Section A

Also known as the aquarium due to the clarity of the water. This ~7.2-mile section is the most popular and flows mainly through a slot canyon consisting of red rocks that can be up to 800 ft in height on both sides. The old, red rock canyon opens up about a mile upstream from Little Hole. Located just below the 500 ft Flaming Gorge Dam, this section consists of the most traffic and the most trout. This stretch also contains nine rapids including the raft magnet, Mother-in-Law. Most of these rapids were named by Emmett. The cool water temps plus the swift current of the rapids provides an environment thick in aquatic macroinvertebrates. 

April finds bluewing olives or BWO hatches. This is one of my favorite hatches. It is consistent fishing. I can’t guarantee fish happily rising for duns or cripples, but the bugs are moving in the water column. I have found that windy conditions or cooler water temps than expected will keep fish happily feeding below the water surface.

Late June and July will usually find this section busy with pale morning duns or PMD, yellow sallies, and caddis hatches. You can usually set your watch to these bugs. You can also set your watch to the “rubber” hatch as well. Let’s not get started on that unwelcomed and unregulated hatch.

By October, the smaller cousins of the larger mayflies appear. By now, the crowds have lessened, but the fish are wise to our pressure.

It’s not just macroinvertebrates that can be observed. Big horn sheep also roam this area as well as playful river otters. You might get lucky enough to catch a glimpse of these majestic animals along the river banks.