It was early September, about twenty minutes after sunrise, and I was standing in the parking lot of Absaroka Angler on Sheridan Avenue watching a man named Gary Fales load a cooler into the back of a drift boat with the practiced calm of someone who has done exactly this thing ten thousand times. Gary has guided fly fishing trips out of Cody since the early 1990s. He owns the shop. The cooler had sandwiches in it. This detail mattered more than I expected it to by noon.
Absaroka Angler sits on the east end of Sheridan, away from the tourist drift of downtown. It’s the kind of fly shop that actually looks like it belongs to working anglers rather than to a catalog company. Rods hang along one wall in a way that suggests they get taken down and used. The fly bins are deep and specific to the North Fork of the Shoshone and the Clarks Fork — the rivers that most of Gary’s clients actually fish. If you walk in asking about generic attractor patterns, the staff will be polite, but you’ll quickly find yourself in a conversation about what’s hatching right now, in this drainage, this week.
Gary is the kind of guide who will tell you when conditions are bad. That alone makes him unusual. I’ve talked to plenty of outfitters in the region who will take your money regardless of water levels or weather because that’s how the calendar works. Gary will suggest rescheduling. He’ll mention that the North Fork fished better last Tuesday and might fish better again next Thursday, and then he’ll give you a number to call to check in. This creates something rare: repeat clients who actually catch fish and come back for years.
Half-day wade trips on the North Fork start around $300 for one or two anglers, which is competitive for guided fly fishing in Wyoming. Full-day float trips run higher, typically $450–$500, and include that cooler with the sandwiches, which by hour six you will not take for granted. The shop also rents gear and sells licenses, so you can walk in knowing nothing and walk out reasonably equipped, though Gary’s staff will give you a pretty candid assessment of your skill level if you ask honestly.
What keeps me returning to Absaroka Angler specifically — rather than booking trips online through any number of regional outfitters — is the institutional knowledge. These guides have fished the Shoshone drainage through drought years and high-runoff years and every variation between. They know the stretch below the dam differently than the canyon water, and they’ll tell you which one makes sense for your experience level. That local specificity is genuinely hard to find, and harder still to replicate.
The shop is open most mornings by seven during the season, which runs roughly May through October depending on snowpack. If you’re planning a Yellowstone trip and have an extra day on either end, this is the most satisfying way I know to spend it. Call ahead, be honest about your casting, and ask Gary what the fish are doing. He’ll tell you the truth.
