As of June 25th Grey Reef was just bumped to 2000cfs. This is excellent but so was 500 and 1000cfs. Fishing has been so good, so fun…it’s hard to articulate. The article below is from our newsletter that we sent out a couple of weeks ago. Still true. Dry fly, streamer, nymph rigs, dry/dropper, carping, wading, bushwhacking, adventuring, floating, dive bars, ice cream cones from a country store, cocktails on the deck of the marina, historic and cultural sites, wildlife…this is big country…let the memory haunt you, rather than the what-if.

Don’t Let Them Steal It
They are stealing your joy. The media doom-and-gloom surrounding the low snowpack in the western US has created unnecessary negative impacts on angler’s plans for fishing the 2026 season. Most of the outfitters in the Rocky Mountain West have had incredible spring fishing and we can comfortably say that the spring of 2026 has been our most fun and diverse fishing we’ve had in our nearly 3 decades of guiding fly fishers in Central Wyoming. It has, without question, taken the top position and it’ll be a thing of lore for many years to come.

This doesn’t come in spite of our snowpack, but because of it. The North Platte River has been pretty quiet due to several reasons. The first is that folks have been scared off by the news. The second is that all 100 miles of the lower North Platte River system have been clear and fishing and excellent, top to bottom. By excellent, we mean frequent and eager eats on dry flies, streamers and emerger nymph rigs. This phenomenon has dispersed anglers across a wide swath of the region, rather than compacting them into a shorter stretch of river. The third is that we’ve had recent regulation changes that haven’t been favorable to some anglers…like the new requirement to fish barbless and prohibitions on pegged-bead rigs. We don’t and never have fished barbs or pegged beads so these regs are nothing but positive for our program.

The freestone rivers in Montana, Utah, Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming are now entering runoff and that naturally puts a little damper on fishing. Once they come back down they should return to a great experience for a while. Many of the rivers will likely have some struggles as we move into sustained warmer air temperatures but it would be a disservice to yourself and those experiences to balk prematurely and to not discuss the options and realities with those outfitters or regional experts.

Grey Reef and Miracle Mile are tailwaters and always have a different story because of our geography and the volume of stored water in the system. We are isolated from runoff because the large reservoirs capture those molecules tumbling out of the Snowy, Sierra Madre, Wind River and Laramie Mountain Ranges. Runoff settles behind dams and then released in a controlled way that jibes with demand downriver. Count ‘em, 5 distinct tailwaters and 100 miles of the North Platte River are fed consistent and cool water all year-round.

Spring moisture and the metric “they” don’t mention: No doubt you’ve been bludgeoned by the snowpack graphics that look pretty dismal across much of the west, but they don’t post a graphic of the precipitation totals over the same duration. If they did, you might not feel as worried. We are extremely blessed in the grand scheme and the big snow event from last week was huge for the North Platte River. Large accumulations of heavy and wet spring snow in all of the mountain ranges that matter to us. The Snowys got 30”, South Pass got 24”, Casper Mountain received 24”. The kind of snow that got snowmobilers to drag their mountain sleds back out of storage, cross country ski trails to get a fresh groom and backcountry skiers out to harvest very late season powder.

Don’t think that we aren’t concerned. Things might get a little spicy later in the summer but the sky is still exactly where it is supposed to be. We’ve been through situations with dry winters and started past seasons with much less capacity in the reservoirs. A year or two later, we have record snow and reservoirs are recharged. Our flows have remained low and the fishing has been pretty staggering. We are scheduled to see a bump in flows in the next week or two. This will reduce water temperatures and get fish feeding in even cooler parts of the river.

What can angling enthusiasts do to get their fix? First, take a deep breath, then make a call and discuss it with someone who has real experience in the region you are researching. Second is to maybe rethink what a fly fishing experience is to you. The culture has shifted to a leisure activity with little tolerance for potential adverse weather. We get it, but that shift is robbing many of the best experiences on the water. Oftentimes, a low-pressure event supercharges the fish and they are short-lived. The most desirable weather doesn’t always align with the best fishing but it almost always aligns with the most river traffic. Our situation is a little different but you can mostly take that to the bank. Afternoon summer thunderstorms are more consistent than low-pressure events in April and October. The point is that there is a bunch of great fishing to be had in 2026 and many great places to do it. Don’t let them steal your thunder, get on the phone and have an actual conversation with outfitters in your target region. The broad, generalized low snowpack information we’ve been fed does not apply across the board, nor does it exclude really fun fishing trips in 2026.

