Fishing in Lander, Wyoming

Daniel, Wyoming
Warren Bridge BLM


What a difference a day makes.  The storm came in during the night faster than expected.  Things were rocking and rolling.  We decided to head out early.  Besides, the rain during the night really muddied up the water.  The temp was near zero with the windchill.  I'm sure glad we packed up the night before just in case.

We weren't leaving though until we tried the bridge.  Luckily there was a very large dirt pull out that wasn't too muddy so we could park the truck and trailer.  We did make it back up those couple steep parts from our site without any problems.

It was bone chilling cold. Even layered up with scarf and gloves my hands were almost numb after just a couple casts.  It was also hard to cast with the wind.  We gave up pretty quick!  You can see more ice along the rivers edge.  We'll have to come back in summer!

Since it was so early in the day we stopped at the Daniel Fish Hatchery.  What is unique about it is that they raise all the fish for the high altitude alpine lakes because they keep the water cold by keeping them exposed to the outside temps year round.  Let me tell you, it was COLD in there!  First you had to drive over a cattle grate and through large pastures.  Once side was full of Momma's and babies.  So cute!

 

The other side had cows that hadn't calved yet.  Look how fat!

They take contamination very seriously.  You have to step onto a mat saturated in disinfectant and before you enter.

 

The go from fertilized eggs to fry in 89 days.

Here are the eggs being fertilized.

Colorado River

Here they are in a run at 89 days.

Most of what they raise are Brown Trout.  My favorite to catch. They also do some Kokani, Colorado River Cutthroat and a hybrid they call a Tiger Trout which is a cross of Brown and Brook Trout.  They grow very quickly but are sterile.

They are in special tanks that are fed automatically. See the containers with dark feed in them?

They are hand fed when they start to get bigger.

These are Kokani Salmon. (2 above pictures)

The red fins are the Colorado Cutthroat. 

Four year olds (above) and 5 year olds (below), ready for stocking.

These are Golden Trout fry that will be helicopter planted in the high mountain lakes in July/August.

 Some of the high mountain lakes that will be stocked later this summer in Wyoming.  We had a great visit and really enjoyed our private tour.

Before we head off to Lander we stopped by The Den at Daniel Junction.  Skip and Tammy that shared this special place with us said we have to eat here.  Best food around!  Since we had an earlier departure we had lunch instead of dinner.  It was a very cute place inside and out.

Very mountain-y décor.

Steve had the Pork Cutlet Jaegerschnitzel.  We both loved our lunches!  Great staff, ambiance and food!

 

There were lovely paintings from local artists hung around the place for purchase.

Back on 191 and we headed down and around the Shoshone National Forest then up 28 to Lander.

It was a very pretty 2 1/2 hour drive.  Thankfully the wind died down some.  I'll mention we have had such terrible winds since we left Arizona in March that we've been averaging only 9 miles to the gallon.

Beaver den.

I loved the back roads.  Almost no traffic, mostly flat and so pretty!

 

 We arrive in Lander and stay a couple nights at the City Park for free to let the next storm pass. 

 Room for several RVs of any size.  No amenities except a bathroom.  You can get a few spots right along the river if you're lucky.

Since we had a calm day I did a little fishing.  Even though it was cold, I did catch a few nice Rainbows and a couple small Browns.

  

Brown Trout.  So pretty!

 The town of Lander is really pretty.  Many streams run through it.  It's very clean and the homes are just gorgeous.  If I had to live here I'd be ok.  There is much hiking in the area, but it's so cold we hunkered down for the couple days we were here.

 

 

Our Amazing River Site on BLM Land - Wyoming

Daniel, Wyoming
Warren Bridge BLM


It was less than a 3 hour drive from Lander to Daniel, Wyoming.  The population is 150.  So what brings us out this way?  Fishing on the Green River.

First you drive through a lot of flat sage land.  We passed a sheep herder on horseback keeping a close eye on the herd as some of them were on the road.

There's always that ONE that has to be different right?

Miles and miles of flat.

Once and a while some mowed fields and colorful hills break up the monotony.

 

The snowcapped Bridger Teton range wrap around to the north.

Our friend, Skip, told us this is one of  his favorite fishing places (oops, don't tell anyone).  We had planned on camping at the Warren Bridge Campground but once we arrived we found out that they weren't going to open up until the next weekend due to the recent snow.

 

Above on the left, you can see the Warren Bridge Campground at the top.  We ended up crossing the bridge and turning onto BLM land.  The red dot is where we camped. Right on the river.  FREE.
The dirt road was clear of snow for the first couple of miles then it was impassible.  It was smooth and fine for a rig our size.  There were smaller roads that took you down right to the river where you had one or maybe 4 sites.  All spaced out very far.  Each had a fire pit and table and a shared bathroom.  Very nice!  We had the best site.  Only room for two at ours and no one but us.  I'm sure if it were later in the year this area would be hard to get into.  Only problem was the roads down to the river could be a bit steep.  We walked it a couple of times and discussed it.  Then we went for it.  No problem going down.  When it was time to leave however, Ol' Hoss strained just a bit. Even in low-lock 4 wheel.  Not for the faint of heart.

 

These are the coordinates to our exact spot.  There are about 12 spots along several miles of the main BLM road.

This is the main road driving towards our site.  That's us way in the back, that white square.

There were actually 2 drops before you got to the site.  That's us to the left and the bathroom on the right.

Looking towards our site with the bathroom out of the view to the right.

It's like they mowed the grass for us.

This is a known moose area.  We didn't see any, but they were around.

Looking towards our site from the bathroom.

Can't get any closer without hanging over.

View out the back window.

The water was surprisingly clear.  Not perfect, but not as cloudy as we thought it might be.  We fished a little but didn't get anything but a few bites.

 

We took a drive further back on the main BLM road to see some of the others sites.  This was the second access site.  There were about 4 sites down there. Can you believe how gorgeous?!  If the fishing was good we'd stay a week, more if we had time.

Such awesome places if you can get down to them.  We couldn't go any further as the main road was covered with snow so we went back to camp to walk around and fish a bit more. If you're considering camping here I'd scout it out first.  No turnarounds in the first few miles.

Yes, that's ice on the bank.  Still pretty cold out here.

A couple more pictures of our site from up the hill just a bit.

Hurley was thrilled that the previous folks left some "sticks" for him to play with.

Well the wind sure picked up as the afternoon wore on and we decided against a fire.

I enjoyed a glass at my inside (warm) window seat.

 

I checked the weather and was not too happy to find out that a fast moving rain/snow storm was dropping further down our way than expected with high winds.  Not sure how tomorrow's fishing 

will go.  We'll see.