North Fork of the Shoshone River

Link: https://www.wyomingtroutguides.com/

Last week, I had the pleasure to spend some time in my second favorite state in the country, which is Wyoming.  We fished for a couple of days and had the pleasure of spending both days with guides from Wyoming Trout Guides which is based in Cody, Wyoming.  The first day of fishing was spent on the North Fork of the Shoshone River.  The group consisted of me, my wife Wendy, my mother-in-law Sharon, my step-son Collin, Sharon’s sister Julie, and her husband Kris.  We fished in rafts with our guides were A.J., Nolan, and Cam and we could not be more grateful for their skills and guidance.  We caught rainbow trout that were in the 16-18 inch range with a few smaller, wild rainbows mixed in as well. 

We threw hopper & dropper rigs most of the time with most bites coming on the dropper.  Most folks in the group caught 7-9 fish but should have caught more but we were all a little rusty in terms of fishing on a stream from a boat.  Some big fish over 20 inches were lost and a couple of smaller fish were launched over the boat with strong hooksets, but everyone had fun in the end.  Personally, I landed 9 fish with the majority of them being close to 18 inches.  Wendy (as it is becoming customary) caught more than me (13) and her son, Collin, got his first fishing experience on an “Out West River”. 

Some other memorable moments came when Collin and I doubled up with a pair of 17 inch rainbows right before we hit some white water.  Luckily we landed both of them after escorting them through fast water and around big boulders.  We also got rained on which could not have felt better in the high temperatures and even higher heat indexes.  A couple of folks in the group caught their first whitefish, I found a new appreciation for a fly called a Duracell, and I caught a couple of wild rainbows with parr marks which are rare where I am from.

If you find yourself in the Cody, Wyoming, area and are in need of some guides, I highly suggest Wyoming Trout Guides and Fly Shop as a place to book a trip, buy some flies, or pick up some equipment.  Blake, the store owner, is a wealth of knowledge and great to work with.  He’s a great communicator and will make sure that you get on the best water for the time of year that you will be fishing.  Our guides were Cam, Nolan, and A.J. on this particular day and while their styles differed some, they all worked hard and showed us a great time on an unfamiliar stretch of water.  

Link: https://www.wyomingtroutguides.com/