Every conversation involves concern for water supply leading into the 2026 fishing season. Terms like “scary” and “crazy” seem to be the buzz. No question we’ve had an unusual winter. It’s been warm and dry in the Platte River Valley and we’ve just started getting some of our spring winds. Fishing has been great, though. At the time of writing this, we are expecting a high near 70 degrees. What does this all mean for your fishing trips this year? We’ve been doing this for nearly 30 years, so we have a little depth in this discussion. But one thing is for certain, Grey Reef flows are almost always counterintuitive.
Looking at the USDA daily snow water equivalent maps for Wyoming and our neighboring states, things might not be as Chicken Little as has been driven into our skull.
Grey Reef is the 5th impoundment along the North Platte River Reservoir chain that is fed primarily from the mountain ranges in northern Colorado, Southern Wyoming and some from Central Wyoming… Seminoe, Kortes, Pathfinder, Alcova and finally Grey Reef. There are reservoirs downstream that do impact our flows and also pickup runoff from other mountain ranges in Central Wyoming. There are states downstream that impact our flows. It’s a very interesting juggling exercise that is mostly controlled by valves and switches rather than Mother Nature’s will.
The concept of runoff, or lack thereof, does not really apply at Miracle Mile and Grey Reef. Seminoe and Pathfinder are each a million acre/ft impoundment and both are currently in the lower 30% of storage. We’ve experienced around 17% of capacity in 2009 and by 2011 we were 100% with more water than the Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers could deal with. Our current snow water equivalent stats for the ranges that matter to us are 65, 71, 70 and 90%. Snow water equivalent is the amount of water currently stored in the snowpack based on a 30 year average. This doesn’t account for water that has left the snowpack nor the snowpack we generally gain in late March and April. The real question is how does this impact the river and the fishing?
We predict Spring and Fall will be pretty typical 500cfs flows and banger fishing like Grey Reef does every year, without fail. If conditions remain on this trajectory we’ll probably see 800cfs – 1500cfs mid-May into the first week of June before irrigation season really kicks off. Nebraska will undoubtedly be calling for water and that means Grey Reef flows will be healthy. If flows do stay in this range, Grey Reef will experience really cool FLY fishing. It is still very wadable at these flows and will result in great dry fly, emerger rig and sight fishing…all while being able to fish entirely from the boat if that is your jam?
We expect summer flows to be in the mid 2000cfs and that is a great level for PMD, Yellow Sallie, trico, BWO, pseudo and Caddis fishing. We do like more volume for hoppers, but they’ve been pretty sporadic the past few years anyway. Our biggest concern is that the BuRec has to balance reservoir storage use not only for 2026 but 2027 and even beyond. We wouldn’t be surprised if flows were reduced to 1200-1500cfs in mid August when water temps generally start to increase in all trout rivers. Late August through early September could have us on a schedule to fish earlier and get off earlier. The other issue is that our trout recruitment doesn’t have any teeth under 3000cfs so we will likely have a weak 2026 year class of our wild trout. We view the standard fish per mile target is too high to cultivate our big slobs that we love so much. Fewer fish doesn’t align with poor fishing.
At this point we feel very fortunate with our situation, especially when you lean it up against what could be coming down the pike for some other great western trout streams if we/they don’t get some big spring storms.

The North Platte River and we have some operational changes starting in 2026 Pegging beads (attractors) is no longer allowed at Fremont Canyon or Grey Reef. All flies must be barbless in Miracle Mile, Fremont Canyon, the Afterbay and Grey Reef. These new regulations only have positive impacts on our operation since we don’t peg or fish barbs. Also, over the counter fishing licenses ARE NOT AVAILABLE anywhere in Alcova. Make sure to purchase your fishing licenses prior to arriving. Go to the Wyoming Game and Fish website and purchase them there.

 

Fresh start, new beginning, end of an era, return to fly fishing. New regulations will impact all Miracle Mile, Fremont and Grey Reef Anglers. It’ll be an adjustment for many but we hope it doesn’t stop with this wad of new rules. We aren’t into a bunch of regulations but these are steps start to return to the original, unwritten expectation before it unrecognizably twisted into “fly fishing is about me” rather than “fly fishing is for me”.

Barbless Rule – All hooks must be barbless from Miracle Mile through Fremont Canyon, the After Bay and upper Grey Reef. We’ve always pinched barbs as a company policy so this rule benefits us tremendously. Less hook scaring and quicker releases. Gonna be plenty of cheaters with half-ass pinches.

