Fly Fishing

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

I was just reading something that mentioned the word "sweetwater." I have heard the word used enough but not enough to ever really pursue the meaning. Also, I "thought" that I knew what it meant but now I am not sure. So, even more surprisingly, I did a search for it and couldn't find a thing on the meaning of sweetwater in relation to fishing. So, I can't be the only one out there who is scratching there head and thinking, "What the heck is sweetwater?"

So, can someone please give me the definition. I'll take one for the team here and be the one to ask what is probably a really stupid question? Smile

Thanks!

72Twenty · Location: Wyoming

Well, I can tell you this... the Sweetwater River in Wyoming is one of my favorite rivers in the world. It comes down off of South Pass in the Wind River Range and eventually joins the North Platte River at Pathfinder Reservoir.

It also runs right along the Oregon Trail and from what I understand, it got it's modern name around that time when the pioneers would drink from it and they said it tasted sweet.

This river has some amazing brown and rainbow trout it it and many parts are not easily accessed. Think long lonely dirt roads in the middle-of-nowhere-Wyoming with no road signs to tell you where you are and where you are going.

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

Interesting. I wonder if the term "sweetwater" applies to that specific river? Or, is it a term that is broader than that too? The post I had been reading was from Boz about wanting to catch a blue back trout in Maine in "the sweetwater" ... I know he is not talking about a specific location and I have heard the term used in Maine before ... ?

PS. I'd love to fish that sweetwater river someday, sounds "sweet"

greg · Posted: Thu 01/28/10 9:57 am Post subject: Sweetwater

I googled"sweetwater fishing" and got travel agencies, destinations like Mongolia, fishing gear but no definitive explanation of this term. I've heard it used but always assumed it meant someones idea of a perfect fishing spot. I am at a loss but I have to keep looking!

72Twenty · Location: Wyoming

Speaking of the Sweetwater specific to Wyoming... I recently read an article in the Wyoming Business Report that we should be expecting a surge in grasshoppers this summer throughout the state. The Sweetwater has countless bends with deep undercut grassy banks... where the big browns like to hide.

This summer could be epic hopper fishing on the Sweetwater... I am looking forward to it!

For anyone interested in fishing this river, I'd be happy to share some more info via private message. If you wanted to fish it, your best bet for a "base camp" would be Lander, Wyoming. From Lander you are in striking distance from the Sweetwater, Popo Agie, and Wind River.

Sorry, I'm getting a little off-topic talking about a specific river here.

When ever I see the word "Sweetwater" associated with a product name, I always assumed they were referencing this Wyoming river. It is pretty normal for fishing related products to use river and location names in their products.

I am interested to hear more about the meaning/use of this word in the greater fly fishing world.

72Twenty · Location: Wyoming

Here is a Google sat map of one of the "bendy" sections. This section is easily accessed from a state highway, so I don't mind sharing it.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.472413,-107.366982&spn=0.053559,0.111322&t=h&z=14

You can see what I mean about the undercut banks in this map. This section is right along both the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail, so it saw a bunch of "traffic" in the old days.

If any of you are ever taking a road trip to Yellowstone or Jackson Hole, coming in from the east, I highly recommend coming in this direction and stopping at the Sweetwater.

Boz · Location: Portland

I mentioned "sweetwater" recently in the "Fish Species" thread.
"Sweetwater" being slang for "freshwater" or not "saltwater".
I wasn't referring to a specific body of water. Although I like the sounds of the sweetwater river mentioned...

Don't know where the term originated...sweetwater meaning drinkable water, as drinking from saltwater can literally drive you crazy...or ultimately kill you. Course I can think of many freshwater bodies of water that I would not want to drink from due to human influences...

I think native americans in this country had a saying..."don't drink downstream from a white man"
Wink

kory_k · Location: New York, NY

Boz's definition is what i always understood it as. Sweetwater=freshwater.

I think it comes from a spanish to english translation of the term "fresh water" which in spanish is "agua dulce". If you translate back the word "dulce" in english it is "sweet" so a direct translation of "agua dulce" would be "sweet water". I had not heard this term until i moved to the East coast and a puerto rican guy and his brother that i worked with who speak spanish and english and spanglish used it exclusively for freshwater.

I have also fished the sweetwater river in wyoming and it is as 72Twenty said a killer river and in the middle of nowhere which is even better. I have not fished it where he is talking about but have always wanted to and was curious. I fished it a few times upriver from there near hwy 28. Once about 30 minutes of the highway and then again on an extremely remote stretch that was a long dirt road from the highway and then another fairly long dirt road that was more like a dirt track from there (don't want to break down there). It was at the head of a pretty dramatic small canyon. Incredibly beautiful place and good fishing although we were there later in the year and the water was very low. I have always wanted to go back earlier in the season when there was more water and i imagine if you were a lot farther down near where 72Twenty mentioned there would be more water. One thing for sure, the Sweetwater River is very sweet "sweetwater!" Very Happy

hedrush999 · Posted: Wed 02/10/10 11:34 am Post subject:

down in fl it is a term used to describe freshwater that was/is potable

Marcel_Karssies · Location: Enschede - The Netherlands

Overhere in the Netherlands we call it "zoetwater" and it means like already mentioned freshwater. Germans have the same term "Süßwasser" = sweetwater.