by Ret Talbot with Photography by Tom Reed
July 2008 in Fly Fisherman
 Karen, my wife, packs up two tuna fish sandwiches and fills our water bottles. Sunscreen, a small first aid kit, headlamps, some iodine, and a couple granola bars round out the pack. We’ll not be home until after dark because the fishing has been great lately, and there’s no reason we can’t stay out as long as we want. I’ve packed the fly box with the flies I tied last night and the rods are ready to go. I’m taking my four-piece, five-weight (mostly because we’ll be bushwhacking part of the way), and Karen has her two-piece four-weight in an aluminum tube that she uses like a walking stick on our daily treks to the creeks within walking distance of our home in the foothills of the Wyoming Range.
Running for more than seventy miles in a north-south orientation on the western edge of the state, the Wyoming Range is home to some of the best fly fishing in Wyoming (if not the entire country). Right up front I’ll tell you that fishing here is not about size, but what theses fish may lack in heft, they more than make up for in beauty and uniqueness. The magic of the Wyoming Range is that it is one of the few places in the country where you can observe a native trout in its native, pristine habitat. Yes, indeed, the Wyoming Range is a special place, but given recent maneuvering by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the United States Forest Service (USFS) and various energy companies, it may not remain....
To read the entire article, please purchase the July 2008 issue of Fly Fisherman by clicking here. Fly Fisherman is the world's leading magazine for fly fishing. Every issue provides expert advice on the latest fly fishing techniques, the newest tackle and the hottest new fly patterns. Through informative articles, it highlights the best destinations for trout, salmon, steelhead, bass and saltwater species around the world.
 
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Ret and his wife spend part of the year in the foothills of the Wyoming Range at the Triple V Bar, a piece of land Ret has owned since the mid-nineties. Over more than a decade, Ret and Karen have seen the Wyoming Range change as a result of the fact that energy companies now hold leases to more than 150,000 acres of public land in the Range. As fly anglers and conservationists, Ret and Karen have been increasingly concerned about wells being drilled in critical cutthroat trout habitat (like the picture of the Exxon Well on Fish Creek above) and threaten the very existence of this important species. Like so much of Ret's Writing, this article is an effort to combine his love of fly fishing with his love of ecosystems and commitment to conservation. In addition to outlining the issues, the article gives some down and dirty tips for fishing this amazing part of the Rocky Mountain West.
PHOTO: (l to r) Ret & fishing buddy Tom Reed (who provided the images for this article) after working the flats in Southwest Florida. © Ret Talbot Collection.
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