No Pegging Beads/Attractors – Pegging is not longer allowed in Fremont Canyon aka Cardwell or upper Grey Reef. We’re proud of Wyoming and the Wyoming Game & Fish for taking this action! Wyoming is the first state to own the reality of pegging and have made some steps to eventually eliminate it completely. We’ve never pegged and never will (we consider it snagging since it is the WY definition of snagging) so this rule has zero negative impact but does benefit us quite a bit. Less hook scaring and far fewer fish hooked by those who haven’t put in the work. We aren’t here to applaud anglers who aren’t successful but we are here to help you be successful…either with our guides or looking for advice in the shop. Can’t feel too bad about guides who’ve built their program around pegging, however.

Fishing Licenses No Longer Available at The Reef Fly Shop – Wyoming fishing licenses are easy to buy online. Do that before you get to Alcova! There are no license agents in Alcova but there is cell service and you can do it on your phone. Your phone becomes your fishing license. We are sorry, but that ship sailed.

WY Guide License – As of Jan 1 all fishing guides must have a new permit to operate in Wyoming. This is administered by the Wyoming Game & Fish. IF it does what it is intended to do, it will be a good hoop to jump through. It isn’t cheap to re-up annually but it is intended to make the rogue guiding industry illegal. We have “guides” from all over the country show up with paying guests and they are able to skirt reporting and use fees that legitimate, permitted guides have to comply with. We are well aware of the traditional loopholes and that these permits generally wind up punishing those who are “doing it proper” but we have high hopes, regardless. This also gives the local guide community the ability to report these folks and there is now teeth to address it. We are crossing our fingers and won’t hold our breath…this one could backfire spectacularly.

2025 was an excellent season in Central Wyoming. Fly fishing and upland bird hunting were above average in nearly every category. There are some significant changes coming up for 2026 that everybody should be aware of. These will not only impact our guests, but all anglers coming to the area. First a little recap of 2025…

Start to finish, it was a very good fishing year. Spring was less busy and the nymphing was excellent and this has continued throughout the season. Streamer fishing was surprisingly productive – spring, summer and fall. This is a bit of an upgrade from our typical expectations of streamer fishing clicking during high water and fall. Dry fly fishing was back with a vengeance. The two previous years hadn’t delivered to our expectation for a few reasons. We had some water issues due to big rain events and that kind of disturbed the hatches. That turned around in 2025 and we were very happy with how the trout kept looking up July through October. Of course, we still get fish eating midges from the surface throughout the winter.

Upland was great, especially our Dusky (Blue) Grouse hunts. Sage Grouse was off a little bit and so were the Hungarian Partridge. We didn’t feel like spring was too harsh but something was a strange. We still found birds and have no doubt things will tick back up  for 2026. We do have some Sage Grouse packages available the last ten days of September 2026. If you want the ultimate experience, come fish and hunt!

The 2026 North Platte Lodge schedule is impressive but we still have some great options throughout the season. Our 6 angler/Full lodge program is available in April and October. 6 anglers each get their own private guest room and have the lodge and chefs exclusively for themselves while fishing double. Great fishing on either end of the busy season with April being high volume and October a bit less absurd but the dry fly fishing and lack of other anglers makes it equally fun.

Rate Increase Rates will be adjusted a little for 2026. All current reservations that confirm with deposits still receive 2025 rates as do all new reservations that confirm with deposits prior to the rate increase. Get your crew organized and book before the bump.

WY Fishing License Sales No Longer Available in Alcova Over the counter fishing licenses will not be available in Alcova. The Reef Fly Shop won’t have the ability to sell licenses and no other agents are in the area. Get you WY daily or annual fishing license online at the Wyoming Game and Fish website before you arrive.

Cottage Upgrades The vacation rentals at The Reef Fly Shop are not available to book for the next month and a half while we replace flooring and countertops. They will be even better for your visit in 2026!

Barbless Flies Required on Miracle Mile, Fremont Canyon, the Afterbay and Grey Reef. You must fish barbless stating Jan 1, 2026. The Reef Fly Shop sells mitten clamps with smooth jaws that are perfect for mashing barbs. Don’t worry, we’ve fished barbless exclusively for more than 25 years and it is an unnecessary crutch.

Pegging Beads/Attractors  Prohibited It was clear, to us, what would happen when pegging became mainstream and the Wyoming Game and Fish studies finally confirmed it. Starting Jan 1, 2026 you may not peg at Cardwell/Fremont Canyon Or Grey Reef to Government Bridge. This will likely be the first step in a total ban on pegging. Don’t worry, the fishing will improve and we’ll help you dial in your bug game.

Winter Hours The lodge phone is available when you are and The Reef Fly Shop is open Friday – Mondays with Sunday being a half day. If you need trip gift certificates or a Bufftrout hat for a Christmas  Gift, give a shout and we’ll ship it asap. We also have a handful for high end rods at entry/mid level rod prices. Give a shout if you have an angler on your list who wants a new rod.

