Wind River Fishing Guides and Conditions, Wyoming

About the Wind River

Cross Togwotee Pass east from Jackson and the Wind River is the first real trout water you meet. It is a working freestone: fast, cobbled, cold, and lined with willows and cottonwoods, running southeast from the Absarokas past Dubois and on toward Riverton and Boysen Reservoir. The upper river above and around Dubois is the part guides fish, and it is genuinely different from the Snake, smaller, wadeable in most places, and far less crowded.

Above Dubois the Wind holds wild brown trout, rainbows, cutthroat and brook trout in the tributaries. The bigger browns hold in the deep, dark corners and under the log jams, and the river rewards short accurate casts and heavy tippet rather than long drifts. Below Dubois the valley opens, the river slows, and irrigation withdrawal begins to matter; further down, the Wind River Canyon below Boysen Reservoir is a separate tailwater fishery that becomes the Bighorn at Wedding of the Waters.

This gauge sits above Red Creek near Dubois, high in the drainage, so it reads the mountain water rather than the diverted valley water. Modest numbers here mean a clear, wadeable river; a big number in late May or June means runoff, and the Wind blows out hard and stays off-color longer than a tailwater would. Late summer and fall bring the clearest, easiest conditions.

Dubois is a small, friendly ranching and outfitting town with lodging and a couple of shops. Much of the valley floor is private, so many guided days here are wade trips on public easements and forest tributaries rather than long floats. Book accordingly and ask your guide where the access actually is.

Access

Upper Wind and tributaries in the Shoshone National Forest: wade access above Dubois.
Dubois town accesses and the Highway 26 corridor: pullouts and public easements along the upper river.
Torrey Creek and Trail Lake Road: tributary and lake access into the Wind River Range.
Wind River Wild and Scenic corridor east of Dubois: public reaches interspersed with private ranch land.
Boysen State Park and the Wind River Canyon: reservoir and tailwater access far downstream.
Portions of the river cross the Wind River Reservation, where a tribal permit is required.

Seasons

April and May: early season on the lower reaches, then runoff.
June: high and off-color on the freestone; tributaries and the canyon tailwater fish better.
July through September: the main season, clear water, terrestrials and attractors, easy wading.
October: brown trout on streamers, cold nights, the valley at its best; winter access is limited by snow.