Fishing is good! We have great water conditions from Grey Reef to Glenrock, with flows still hovering around 500cfs. If your heading to upper Grey Reef, baetis are the featured menu item. RS2 foam-wings, Barr’s emerged, split case BWO, big bear baetis, real deal point fly are a few of the patterns you need to have in your box. Make sure to vary your length/weight depending on the type of water you are in. Also, don’t hesitate to go to the mini-rig when the bugs are popping. If your looking to get out and throw some larger flies, you might want to head to the lower river. Water conditions are primo and water temps are in the 50s. The big fish are fired up! You are hard pressed to beat a rusty or an articulated goldie but as was the case yesterday black was the color. So make sure you have some darker color streamers with you.
Tag: gray reef fishing report
Trico Time!
As we hit the middle of August Tricos are in full swing here on the Reef and the fishing is still great! We are seeing a very healthy Trico hatch from early in the morning until about 9-10am. If you’re nymphing black RS2s and Mayhem Midges have been the ticket. We haven’t been seeing too much surface action for the Trico hatch, but if you hit it on the right day you can have some shots at sipping trout. Throwing smaller mayfly patterns or trico specific flies might get these sippers to eat. As the day goes on PMD’s, Yellow Sallies, Caddis, and Stoneflies have all been in the mix and productive. As was the case in early August, some sort of flashy bead head with an emerger off the back can’t really be beaten when nymphing. We have yet to see hopper action pick up, but that may mean just a later and greater season on that front. Of course we have to cover the topic of grass and weeds in the river as well because this time of year is when they really pop up. Surprisingly this year it isn’t that bad yet, but it seems like the grass is growing by the minute. The key to fishing when the weeds really come in is finding where channels open up and drifting your nymph rigs through there. Looking for faster current and deeper shelves where there grass doesn’t grow as high should be your target. Your first instinct may be to shorten up and lighten up in order to drift over the weeds, but you’d be surprised to see how many trout are actually living in the grass, making drifting a little bit deeper through the channels much more effective.
That’s all for this report, hopefully next report we will be able to give you all some good news about the hopper bite!
Post Storm Fly Fishing Report and Grey Reef Flush Update!
While most of Wyoming and Colorado was hit by a major winter storm Alcova and Grey Reef hardly got an inch of snow! The roads are all opening up and the weather this weekend looks prime! Our cottages are full this weekend, but we still have guide availability. Please Call the shop for updated Miracle mile road reports.
The flush of Grey Reef is NOT happening this year due to a few different circumstances. Do not worry, the fishing has been and will remain good. We saw increased flows in October last year and that cleared out a ton of sediment and debris from the spawning areas. Honestly the fishing every year is usually the same pre flush as it is post flush. It’s just kind of a different and fun way to kick off to the season. We just beefed up our snowpack with the last storm and should hopefully be able to fill some of our reservoirs.
Flies: Fishing has been really good on all three tailwaters, conveniently the flies are similar for all of them. Leeches in brown, olive, natural #10, Reef Worms in red and purple #12-18, Scuds in olive, pink and orange #14-16, Pheasant Tails #16-18, Mayhem Midges black and purple #18-20, All day May in olive #18, PAL #16-20, and Rhinestone in #18-20 have all been great patterns the past few weeks!
Flows: Flows are low and will stay that way for the next few weeks. The only change we are supposed to see is Grey Reef go back up to 500 CFS from 400CFS
Grey Reef-400 CFS
Miracle Mile-500 CFS
Fremont canyon- 72 CFS
If you have any questions feel free to stop by the shop or give us a call!
Spring Weather is Here! North Platte Fly Fishing Report!
Spring is finally here and we couldn’t be more excited! The fishing has been great and have guide trips out quite a bit! The weather looks great for the next ten days and the fish are on the feed! We still have our shoulder season rates going through March 15th and some availability left! Call the shop and lets get your 2021 fishing season started off right!
There has been no official announcement of the 2021 Flush. We will update our social pages and this report once we have confirmed dates. The flush is historically set for the second week of March.
Grey Reef- 500 CFS Fishing has been great on The Reef as you would expect from the North PLatte’s most consistent fishery. Leeches have been the top producer. Chocolate, natural and olive are all working well. Reef worms in red and purple, the Reef’s PAL, mayhem midges, tubing midges, and the Rhinestone are all getting fish too! The river is open from the Dam to Government bridge!
Fremont Canyon/Cardwell- 75 CFS It has been pretty busy up there so you might want to sixe down your tippet and get a little “techy”. Mini rigs for midges and good presentations! The PAL, Tubing midges, Reef worms, Rhinestones, Mayhem Midges, and pheasant tails.
Miracle Mile – 530 CFS Fishing has been good lately but also have to deal with some crowds. Leeches are still the go to followed by Reef worms and san juan worms, the PAL, rhinestone and mayhem midges. Theres been sgreat midge hatches out there everyday!
Give us a call or stop be the shop if you have any questions!
Welcome to 2021! North Platte Fly Fishing Report!
Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a fun and safe holidays. We are back to being open everyday of the week from 8:00 to 2:00 and still have some awesome deals in the shop before our 2021 gear arrives. We had guides out over the past week and had some good weather and great fishing! We fished The Mile, Afterbay, and Grey Reef, as usual The Reef outshined them all.
We have our shoulder season rates going on until March 15th: Half Day Guided trip- $350, Full day Guided trip- $450 1 night in a cottage and 1 full day guided fishing-$575, and 2 nights in a cottage and 1 full day guided trip- $625. This is a great time to fish the North Platte with no crowds and good fishing!
Flows are up in Fremont and the Miracle Mile as they are filling up Alcova reservoir. Miracle Mile is flowing at 1,200 CFS and Fremont is around 2,2,00 CFS. They are still very fishable just focus on the slower tailouts and edges of runs.
Flies are similar on all three tailwaters right now: Pine Squirrel leeches, Reef Worms, Scuds, Mayhem Midges, tubing midges, the LAZY, the brassie, and RS2’s have all been working. Some days it definitely pays off to be shorter, lighter, and higher up in the water column. Other days it seems you have to be deep and heavy, so I always start off short and light and work my way down from there. Streamer fishing has also been working: Goldies, Rusty Trombone, kreelex, peacock buggers, and all peanut envys are the go-tos.
If you have any questions or want to book your next trip give us a call or stop by the shop!
Taste of Winter
After a very mild start to December its finally starting to feel a little bit more like winter in Central Wyoming. Highs have consistently been in the 30s for the past week and we have even been getting a little snow. Let’s keep hoping for more, especially in the upper drainage. If you’ve been keeping up with our past reports, Alcova reservoir saw a serious decrease in lake level this October. Well, that should begin to change on December 19, as they will begin filling the reservoir. That being said, expect increased water flows on both the Miracle Mile and Fremont Canyon during this period.
As for the fishing, it is good. Floating ice below Government Bridge has most folks spending their time on the upper river. Nymphs and streamers are producing the numbers but don’t rule out fish on top when the midges start popping. The fish are definetly oriented towards their winter haunts. Softer edges and the lower half of the run seems to hold the larger concentrations of trout. Pine squirrel leeches, reef worms, PALs, rhinestones, brassies, all-day mays have been our go-tos. 1-BBs and 4-7ft depending on the depth and speed of the water you’re fishing. For the streamer fisherman out there, it’s still happening. A small sink tip or intermediate line is the ticket. Small articulated or bugger style patterns in tan or cream, olive and white have been the top producing colors on Grey Reef, Miracle Mile and Fremont Canyon.
Lowering Alcova Reservoir and the Grey Reef Trophy Trout Season
Grey Reef is the ultra-tailwater. This is a phrase we use to describe what the Grey Reef section of the North Platte River is and why it is such a consistent, productive, and trophy class fishery. We are blessed to have 5 reservoirs, closely spaced, immediately upstream from Grey Reef Dam. Two of these giant “settling ponds”, Seminoe and Pathfinder, are both very large each boasting a million acre-foot volume. The other unique feature to the arrangement of Grey Reef and its supporting impoundments are that there are no major mountain ranges to collect a snowpack and very sandy and rocky substrate that fails to create a traditional runoff scenario below the head of Seminoe Reservoir, the first lake in the system. Pre runoff fishing is superb, peak runoff and Grey Reef is often the only good option in the game, post runoff is stellar and late season fishing is still rocking with a healthy water supply and heavily foraging trout. Water demand is reduced with the end of the irrigating season so Grey Reef flows are reduced to a very floatable, wadable, and productive 500cfs for the remainder of the fall and winter season.
This October Grey Reef is being utilized as a surrogate to unwanted water in Alcova Reservoir. The Bureau of Reclamation has scheduled some needed maintenance on Alcova Dam and as a result, they are lowering the level of the lake significantly. Since Oct 1st Grey Reef flows have been over 2000cfs or 4 to 5 times the “normal” October volume. This isn’t high water but it is high for the time of year. It has created some unique opportunities and big fish production has been a very welcomed result. But, what we might be the most excited about is the moment the BuRec cuts the surplus flows to Grey Reef. Imagine all of those crawdads and young-of-the-year fish displaced and scurrying to relocate into or near their normal October habitat. While the old fall flush is a fond memory of the past, this abrupt reduction of flows should parallel that event.
As of 10/19/20 Grey Reef flows are at 1300cfs and Miracle Mile Flows are 540cfs. Grey Reef streamer fishing has been exceptional and will only improve. Wade anglers thrive at these flows.