This is my wife wade fishing below Grey Reef Dam on a Saturday in mid-July. Fish were plowing PMDs and Yellow Sallies. There was only one other angler, several hundred yards upstream.

 

In July, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission passed a series of new regulations that will impact how anglers will  approach Miracle Mile, Fremont Canyon and Grey Reef. We’ll go through the details and provide our perspective.

Barbless – Single point barbless hooks are required on the entirety of Miracle Mile, Fremont Canyon aka the Cardwell Access Area and Grey Reef to Government Bridge.

We are strongly in favor of this new regulation. We’d support the inclusion of other Wyoming rivers and streams going barbless. The Reef Fly Shop and North Platte Lodge have required our operations to pinch all barbs for 25 years. It is the least we can do to step up our game and be serious about doing as little damage to our partners, the fish, as we can.  Make sure you have a strong hemostat ( smooth jaws are better than serrated) to smash and wiggle the barb down, completely. Guides and anglers who haven’t practiced barbless, will need to spend a bit more time on honing their skills. To the wardens, you are really going to have to write-up folks who are cheating with a partially/hardly pinched barb. This will be the hack and there shouldn’t be tolerance for it.

Pegging – Pegging beads (or attractors as they are now called- more on that in the next segment) Is now prohibited in Fremont Canyon aka the Cardwell Access Area and Grey Reef Dam to Government Bridge.

We are strongly in favor of this regulation although we feel it falls short. We have never participated in this practice for several reasons. It is snagging, the fish does not voluntarily take the hook into its mouth. Snagging is beneath our skillset, there it is and we aren’t ashamed to say it. “If done properly” the first pegger to get to a clean trout is likely the one who breaks, damages or completely rips off the maxillary process. Pay attention to grip-and-grins, there are so many mangled trout on display throughout the trout fishing world…not just Grey Reef. These mangled trout have a more difficult time feeding making them undernourished. This can and does make trout incapable of spawning. Miracle Mile and below Government Bridge will be the sections of river that the studies are used to compare the different regs. Since we have a clear view of what these trout looked like prior to pegging we feel pretty comfortable the Grey Reef – No Pegging Rule will set the stage for the entire State of Wyoming to abolish the practice. Let’s hope Wyoming has the balls to do it first.

Pegging Beads vs Attractors – This changes the definition of “trout beads” to “pegged attractor”.  The “trout bead” definition allowed ONLY pegging a plastic bead. The change to “pegged attractor” legally allows other materials like chenille,  squirmy worm, zonked squirrel…whatever.

Pegging beads was officially allowed starting in 2014 despite our protests. Coincidentally, the definition of snagging was removed from the Wyoming State Constitution at the same time. The definition of “Trout Beads” was clear that it was a plastic bead resembling an egg and nothing else. However, folks were pegging other materials that were outside of the definition. In 2017 , I received a letter from John Kennedy – Deputy Director of the Wyoming Game and Fish stating that only beads were allowed. Over the course of the past ten years I have asked several folks from the Wyoming Game and Fish if anybody had ever been cited for illegally pegging materials other than beads. None could think of a single citation and said they wouldn’t be able to effectively search due to the way the wardens have to categorize the violation. This change lets thousands of game violations off the hook….but not until Jan 1 2026. We despise pegging and what it has done to the fishery we love so, needless to say, we aren’t fond of this change.

Spawning Closures – Cable to Cable is now closed from April 1 to May 15 (increased from April 1st to May 1st) Ledge Creek downriver for 1.2 miles has been added to the spawning closure and will also run April 1 through May 15.

The April river closure between the cables in front of the North Platte Lodge on upper Grey Reef has been around since 2008. This closure was designed for “spawning eduction” rather than protecting spawning fish. This was a lousy workaround to keep folks from targeting spawning fish…but at least it worked out great for us! These closures basically encompass the spring baetis hatch. Both of these areas have some amazing and legitimate (not targeting actively spawning trout) fishing during the spawn. Closing sections of the river during this time will add pressure and congestion to other parts of the river…that should be pretty obvious. Folks will still target spawning fish, stomp redds etc. We are hopeful that these closures will make a positive impact on recruitment and hopefully send a message that targeting spawning trout is not cool and is counter to a healthy, wild trout fishery. Spawning closures wouldn’t be necessary if anglers just refrained from targeting them during this crucial time.

Watercraft Restrictions – Watercraft (including anything that floats) will be prohibited from Kortes Dam to the Bridge at Miracle Mile. No Boats above the bridge, wade fishing only.

