Day 2, Preparing for the float

We had to be down at the Grey Reef Fly Shop at 7:30 that morning for our guided float. We had no problem getting there on time. It seemed to get light outside by 5 in the morning. We also learned that morning that our shared bathroom was in high demand by the guides. Anyway after some shredded wheat we made our way down to the shop. We met our guide as he was getting the boat ready. Ryan is his name and he looked the part, very grizzly. He told us that we didn't need our waders. We didn't know what to think here because we had ideas of pulling over at the good spots. He informed us that with the high water, wading would be tough and he would keep us in good spots with the boat. Howard wore his anyway but I left mine in the car because its neoprene and heavy and uncomfortable. He rigged us up at the boat with a 3x leader, with 3x tippet. He put on a red San Juan Worm, a red midge pattern, and a brown leach. Wyoming allows 3 flies. We were going to float from Lusby Landing to Sea crest. We piled into the Tundra and headed to Lusby. On the way I noticed two things. One, Tundras have huge cabs, and two, a pheasant. I have seen them in South Dakota before but that's all. It was neat. Anyway, it was a good start to an awesome day.

North Platte River 2010 Day 1

This year Howard took me to Alcove, Wyoming to fish the Grey Reef Section of the North Platte River. Originally he wanted to go up-river to Saratoga to float that canyon in the mountains but that section of river was seeing record levels due to the run-off. That will have to be for another time. The Grey Reef section was supposed to be more fishable.......and it was!

We left at 8:00 on Tuesday and drove the 6. hours to Alcove. We basically back-tracked on I-80 to Rawlins, WY and drove north to just below Casper. We stopped at Independence Rock along the way, very neat. We got to the great city of Alcove around 4 or so. The sign on the main strip of the town read "Alcove, Summer population 20,000. Winter population less than 50." It had a handful of old hotels and cabins, a gas station, marina, The Grey Reef Fly Shop, and of course the Bar. Our cabin was run by the owner of the bar so that's where the "office" was. It had dollar bills taped to every inch of the walls and ceilings. Not the best decor but for 50 people, who is there to impress? We got checked in and unloaded. The cabin was real small, functionable, and nice. It could accommodate up to four in bunk beds and a pull out. Perfect for the two of us.

We could see the river from our cabin and it was high but not all that off color. We were excited because most of the rivers we had passed were nothing but mud. We decided to head over to below the dam to investigate. We suited up and familiarized ourselves with the area. We tried our luck in a few spots but didn't spend too much time. We caught nothing but we saw some other anglers catch a few real nice ones. One particular man was up to his armpits in water trying to keep a fish on. We realized this would be a tough place to wade. He did however land the nice rainbow. We asked what he was using and he said a rock worm, a size 8 red midge really. Interesting......

We hit the marina along the reservoir for dinner, the bar being the other option. I had a bacon cheese burger with fries and a coke while Howard had ribs. Both of which were delicious. We were pleasantly surprised. We decided to drive around a little more and then get to bed early so we would be well-rested for our guided float in the morning. Our goal we came up with in the car on the way over was to catch the biggest trout of our lives thus far and so far the area looked very promising.

It's got to be a bluegill

A few days ago I was able to get some more fishing in at Grandma's. I did some yard work in the late afternoon and decided to get the fly rod out. I was using the minnow that I made and had some luck with before. Sure enough I was able to get a bass pretty quickly. I moved over to the far side of the pond and cast out away from the bank to about 10 feet out and let it sink. I got a bite as soon as I stripped it in. Right away I knew it had to be a bluegill. They always use the shape of there tall bodies to apply more pressure and fight than you would ever expect. They also tend to swim toward the shore at an angle. The pond has plenty of bluegill of descent size. This was no exception. It's just the second type of fish I've caught using my own hand-made fly. I hope to make this list a whole lot longer in the near future.

Oh how sweet it is!

Well I did it. I caught a fish on a fly that I made myself. It really is a neat feeling to accomplish that. I finally made it out to my grandma's house on an absolutely perfect day. It was about 75 degrees with only a slight breeze. The sun was out in full force but it doesn't seem to spook large mouth like it does brown or rainbow trout. I even took my shirt off to get a nice little sun burn. Andrew was with me today and he was a little impatient but it worked out in his favor. On my first cast with my favorite homemade clauser minnow, I landed a nice little bass.

