If you haven’t seen it on our social media outlets, then here’s a little flush update. The Grey Reef flush is now scheduled to begin on March 31 and run for exactly nine days. During the flush-flows will increase every night, starting at midnight. Maximum flow during the flush is 4,000cfs. Flows will drop and stabilize to 500cfs every morning at 10am. At this time we do not know what flows will be post-flush but our best guess would be somewhere around 500cfs.
Tag: grey reef flows
More Snow, More Cold
Another cold front brought more snow and bitter temperatures to Central Wyoming. Fortunately for us, temperatures will start climbing, starting tomorrow. We have definitely shifted into a wet pattern it seems like, which from a snowpack standpoint is a great thing. We will take it, especially in the upper drainage (Walden CO, Encampment WY, Saratoga WY).
Let’s start with a little Grey Reef FLUSH update. Still nothing firm but our resources tell us the Bureau of Reclamation will be performing a gate check at the end of March. That indicates the flush will follow after the gate check is complete. So, if it is to happen, we’d plan on something around the beginning of April and it should be somewhere between 5-10 days in length. As always, if we hear anything we will let everyone know.
As for the fishing, we have started to put a few more boats on the water in the past weeks. Conditions have been good, other than a brief warm-up last week that had the river blown-out at various locations starting upstream of Government Bridge. Obviously this most recent cold front has help with the run-off but locked the lower river back up with ice. As always the upper river from Grey Reef dam to Ledge Creek is clear and fishing well. Nymphs and streamers continue to be the name of the game. For our nymph rigs it’s been a mix of the following…pine squirrel leeches(brown or natural), reef worms, deep purples, mini san juans(red or purple), PALs, rhinestones and/or mayhems. Our rigs have been running between 4-7ft with 1-3 BB split shot. If your looking to strip a streamer, the petunia as been our go-to pattern as of late. With the low winter flows plan on fishing your streamer pattern on a floating, intermediate or very short/light sink-tip. There is no need for a really stout sink-tip or sinking line this time of year.
More Like Winter
After a very mild and pleasant fall we have rolled into more of our standard winter weather program. Weather and wind. Either we’re getting snow or it’s blowing, that’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Population control for Central Wyoming.
Grey Reef is finally starting to see some icy conditions below Government Bridge. The Upper, as always this time of year, is the place to be. Flows are at 450cfs and clear, with the vegetation becoming less and less by the day. Pine squirrel leeches, PALs, rhinestones, reef worms and small pheasant tails are the bugs of choice. With water temperatures dropping we are definitely concentrating on the lower half of the run and focusing on the deeper tailouts and seams. Thats not to say you can’t find them nosed up to shelf during the afternoon midge hatch but the most overall productive water is going to be the deep stuff.
So how about the Miracle Mile fishing report? Well, with the weather finally shaping up more into its winter pattern the crowds have finally started to subside. Per usual, make sure to check with us our someone else “local” this time of year before you venture that way. Roads can get nasty and the Mile is not the place to get stuck this time of year. While nymphing is always a popular winter program on the Mile, you’ll find most of us headed out there to swing a streamer. Again, with water temperatures hovering slightly above freezing, the slow/deep tailouts are your friend. Intermediate lines and/or a short sink-tip is the way to go. These lines along with a weighted streamer will get you into the lower third of the water column, putting your streamer in front of their faces. For whatever reason you’re hard pressed to beat an articulated goldie or rusty trombone when it comes to swinging the Miracle Mile.
Summertime!
Well, we finally got some MUCH needed water in Grey Reef. Earlier this week, Bureau of Rec. decided to bump the flows to 1,500cfs, which happens to be a pretty ideal flow for both boat and wade fishing. Projected flows for Grey Reef this summer are expected to be between 2,000-3,000cfs. Things are starting to shape up nicely. Fishing is good! The bump in flows stalled the summertime bug activity, so we are seeing a few baetis again but PMDs and sallies are right around the corner. If your going to be throwing nymphs, go with the following…leeches, worms, PMD nymphs and sally nymphs. Also due to the bump in flows, water clarity is so-so below Government Bridge but that should only continue to improve. Golden stone fly nymph activity has begun to pick at the Miracle Mile, as we should start seeing a few adults in the coming weeks. This is always as fun time of year as we make the transition to the “glory days” of summer.
Baetis!
Well, as we write this report Central Wyoming is covered in a blanket of white. Per usual, the weather in April has been a mix of everything. We seem to be in a pattern of snow right now, about every other day. By no means are we complaining because moisture is always a good thing!
So as of this morning water conditions are excellent everywhere. Very, very clear from the Miracle Mile to Casper. Current flows are as follows; Miracle Mile-2,000cfs, Fremont Canyon-72cfs and Grey Reef-450cfs. So as for the fishing…we are in the middle of the baetis aka BWO spring hatch. They are popping on a daily basis and the fish are keyed in! Our guides have almost excusively moved over to strictly baetis patterns and our trademark mini-rig, especially during the peak of the hatch. A 3-5ft rig, with minimal split shot tethered to a couple of bugs. RS2 foam-wing, PAL, McGruber, pheasant-tail, jujubaetis, mayhem with a soft hackle trailer. It’s a fun time of year to be fishing, for sure. Our fish love to hammer on the emerging bugs!
Aside from the baetis hatch, streamer fishing has produced some pretty solid days over the past few weeks. Per usual, the rusty series of articulated streamers has been the top producers. With the lower water conditions on Grey Reef and intermediate line has been about perfect. Anything of depth is holding fish and don’t hesitate to vary your retrieve depending on the type of water your in.
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!
Dropping Flows and Cold Weather
At midnight, the flows on Grey Reef started decreasing. After weeks of living at 1,500cfs, Grey Reef is now settling in at its winter flow(500cfs). We are also soaking in our last day of 90 degree temperatures, as a substantial cold front bears down on the West. Projected highs Tuesday are expected to top out in the high 30s, with lows in the teens. Talk about a temperature shift! Welcome to Wyoming. Good thing is, it will be short lived. We will be seeing highs in the 70s by weeks end. As for the fishing, it continues to only get better and with another drop in flows, the dry fly fishing should be excellent for the coming weeks. Our guides are continuing to locate sizable pods of fish in the morning feeding on tricos and transitioning to nymph rigs or hopper/dropper rigs in the afternoon. Water clarity is excellent, so be prepared to throw some lighter tippet. Streamer fishing will also start becoming a larger part of the daily program. Woohoo! That’s what makes this time of year so great, you can do it all in a days fishing on the North Platte.
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!