This will congest boat traffic on the lower Miracle Mile significantly, it will also create more conflict between wade fishers and boat fishers. There will be an incorrect stigma that wade fishers should stay above the bridge and boats get everything below the bridge. It might have been better to just abolish boat traffic on the Mile altogether. This is a tough pill since we started the practice of guiding the Mile in drift boats 25 years ago. Back then the Mile was widely considered not worth fishing and there were hardly any anglers through the 2000s. Folks started catching onto it about 15 years ago and, admittedly, has gotten out of hand since. we don’t see this one ending well but do support a resurgence of wade fishing. It is arguably more rewarding and you generally poke fewer fish. Also, boats can access productive water that wade fishers really can’t. This will be a good thing for the fish who hang out on the upper portions of the Mile. It’ll be a significant way to compare the impacts and likely will shape future regulations. We supported this compromise but the reality is that much of the congestion and damage to the fish could be substantially relieved with regulations like no pegging, and a 2 fly/hook max per rig. This is really where it should start.

Leftovers – There is one part of the initial proposal that was left out of the final draft that we were in strong support of….2 hooks per rig maximum. This would have reduced allowed 3 hooks to 2. A 2 fly rig is plenty.  At the end of the day, an angler or a guide can easily have stellar days within these new regulations and a less proficient angler can have just as good of results. It might also reverse this modern “fly” fishing mindset that anything goes as long as you identify it as fly fishing and fling it with a fly rod.

The Wyoming Legislature recently passed an odd bill that is directed at float guides, or folks who guide commercial fishing trips out of boats. The way it is shaping up is to permit every guide at a fee of $600/year/guide. This was a knee-jerk proposal with little reliable metrics or a baseline to compare the metrics. Most gov folks throw around subjective terms like “overcrowded” with no real basis for their statements. There are spring days, on Grey Reef, where it feels like too much. This is a pretty short-lived phenomenon and by the time July hits there are days we don’t see any other boats/anglers on the sections we are fishing. We feel the conflict is exacerbated by outfitters who don’t self-limit the number of trips they book in a day. When these outfitters book trips that exceed their guides’ ability to provide a quality experience then that is where the conflicts start. The inexperienced guide are trying to make something happen for their guests and may target spawners, may encroach on wade anglers and other boats, may stay in a productive run too long or even float the same short section of river twice in a day because that is the only water they feel like they can get the job done.

This bill doesn’t cover commercial wading trips. So before we celebrate restrictions on guides, the obvious consequence is that IF outfitters actually get their folks in the water it will tie up much more river that public float anglers won’t be able to fish without causing conflicts and encroaching on commercial trips. Some of the think is shortsighted. We knew and expressed what the result of pegging would be and this new legislation will go the same way…the unintended will cause larger problems that better fishing practices could do a lot to alleviate.

At the end of the day, it’s a good start.

 

 

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It was one of those days that test even the hardiest of Wyoming residents. We call it a 50/50 day…50 degrees and 50 mile per hour winds. It was actually close to 60 degrees and 40 mph winds but the highway signs threatened 60 mph gusts. Keeping eyes peeled while driving between Casper and Alcova this morning, I was slapped with gratitude and was compelled to utter “thank you”, out loud, in a truck with just my dog and me.

Sounds absurd to be thankful for day that you’d better park into the wind and hang onto your door with everything you’ve got. But, all the little details add up to a serious benefit for anglers on the Grey Reef Section of the North Platte River. The river flows right through Casper and is kind of becomes a feature most take for granted. Naturally, anglers gawk at the river and visualize where they’d fish and look for indicators like midstream structure or the banks to gauge the flow. Casper’s water was noticeably high, off color and slushy. There wasn’t a bump in flows out of Grey Reef Dam so why was the level 40+ river miles below Grey Reef elevated? It could be feeder drainages and streams adding volume due to our snowpack on Casper Mountain and surrounding ridges melting. Check that box, the temps at our downhill ski area, Hogadon Basin, have been above freezing for several days. However, as I drove upriver to Grey Reef I noticed that Bates Creek ( the single most relevant indicator of melting activity) was not supercharged. It’s the wind and warm, winter weather cooking the ice off of the river and pushing a head of water with it. The first 20 miles of Grey Reef are almost completely devoid of shelf ice with clear water. It looks spectacular and not only setting up this weekend for awesome fishing but lining up a pretty stellar spring season. The weekend forecast is warm with far less wind and the critical snowpack a couple hundred miles upstream is robust. Despite the rowdy winds today, this is a win in the near and long term.