Fly Fishing Tongue River - Canyon to Dayton

Overview

The mainstem Tongue River below its North and South Forks drives through a limestone gorge before easing toward Dayton. Brown and rainbow trout occupy boulder pockets, fast riffles and deeper plunge pools. Rock walls and broken current give the canyon a different character from the meadow water on the higher forks.

Reading Boulder Water

Each boulder can create several lies: a soft pocket behind the rock, a cushion of slower water on its upstream face and a seam along the divided current. Study those lanes before casting. A trout can hold on the softer side of a seam and move into the drift for food.

Work a pool’s tail and edges before placing a fly beside the deeper slot beneath the plunge. Short casts help keep fly line off conflicting currents. A high-stick or tight-line nymph presentation offers one way to guide a weighted fly through a pocket; adjust weight so the drift suits that particular lie.

A stonefly or attractor nymph with a smaller mayfly or caddis pattern provides a starting selection. Watch the leader for a hesitation or change of speed, and cover a pocket from another angle before moving on.

Dry Flies and Seasonal Choices

Buoyant foam and hair-wing dries offer searching patterns for broken water. A hopper-dropper can cover both the surface and the deeper seam. Hoppers, ants and beetles add warmer-season choices along grassy banks and open slopes.

Blue-winged olives provide spring and fall options in softer tailouts, with caddis patterns useful through the warmer months. A smaller streamer offers another approach to deeper slots when surface feeding is quiet. Snowmelt changes the canyon’s depth and clarity, so choose a fishing position for the actual current and rock structure at the site.

Access

During a camping stay at Tongue River Canyon Public Access Area, use the designated camping parking reached from Highway 14 by County Road 92. The campground area is about 3.3 miles along that road and serves the signed river easement at the canyon entrance. Stay within that easement for fishing; adjoining wildlife habitat is outside this access recommendation. See Wyoming Game and Fish’s property information.