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.