Grey Reef- 5/18/13

Even though the float trip part of our trip to the Reef was an epic fail, not all was lost on my first Grey Reef trip.  We fished a full day on Saturday, exploring a few different spots on the river, and all hooking into some very nice fish.  We fished the morning right out back of the camper, with lots of access to some very nice riffles and seams.  The North Platte is a lot bigger than any other river I've fished, but we still managed to find some nice fish in the seams along the edges.  Started off the morning strong, landing some nice fish on some small annedlid patterns.  Continued exploring close to the camp spot until lunch, with the highlight being a very strong baetis hatch that kept the trout rising for hours.  I was able to fool a few trout on small BWO dry flies, but I wasn't able to get any to the net. Still was real cool watching these trout rise to imitation bug.  Enjoyed some brats for lunch, before we packed up our rods and headed up river to fish some of the public water closer to the dam.  We fished a section called the Redds, which they close at certain times of the year to allow for more productive spawning.  The size of the fish in this section were much bigger than downstream, and they willingly were taking midge and baetis patterns.  Landed my nicest fish of the trip up here, a very feisty and beautiful Cuttbow that made many acrobatic jumps out of the water before surrendering.  We headed back to the campground to fish some streamers while dinner was getting made.  Stripping a small, black  Bunny Leach slowly netted a few more fish.

All in all, I would call this trip a success.  Even though I continue to be very bummed about missing out on the float trip, I am thrilled to have fished another amazing river.  The float trip will be planned for another time, and the lessons of what not to do will continue with us on our next adventure to the Reef. At least this makes for one hell of a story!!

Photo Courtesy of Nick Haws

Photo Courtesy of Nick Haws

Photo Courtesy of Nick Haws

Photo Courtesy of Nick Haws

0-2 at Grey Reef

Had a crazy weekend up on the North Platte this weekend.  We camped at a campground 4.5 miles off the road at a campground called Buffaloberry.  The spot was amazing!! On a bluff right on the river with some great fishing right out the back door of the trailer.  Had a killer day on Saturday, hitting up a few spots, and still had the best day of the trip lined up for Sunday.  A full day float trip with Krayfish of Wyoming Fly Fishing.  That's when the weekend went south!!  It poured rain Saturday night, making the roads back to highway 220 literally impassable.  By the time we found out the roads were that bad, it was to late to turn around.  Got three 4x4's stuck, and had no hope of meeting our guides at Gov. Bridge.  The younger guys had to be at work today, so we grabbed our packs and wearing waders and full rain gear, started the trek out to the road.  We met a shefiff about halfway back to the bridge that was nice enough to get us to the Gov. Bridge parking lot.  A friend from Casper picked us up, drove us to the Natrona County Airport to pick up a rental car, and we drove the 4+ hours back to Denver, leaving our cars back up at Grey Reef.

It's starting to feel like this float trip is cursed!  We were supposed to do it in March, but the Front Range got hammered with snow, and I-25 North was shut down.  It still was really fun weekend, fishing a new river but I am super bummed out the guide trip didn't happen!  Hopefully, the third times the charm, and we can finally float this legendary section water and try to fool some of those monster trout.

**The "fishing" report of this trip will be done when I finally get my car (and camera) back from Alcova.

Trouts Fly Shop- Deadly Streamer Class

I joined Trouts Fly Shop for a night of tying some some big, nasty streamers last night.  I have tied some articulated streamers in the past, but I really wanted to learn from someone much better than myself.  David Luna fit the bill perfectly, showing us the ins and outs of tying articulated streamers, and taught us how to spin deer hair.  We tied both a Sex Dungeon and a Peanut Envy, two very large streamers that I can't wait to throw up on the Reef next weekend.  I look forward to using these skills to pack my streamer full of nasty streamers.

My modest attempt at a Sex Dungeon

Blue River- 4/29/13

Had the day off from work on Monday, so I took advantage and headed up to Silverthorne to fish the Blue for a while.  I slept in, make breakfast for my wife before she went to work, and then had a leisurely drive up the hill, just enjoying the Rockies after being in Houston for a while.  I started fishing right at the top boundary fence near the dam, and made it all the way under Highway 9, fishing each pool down close to the police station.  Even though the river had a lot of angling traffic (crazy how hard this river gets pounded), I was able to pick up a few nice fish.  The trout seemed to be on midge patterns, as I hooked most on small Juju's or WD-40's.  Highlight of the trip was hooking a 25" beast underneath the pedestrian bridge near the outlets.  The fish took me underneath the bridge twice before I was able to wrestle him into my net, all while a nice crown cheered on from the bridge.  I asked a nice man to take a picture for me with the fish, but he accidentally took a video instead, so I only have the memory of the fish in my brain.  Most of my fishing buddies are not very fond of the Blue, be it for the amount of pressure, the difficult fish, or the spotty hatches, but I have always enjoyed fishing though Silverthorne, and have found it to be one of my more productive rivers.  I know that this relationship with the river can change without any notice, but I will continue to enjoy my time spent on this Colorado Gold Medal Water.

Can only dream of monsters above this fence... 

View upstream from the pedestrian bridge

Downstream below Highway 9