The North Platte In The Spring

I originally booked a room at the Wolf Hotel in Saratoga but when I called to arrange for a guide I was told that the upper North Platte was blown out. It would not be fishable for at least a month. The Grey Reef section is fishable though. I cancelled my reservations at the Wolf Hotel and made arrangements for staying in Alcova, Wyoming, the start of the Grey Reef stretch. There happened to be a cabin available right across the street from the Reef Fly Shop were I arranged for a guide.

Upon arriving at the river, it was actually quite high and slightly off color. They were gradually letting out more and more water from the dam. The water was up past the grass line. Good thing we would be floating the river. The next morning we met our guide, Ryan. He has a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Management. He rigged up Nick’s and my rods. The setup consisted of 9 feet tapered leader with 2 or 3 B size split shot just above the knot attached to nine inches of 3X tippet. On this tippet was tied a large, red midge imitation, about size 12. To the bend of the hook was tied nine more inches of 3X tippet and a red San Juan Worm. Then another nine inches of 3X tippet was tied to the bend of it with a dark brown leech pattern at the end. This setup worked quite well with the high, roily water. Once in a while we would change patterns, but this is what mostly worked.

Nick caught the first fish, a nice 17 inch rainbow. The guide told us it was just average. If this fish was average, it was going to be a good day. The sky was overcast with a slight wind. Ryan new this first stretch was a good stretch which held a lot more fish so after getting to the end of the run, he rowed back upstream to the start of the good section. We each landed a few more “average” rainbows in this section. These fish fight hard. They usually would jump a few times at first and then would make a long run. As we would get the fish near the boat, it would invariably make another long run.