Big Flows, Big Fish
Uncommon for October, flows on Grey Reef(since October 1) have been in the 2,100-2,800cfs range. For those unaware, Alcova Dam is needing a little rejuvenation and lake levels will need to drop 39 vertical feet to accomplish the task-hence the increased flows. All things considered, Grey Reef is in pretty good shape. The first couple of days were a little rough but after things stabilized and conditions have been good, especially on the upper river. On that note and to be honest, the increased flows have made the fishing a little more inconsistent than normal. We are not seeing the numbers(by Grey Reef standards) that we are used to but we are seeing some big ones hit the net. 25″ has been broken multiple times in the past week. If your headed our way, expect to throw the bigger stuff. Leeches, worms, crayfish, craneflies, scuds, etc…not to say you can’t get them to eat some bugs, the larger critters just seem to be working better. Flows are expected to go back to the winter program(500cfs) on October 21. Excited to see what happens…
Hoppertunities Abound! 7/20/2020
The fishing lately has been really fun, a good mix of nymphing, hoppers, and even a handful of streamers! Flows just dropped on The Mile and are still holding steady on Grey Reef and Fremont, but we do expect a drop in soon. The Weather has been in the low 90’s with some breeze in the afternoon which is a perfect storm for hopper fishing! If you haven’t experienced the hopper hatch on the Reef now is the time. We should have great dry fly fishing all the way into October!
The Rig: We’ve been fishing a really similar rig on all three tailwaters lately, an attractor up front like a Pat’s Rubber legs, Pine Squirrel Leech, or a san juan worm. We follow that up with a bead head fly like a Prince nymph, Pheasant Tail, Hare’s Ear, Poxypack PMD, Demon Sally or a tung teaser. For the bottom, some form of emerger as been good, midges and tricos in the AM switching to sallies, caddis and PMD’s in the PM. We’ve been fishing 3-4.5 Ft indicator to weight with 1-3 “BB’s” as our weight. 3x leaders going to 4x tippet on the smaller flies.
Miracle Mile 2,000 CFS- Clarity is off on the mile due to the reservoirs turning over, but that hasn’t affected the fishing. While the Golden Stonefly hatch is all but done the PMD’s, and Caddis are in full swing. You can try to throw some hoppers along the banks but nymphing has definitely been producing more fish.The is some floating vegetation but it’s really not too bad, it gets more prevalent the closer you get to Pathfinder. Right now the last bit of current before you reach the reservoir is around Chalk Bluffs. Use caution when driving around down there the lake is dropping and leaving the banks really soft. It is very easy to get stuck in that black stinky mud!
Fremont/Cardwell 1,600 CFS- Clarity is also pretty green right now, again it hasn’t affected the fishing. Fish are in all the cool “fishy” spots: shelves, drop offs, riffles and seams. We don’t recommend venturing into the Canyon section right now with the water being so swift.
Grey Reef-Casper 3,600 CFS- The clarity is great on the Reef and gets slightly green as you get closer to Casper. There is some floating vegetation out there if you stick to fishing the faster water and banks it’s not too much of an issue. The best thing you can do is make a proper backcast and most of that stuff comes right off. The hopper fishing has been insane some days and okay on others. South Fork Chernobyl, More-or-less hoppers in purple, pink goldenrod and tan, and the donkey kong hopper have all been winners! We’ve also been throwing some sallies behind our hoppers like the Headlight Sally, #16 rubberleg Stimi, or a clownshoe Sally.
As always if you have any questions or want top book your next trip give us a call at 307-232-9128!
Current conditions on the big three are as follows:
GREY REEF: 3,600cfs, clear from Grey Reef Dam to Government Bridge. Mostly clear from Government Bridge to Casper.
MIRACLE MILE: 2,350cfs, clear.
FREMONT: 1,425cfs, clear.
Well, it has been a fantastic week in Central Wyoming. With the exception of a few days, the weather has been nothing short of spectacular. Very little wind, temps in the 80s and sun…doesn’t get much better than that. As guide JJ Randolph would call it, we’ve officially entered the “glory days”. So how’s the fishing? Grey Reef is fishing well. We are picking up some minor vegetation floating in the water column but thats pretty standard for this time of year. Nymphing continues to be our most consistent method for catching fish. Leeches and worms on the point, followed by a PMD dropper. Pretty simple but it’s working. We have moved to a shorter, lighter rig. 3.5-5ft and 1-2AB split shot. We are even fishing this rig in the deeper spots. Not quite our famed “mini rig” but we are most certainly getting the feeding fish, positioned in the middle of the water column. If nymphing is not your program we are seeing some success throwing attractor dries and/or hoppers as well as streamers. We do have a ridiculous number of hoppers this year in Central Wyoming and as our neighbors begin cutting their alfalfa fields, it will only get better. Based on the dry conditions this season and a few other factors, we could have a little earlier start to hopper mania. Onto the Mile…not to sound like a broken record but Pat’s rubber legs. I know it’s been on our past few reports but it continues to work. Our crew has yet to see large numbers of adults but there’s still a little bit of Seth’s snowdrift hanging on. (19 year veteran NPL and TRFS guide Seth Kapust as a particular drift that he watches to gauge the height of the stonefly hatch.) Big foam dries should be on the menu in the coming weeks. Fremont continues to see a larger volumn of water than normal but it is fishing pretty well. Again, as with past reports we are throwing bigger patterns; leeches, worms and crane flies. Although, I wouldn’t be afraid to a throw big dry/dropper rig off the drops and inside seams…