# Wind Rivers Reminisce



## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

I was just looking through some pictures and ran across pics from the annual Wind River trip from the past few years. And I was getting excited to head back up there. I thought I'd share a few pictures.


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## jahan (Sep 7, 2007)

Nice pictures!


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## hunterfisher (Sep 14, 2007)

Those are some nice Brookies.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

It is on my list... Thanks for the shots


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

How far a drive is it up there? How accessible are a lot of the lakes and streams?


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## FROGGER (Oct 1, 2007)

Good lookin fish, nice area for sure... i would love to go there sometime..


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## truemule (Sep 12, 2007)

Those pictures take me back. I love the wind rivers. Scab creek is my favorite area. Camping next to Raid lake, and day hiking to cross and rainbow lakes. I miss that place. Thanks for the pics, make me want to get back up there.


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Good looking pics, thats one on my hit list also, I cant wait to get up high this year...


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## threshershark (Sep 7, 2007)

ChaserOfAllBirds said:


> How far a drive is it up there? How accessible are a lot of the lakes and streams?


Chaser: It's about 6 hours from the Salt Lake area. In terms of accessibility there is everything from waters where you can drive right to the shoreline all the way to some of the most rugged, remote places in the Western states.

Some of the common access points are the Green River Lakes and the Big Sandy trailhead. I hit the Green River side last year. The road follows the Green River for quite a ways and you can drive right to Lower Green River Lake. From there, it's an easy 3-mile hike to Upper Green River Lake. Beyond that you can pick from numerous destinations and difficulties of access.

Here is a shot from the Lower GR:


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

that pic is a beauty thresh!


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

Like thresh said, if you want a wilderness lake with no one on it, you got it, or if you want to drive to a lake and through out your pontoon boat, you can do that. I don't know how far of a drive it is from SLC. I grew up in Star Valley, so we usually go that route to take a stop home to visit my dad. I would bet it's about 4 hours...plus or minus, depending on where in the winds you want to be. All my pics are from the scab creek area. That Mackinaw was taken out of raid lake. Those big brookies, a little south of there, I can't remember the names of the lakes. Last year we made it across below the cirques on the East Fork River, I think I'd like to go in there from the Big Sandy trailhead and check that out next year. That is a really amazing looking area and only about 8 miles in from that trailhead, the way we made it over there we'd traveled about 17, because we'd planned to primarily fish other areas. 
Another trip I'd really like to try is to crossing the winds from the east in the indian reservation. I've heard that is a lot of fun. In 06 we found some Golden Trout, I'd never caught them before.
The best thing about the winds is the diversity of fish you can catch, and the different kind of fishing that is available, you can river fish with big dry flies (My favorite), or fly fish the lakes, use spinning gear, whatever your fancy you can plan a trip to satisfy it, and there are about every kind of trout you want to catch up there. If you've never made the trip you should make plans to.


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## fixed blade XC-3 (Sep 11, 2007)

Those are some beautiful trout, thanks for sharing.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Mmmm, Star Valley cheese curd. That's the goods. Did you ever see the big barn in Afton that said "PUBLIC SWIMMING"?

I stayed there for a couple of days (Afton) about 12 years ago and some of the letters had fallen off. The remaining letters were, "PUBIC WIMMIN".  

Wish we had a camera for that.

I'd love to get to that area. Maybe this year, maybe not for a while. ??

Those brookies looked nice.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

Sweeeet! Nothing like the Winds.


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

svmoose,
Your honeymoon must be over. You are thinking about fishing again. :lol: Alaska will be my big thing this year but I would really like to go to the Winds next year. By then your wife might even let you go. :wink: I think I might even be able to make it if I didn't have to pack a heavy pack and you young bucks could wait for an old cripple like me?


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

campfire said:


> svmoose,
> Your honeymoon must be over. You are thinking about fishing again. :lol: Alaska will be my big thing this year but I would really like to go to the Winds next year. By then your wife might even let you go. :wink: I think I might even be able to make it if I didn't have to pack a heavy pack and you young bucks could wait for an old cripple like me?


Ha Ha, well I guess it must be, I don't have work for the rest of the week, and my wife is working, so that only adds to the problem, me sitting at home thinking about fishing. Probably not too smart of an idea. You know how we've been doing the winds as of late, the horses carry the stuff, we walk in, depends how many of us there are, sometimes the horses carry us as well, so that shouldn't be a problem. Next time I'm down your way, I'll bring all my alaska pictures and we can have a look at them, and look over some maps, get you excited. We're going up about 3 weeks after you, I need to get my wife some more practice on the fly rod so she doesn't get frustrated, but not too much because I don't want her out-fishing me.

P.S. I think my wife is actually going to let me go to the winds this year! We'll see if she holds to that when the time comes.


