dont fish without a license

Another thing Jackson is known for is the excellent fly fishing.  The Snake river is famous for trout, while the surrounding area is populated with grayling, golden trout, and others.  I was tempted to stop somewhere in Utah to fish, but without a license and knowledge of local regulations I resisted.

Today was a day off from riding.  It was beautiful, and I was going fishing.  Doug knew of a spot on the Snake about 15 miles south of town.

I did not purchase a license, although I did check local regulations.  Tributaries are closed, and cutthroats are off season.  A day license is like 15 bucks, while a season is 92.

We were both stoked to fish, it's been years since I've cast a fly rod (a fact that makes me sad).  We got to the water, rigged up, and started fishing.  We stood below a retaining wall for the road.  Doug opted for the calmer water at the tail of the pool, while I headed for the middle and top of the pool, where I could see rocks and water features that would attract fish.  I fished a wooly bugger (a type of streamer that looks like a leech, a universal good bet) with a prince trailer (a nymph tied on to the trailing end of the knot to the wooly bugger).  This setup allows you to fish both a nymph (the aquatic stage of life of waterborn insects) and a streamer (minnow or leech look-alike).

Doug fished a green wooly bugger, although where he was fishing you could see fish rising all over the place (I wish I had known this before the warden showed up).

I took a small brown on the wooly bugger, fished for another ten minutes, and then wandered over to where Doug was fishing.  He had no luck, and thought he saw a warden's truck pull up.  We stopped fishing for a bit, and sure enough, the warden came down to see how everybody was doing.  

He asked how things were going, what we were using, did we have any luck...could he check out our licenses?  Doug leapt into a shpeel (sp?) of how he had only ever had a lifetime NC license and didn't know how things worked in Wyoming.  The warden kindly explained how things worked, and I said I was in a similar boat (no license), and had only been in town for a few weeks.  We made sure he knew we were intending to stick around town for the summer.

He was very friendly and it seemed like we were going to get off okay, but then he mentioned (somewhat off-handedly) the mandatory $210 citation, told us to collect our things, and meet him at his truck.

Doug and I, both stricken by the harsh nature of the penalty, gathered our stuff (I made sure to dump my beer...), and met the warden at the truck.  

He gave us a warning, on the condition that we would go buy a license and bring it by his office next week.  Yes sir, I will.  $92 for a license no longer seems so bad!