Grey Reef Fly Fishing Report


Central Wyoming fly fishing is excellent. The Grey Reef flushing flows have ended and the North Platte River is in top condition. Miracle Mile is fishing very well and Fremont Canyon fishing is as good as you’ll get with nymph rigs. Limited dry fly anywhere in the region but a calm moment always gets them looking up in Fremont Canyon. Streamer fishing is not really the top earner but worth the effort. You never know what brute you might stick the fly in front of? Nymphing with a scud, leech and especially midges will keep you busy.

The flush has ended and Grey Reef will see a flurry of spawning activity. For the next couple months our awesome rainbow population will be in a struggle to perpetuate their genetics. Low water years on Grey Reef realize traditionally low recruitment due to predation, redd (spawning bed) damage and flow inconsistencies. We, as anglers, do have very real impacts on the process…generally it is largely negative. Wading into and crushing the beds destroys any chance of their survival. Wading above them and distributing sediment over the redds will kill them just the same. We have met with the Bureau of Reclamation to try to get consistent and increasing flows during the spawn so the redds are not left high and dry. Last year was especially bad due to a mediocre winter snowpack and above average spring moisture. We are currently in almost the same situation as we were last year. 87% of average snowpack for the North Platte drainage. The Bureau of Reclamation HAS to make judgements on how to move water based on current snow, historical and projected moisture from this point forward. Not always an easy thing to do.  Moral of the story is the WE need to be very mindful and do what we can do to make sure we get to fish big, wild rainbows for years to come.