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

svmoose,
Sounds like your wife is a keeper. Be good to her. Looking forward to seeing you. But it might take some doing to get me excited about Alaska. :wink: I allready have an 8 wt rod with some floating line and some fast steady sink line. I know you guys use sink tip line. Will I be OK?


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## izzydog (Jan 18, 2008)

I love the Winds. I go every year and I never get tired of it. I have never caught so many big fish as the last time we hiked in. We hike in 25 miles and it is very rare to even see another person where we go. Just moose, deer, elk and bears, and a picture of a wolf last year. Last year I was fishing a hopper/dropper rig and had fish on both flies quite a few different times. I used to get my big fish fix in Star Valley but too many Utards have taken all of the fish home and there aren't many left over there. I will still fish there several times this year though. Sad to say it but cheese curds from the cheese factory are a thing of the past.


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

Campfire,
I think you should be fine. Last fall when we went, I wasn 't catching fish out of the hole everyone else was, So I'm going to blame it on my equipment (It couldn't have been me). Really though, I think my sink wasn't quite right. So it might be a good idea to have some sections of different sink to add on. Or just have some really small split shot. When we were fishing reds 2 years back and catching tons of them I had 2 of about the smallest split shots you can find on about 10 inches up from my fly. So I would at least take some of those. My dad and I have sink tip lines that we primarily use, but we bought a section of fast sink and just tied loops in it to add on if we thought we needed more sink, We bout one section and cut it in half, I can't remember how long it is, but we've used those on occasion as well. The line I have on my 8 weight is the Cabelas Prestige multi tip and it was working perfect on the silvers right by the cabin. (up on the corner right below the bridge) I think i was catching more than anyone because my sink was perfect. But everyone else was catching fish too. 
Sometimes you have to play around with it, but there should be enough fish in there when you are there that as long as you aren't floating right on the surface you'll get into them, especially the pinks they'll probably be so thick you'll be rubbing them as soon as your fly hits the water.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

What? Did they shut down Star Valley Cheese?


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

izzydog said:


> I love the Winds. I go every year and I never get tired of it. I have never caught so many big fish as the last time we hiked in. We hike in 25 miles and it is very rare to even see another person where we go. Just moose, deer, elk and bears, and a picture of a wolf last year. Last year I was fishing a hopper/dropper rig and had fish on both flies quite a few different times. I used to get my big fish fix in Star Valley but too many Utards have taken all of the fish home and there aren't many left over there. I will still fish there several times this year though. Sad to say it but cheese curds from the cheese factory are a thing of the past.


Yeah its too bad, the river gets hit pretty hard now a days, you can still get into some pretty good fish though, especially late. When the Browns pick up. We hit the Stone Fly hatch last summer and had a blast. We caught a few over 20 inches. As far as the cheese factory goes...that was a bad deal, everyone just got laid off and it's pretty much shut down, except for the resturaunt.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

...Must not be enough Utards stopping in for cheese when we're picking up all those fish.


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

LOAH said:


> What? Did they shut down Star Valley Cheese?


The factory, I think they still have some curd in there, but they don't make it. The Gift shop and resturaunt are still open I think, but not too much, they've limited their hours. I haven't been out there to see yet this summer. I'll let you know...I'm going up to do some flooring beginning of next week, I'll go sample the food and check on the cheese curd.


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## izzydog (Jan 18, 2008)

I ate at the Cheese Factory last Saturday and I won't be wasting my time there again. The service has steadily declined for the last couple of years and this time was beyond belief. I was with my family and they brought out our orders wrong 3 times before they got it right. We would order pancakes and they would bring us hashbrowns. It got to the point that it was funny. The people working there really don't want to be there and it took two hours to eat a breakfast and they weren't busy at all. As for the cheese, they are buying it from Gossners in Cache valley so if you need some curds just go to Logan.


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## Flyfish4thrills (Jan 2, 2008)

I was there 2 years ago...hit the Elkhart Park trailhead and the lakes in that area, as well as Half-Moon, Green River lakes and the Green River. I made the mistake of packing too much, but still had a great time. I hope to return next year. Thanks for bringing back the memories!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I tried to stay off this one because this is a Utah forum, but I can't help myself.

When I was a younger man I would go up there 3 or 4 times a year. Now I just go up once a year. I hiked the Winds, 120 miles end-to-end, mostly bushwhacking off trail, when I was 48. Made a 95-mile hike last year at 56.

The fishing is very good, especially on the east side of the divide.

One of my knees needs surgery. I probably only have 15 to 20 years of hiking left in me.


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## UtahSprig (Sep 11, 2007)

I used to fish there a bit when my mother in law lived in Wyoming. Beautiful country and lots of open space (at least that's the way I remember it).


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