low water years. " If you remember from
chemistry, colder water is denser, so it sinks
to the bottom. If you have a really deep pool
you'll have cooler water on the bottom, and
so those fish can go and use that as a thermal
refugia. " She said if the water temps dip at
night, the trout may be able to hang on.
The next morning I crept out of town
before the sun came up. I wondered how
many of my fellow travelers knew the town
of Green River wasn't just famous because of
Powell, but also because of its trout fishing.
People come from all over to fish here. I
wondered if any of the motorists knew what
was at stake as they blasted by.
Just down the interstate, road construction
brought traffic to a crawl. It was already
backed up from Rock Springs to Rawlins.
And I had no way to get out of the sun.
- Dave Zoby teaches English at Casper College. He
fishes whenever he can and writes because he has to.

October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2021