I chose to go with a minnow with green, yellow, and white buck tail with red flash. It was a size 6 hook with yellow eyes. I cast it along the dock and pulled it in rather slowly and evenly. I figured the fish would still be a little slow because the time of year. I got the strike right off the bank. It put up a bigger fight than I expected which is always a good thing, but I had no problem pulling him in. I was using a 4 weight tippet so I was a little concerned.

It was a great feeling. I then cast about 25 feet down the bank a few times and caught another. Andrew liked this one because it was "widdle" like him. He even helped me throw him back.

We walked around the pond a little bit, scaring off a couple of Canadian Geese until we got to the two pine trees that grow just feet from the water, a pretty consistently good spot. One good cast 15 feet down and 6 feet from shore and I got another strike right on the bottom. It hit hard and as it rose I saw it was a bigger fish than the other two. I took my time with it just because I had a light line on and was in no rush. Like I expected, the fight didn't last too long (the water is still very cold) I bent down and grabbed him by the jaw to bring him up. He was the biggest fish I've caught in a while out of the pond. Great fish, great fly, FANTASTIC day.

After this nice fish, Andrew was bored so we took a walk in the woods. He was thrilled. He even found a walking stick. As we walked past the dump in the back I pulled out my old plastic spring horse and big wheeler. Neither is in working shape but Andy sat on the horse while I held it and he did the same on the big wheeler. Those toys are 20 plus years old. Time flies. I pointed out the old swing set and walked him down to our old fort. It is fallen over and dilapidated but he could tell it was something out of the ordinary. It was then I started to wonder why Grandpa dumped so much stuff in the ditch in the woods instead of taking it to the curb. Andrew had fun and I had a blast with him. He may even want to do it again.

New Hobby!

It was a loooooooong winter this year. I wasn't able to fish at all since November. So.....I got restless and decided to pick up the next best thing.......fly tying! I bought a simple starter kit that included a vice clamp, couple of bobbins, an array of colored thread, a bodkin, whip finisher, hair stacker, hackle pliers, a video, and a rather large set of materials. I also bought a tool box to keep it all in. As I made a few flies and discovered flies I wanted to make and use, I needed to buy more supplies. I found out that this hobby is not a cheap one and contrary to what I thought, I'm not so sure I'll be saving money in the long run either. Oh well..........regardless, I now have a hobby.

I made an assortment of woolly buggers in black, yellow, olive, and brown. I made them in size 6 and 2. I decided that I enjoyed making these and other large flies more than I do the super small ones for obvious reasons.

I then made some Adams Flies in size 12 and 14 sizes. I'm not up to making any smaller than that just yet. It gets tricky. I really like how these flies turned out. They are aesthetically pleasing and actually look like something real. There is satisfaction in that.

I then decided that I truly needed to learn how to make some nymphs so I chose to start with the pheasant tail nymph. I made quite a few in sizes 10, 12, and 14 sizes. I think they turned out pretty good and I might even make a few in size 16-20 in the near future. I seem to lose lots of these so the more the merrier.

I also made some hare's ear nymphs in 12 and 14 sizes. These were a little trickier but turned out pretty well too. I'll make a bunch of these too.

Well after tying a bunch of nymphs I decided I needed some caddis flies. I made a bunch of these Elk Hair Caddis Flies in a couple sizes. They were tricky at first. All these flies required different techniques and tricks. This one was no exception.

Here are my favorites! Flying ants and regular ants are easy to make and look like an actual bug! What more can you ask for? These terrestrials were tied on size 12 and 14 hooks and I'm excited to use them.
I also learned how to tie streamers, spiders and stone flies. I'll blog these flies in the near future.

I've seen enough!

