To Once A Great Trout Float

Once Darby was ours I dreamed of days floating rivers not only with Ash and the kids but with friends and family. This particular weekend was family. My Dad, Brother and I set out to float the A, B and C sections of the Green River. It was trip full of highlights and good times and the fishing was very good.

Darby waits as Pat runs the car up the hill to the parking lot. We pulled into town (Dutch John) and drove down to Little Hole to reserve a campsite on the B section. Good thing we did as all that was left was Red Creek 1 and I was excited because that's my favorite spot for wading...

No cell service. No worries. Just focused on catching fish and talking.

Dad ties a new fly on. Red Copper John hit the spot the first day.

Pat and I

First Brown!

Dad was on fire! he had 6 fish in the boat before Pat and I had our first...

One of Dad's Browns.

We were passing the B section boat ramp and there must have been 50 dudes at the boat ramp finishing up their day. I had the feeling that fishing had been slow for the guides and my Dad hooks a fish right in front of them all.... They all start bumping elbows saying "check it out, he has a fish". We fought the fish down stream and I suggested maybe it was a Whitty. He yelled out "It's a Whitty" and everybody calmed down at the boat ramp. Turns out it was another Brown! 

Pat battles a nice Brown!

Said Brown. What a shot!

Dad on another big one... Dad must be living right!

Pat saying hi as he is balls deep in a perfect river.

Pat on another fish!

Pat's Rainbow. The only Rainbow of the trip. Brown's were thick with Whitty's dominating the C section.

Camp that night!

New York steaks, baked beans, ranch rolls and corn on the Cobb.

Dinner

Pat on the C section with a Brown

The scenery.

Selfie on the C section.

Going into Swallow Canyon.

Dad and I

Big Brown

Non stop

A shot from the B section with this big Brown

Packing up camp at Red Creek.

Pat on the oars. Dad and Pat both did really good steering the boat down the C section.

The last night we drove out from Swallow Canyon and stayed at Flaming Gorge Resort. Taking a shower and having a stove really hit the spot. Trips like these are timeless and never forgotten. Had the feeling Grandpa Giles was floating with us. 

Thanks,

Chris Giles

Uinta's

 Went to a remote stream for the Cutty opening day.

 Ended up catching a bunch of browns!

 Cutty on the hopper.

 McGuin battles a trout.

 This brown I caught was FAT! sitting in 6 inches of water under a shady tree.

Caught some really great fish on this outing...

When we were packing up at the car a red bullet bike roared by up the canyon. On our way over the pass we came across the bullet biker and he had crashed and passed away. There was one trooper on the scene, he had just placed a sheet over the body. McGuin almost puked and the car went silent for a half hour. Enjoy life to it's fullest and if you have a goals go after them hard and fast!

Thanks,

Chris Giles

Henry's Fork + The Madison on Grider's Bachelor Party Weekend!

"You can stop hiding your women and daughters... I proposed to Kat and she said yes!" was the text message we received last fall when Cutty, Downing, McGuin and I were on our way to float the Green in Wyoming. What a great message to get!

We rented a cabin on Island Park Reservoir  and on Friday afternoon the "St. George Crew" snuck out to float Box Canyon. Grider, Frisch, Downing and I all lived together in St. George our freshmen year of college. Re-united back on the river felt great!

We all caught a bunch of fish but nothing BIG. Grider had the most and the biggest though as luck was on his side with the pending wedding...

Frisch fishing off the back of Darby.

Frisch with a tooth pick in his mouth...

It's a swift river until it cools off at Last Chance.

Downing off the back.

A shot down river with a little water fall coming off the cliff river right.

Taking a dip. It was a scorcher! 

The bachelor party was well attended... Let's see- Jeremy Copier, Jordan Meine, Matt Cannon, Steve Grider, Chris Downing, Ryan Frisch, Chris Neihart, Kelly Fitzgerald, Tony Harris,Greg Madsen and Jeff Adams. Sam Barnes, Jon McGuin and Danny J were sorely missed!

Hanging out on the deck after the Friday float. That night we proceeded to un-hook the dock and go out for a cruise around the lake. Talk about a classic moment! I had my guitar but Downing kept cutting the music off saying- "Giles, your just not putting your heart into it! You need to scream it out dammit!". Anyway we were all howling at the moon for a few hours as we drifted around the lake on a dock...

We all floated the Madison from Lyon's bridge to McAtee on Saturday. 27 miles and 8.5 hours later we made it. It was me, Tony, Adams and the man of honor on Darby. The other guys rode on Greg's boat. We had walky talky communication which was funny. 

It seemed like anytime anybody had a good drift with their rig we were catching fish. Adams caught 15 Whitty's in a row though and a curse fell on the boat.. As we drifted under a small bridge my oar clipped a beam and bent it, Adams had a fish on while this happened that he swore was a big one (turned out to be another Whitty), Tony kicks out the drain plug and we start sinking and Grider/Adams drop my brand new net!!!!! We quickly pulled over and declared "lunch break". I had to go lay down under  a tree while they bailed the boat and searched for the net. Icing on the cake was Frisch when they pulled up..."you lost your net? Was it long and red? oh I saw it...." 

It was  rough moment but we got past it. 

Jeff and Grider were standing cheek to cheek in the front of the boat catching fish after fish for all 27 miles. They lost a comical amount of rigs but it goes with the territory. Started calling Grider "Snaggy", hope it sticks...

I think we sent Grider off in style and it will go down as a great weekend with the fellas.

Thanks,

Chris Giles

A and B Sections

Finally it didn't rain! We planned a trip to float the Green and camp along the way.

I was confident on the oars finally and felt like I was in total control.

Everyone was in great spirits as we floated through the A section on Friday afternoon.

A shot of Sneaky after he got splashed by a wave...

Can't think of a better way to spend time with the family!

Rocco and Dylan taking a break.

Love this shot so much. Floated past Little Hole where we signed up for the last camp spot called "Pugmire's Pocket". It was pretty crowded that weekend.

Rocco loving on Mom.

Both Rocco and Dylan took naps mid float! like hour long naps...

arriving at camp.

The sunset, Darby and I

I hit a few rocks during the Red Creek rapids the next morning so I was a bit puckered up. Needed to stop for a quick fish. You can see the near half of the river is off color do to Red Creek coming into the main current.

Caught a few really nice browns.

Stopped at this island in the B section for a picnic. The water was crystal clear and the kids hunted for rocks.

Ash way up stream and its still only knee deep.

After the B section we drove out to the Uinta's to camp on Saturday night to make Sunday's drive a little smoother. 

While on the Green we saw a great horned owl with two owlets starting to fledged. A couple of feather balls jumping from rock to rock flapping their wings. I have never seen anything like it. We also saw snakes, rabbits, eagles, otters, deer, lizards, lots of trout and lots of birds.

The kids did great camping and keep asking when we are going back!

Thanks,

Chris Giles