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.