I've had a severe case of cabin fever this winter and because of the amount of snow we've had, I haven't been able to get outside to Grandma's much at all. I caught wind that a local state park was being stocked with trout so I made plans to check it out. I took Nick out first to stake out the lake. We bought some night crawlers and found a nice spot all by ourselves. It was a great day, about 60 degrees and over cast but we caught nothing. We only spent about 3 hours fishing but I was frustrated. Nick was crazy bored so we left to meet the girls and Andrew for dinner. On our way out we stopped by the other end of the lake where a ton of cars were parked to further investigate. We saw a guy pull out a 12 inch rainbow. I asked what he was using and he showed me a can of whole kernel corn. These farm-raised trout were used to what they were fed before they were released into Lake Isabella. How boring! These guys were all using corn and bobbers! Anyway I took notes and left.



Two days later I heard they were bringing more trout in (750 lbs) so I took Andre and Lilly down to watch them release them into the lake. I even brought corn! We casually fished from the dock for an hour before we saw the truck pull in. It was going to release the fish into a cove about 50ft by 75ft. All the way around this cove, standing shoulder to shoulder were retired, old, over-weight, bearded men. They all were loaded down with power bait and corn. Even at the end of the cove was seated four men in boats just waiting to cut off the freed fish. It was pathetic! As soon as the trout were dumped into the lake, one net full at a time, bobbers and spinners would fly in from all sides into the area the size of a hula hoop. There were multiple tangles and cussing going on, some guy was chucking corn kernels with a scoop into the water, and I was told to get Andrew away from the fisherman so there would be no accidents. Talk about grumpy old men! I saw one guy catch one of the fish (that wasn't floating upside-down or barely moving) as soon as it hit the water. He cheered and put it into his bucket. The fish was only in the lake for like 5 seconds! That's not fishing! I could have grabbed my limit of four with my bare hands and been home for lunch in 20 minutes. I was embarrassed to be there and said I have seen enough. The kids and I left before all the fish were unloaded. They enjoyed seeing the half-dead fish but were soon as bored as me.


I decided to leave Lake Isabella to the grumpy old men for now. Maybe I'll take the kids back there in the summer to fish from the docks when it gets warmer but until the bluegill, bass, and crappie start biting, I think I'll pass on the trout. The whole experience was a bit too corny for my taste.

Four Favorite Fish

Here are four of my favorite fish of my short fly fishing adventure thus far. I have only been fly fishing for a couple of years so the fish aren't exactly the biggest fish in the river but hopefully I can replace these fish with bigger ones down the road. My first one is a 19 inch rainbow trout that I caught on the Beaver head River in Montana. It came at the very end of a long no luck day. I decided to try my luck in a deep hole as I waded back to the car. I had just replaced a pink scud with a size 16 prince nymph. This chunky trout took me down stream and with the help of my little bro Alex, I was able to net him and because he was worn out, he took great pictures. This one catch changed my outlook on the whole trip. Great memory. . . .
When it comes to Cutthroats, Yellowstone has the prettiest ones. My favorite little spot to fish of all time is at the end of a 7 mile hike down into Yellowstone Canyon. Here I have spent hours amongst sulphur hot vents and rough rocks pulling in trout after trout. This particular one took a white streamer right out of the roughest of water. He was a tricky one to pull in because the water is rough and walking on the rocks is tricky. He measured 21 inches, not bad for a cutthroat. They are my favorite fish to catch I think just because of how pretty they are. I love all the color.

Alright, this next one isn't exactly a hoss but I really enjoyed working him out of his hole. It was at the end of another long unlucky day, I have a lot of these. This was to be the last stop on the float. I knew there had to be a fish down in this hole so I worked it for nearly an hour. This little 17 inch browny finally took the scud and put up a big ol' fight. My little bro was there again to do the netting and I had myself a descent brown trout.

And just as no fishing trip is complete without a handful of whitefish, neither is this blog. This guy was reeled out of a hole in the Beaver head where I was hoping to find a 20 plus inch brown. I got half of what I wanted with this guy. He measured 20.5 inches and was exciting to bring in because of lack of action that morning. I know more than once I have been saved from failure by the whitefish. Like I said in the beginning, these aren't monster fish but I have huge memories with each one. I do hope to replace them with bigger ones though sooner or later.