North Platte River, WY Trip Report

[mcnerney]

Rod, Allen and I meet up at the Grey Reef section of the North Platte near Alcova, WY for some fishing. The plan was to fish April 9-14. We split the cost of a cabin at Sloan's, $140/night so that was reasonable, but I was a bit disappointed this year in that they cut the room service to every other day but the price is the same and now instead of having a propane grill at every room, there are now two permanent grills, one on each side of the cabins to be shared by all eight cabins. Anyway, the fishing was good despite the heavy winds we had each day there and it was great to see Rod again and to finally meet Allen. We tried going out to Fremont Canyon on Wednesday, to see if maybe we could escape the winds, but it turned out the wind was blowing right down the canyon. There were several people already there, we didn't stay more then 45 minutes and as we were leaving, I noticed that almost everyone else was giving up and headed back to there vehicles. Thursday the forecast was calling for a winter storm warning (50-60 mph winds and 1-3 inches of snow) so we decided it was best to pack up and leave. Rod and Allen were planning on heading up to Sheridan, MT and I would return home. However, when we got up that morning, there was zero wind, so after checking out of the cabin, I headed out for some fishing before returning home. That turned out to be the best day of the trip, it felt awesome to finally be able to cast without dealing with a 20-30 mph wind! I fished until the wind started up around 1:30 pm and on the way home it was really ripping, tossing the Subaru all over the road. Going over South Pass I ran into a blizzard, but luckily it only lasted 15-20 minutes and once on the west side of the Winds the roads were all dry.
Here are some photos of the trip:
The cabin at Sloans in Alcova, WY:


Rod gearing up after a 13 hour drive from Iowa:


Allen unpacking his gear:


Fremont canyon from the metal bridge:


The Grey Reef section of the North Platte:


Allen fishing:


Rod releasing a rainbow:


Allen with a very nice rainbow:


Some fish porn:

 

[k_e_v]

Larry, Those are some fat little suckers

Th Fremont Canyon sure looks cool, I need to get there someday. What is the flow on the river in those pics? Is the wading easy on that stretch of river?
FYI....you need to lay your rod and reel next to the fish pics so maybe you can get some of that sponsorship money

See ya on the Green

 

[cpowell]

Larry, good effort! These winds and cold and snow have been lingering a little too long.

That wind in Fremont can be down right bone chilling and impossible to cast against. The flows have been so low and the pressure so high even when I did go up there I did not fish. Those poor fish must have seen a million flies by now.

Glad you got out with good friends and had some time on the water. Wind all week and snow again on Friday. yahoo.

Thanks for the report.

 

[spm]

Great report, Larry. Soooo, there ARE fish in Wyoming?

steve

 

[just4grins]

Thanks for the report and photos. My wife and I were there last September and our water line froze, and we had snow in the boat. Still caught some nice fish. Roy

 

[dennyk]

Not too shabby Larry, thanks for sharing!

Denny

 

[mcnerney]

Larry, Those are some fat little suckers

Th Fremont Canyon sure looks cool, I need to get there someday. What is the flow on the river in those pics? Is the wading easy on that stretch of river?
FYI....you need to lay your rod and reel next to the fish pics so maybe you can get some of that sponsorship money

See ya on the Green

Kevin
I'm not sure on the flow, but in the past they usually keep it at around 500 cfs during the winter, then they do a flush in March of around 4000 cfs, in the summer it really depends on the previous winter's snow pack, they are at around 100% snow pack at the moment. Allen seemed to think the flow was at 1000 cfs, but I never did check it to verify. The flow at Fremont is usually 75 cfs. Yes it is fairly easy to wade, but at my age I use a wading stick, just don't have the balance I used to.

Here are some more photos that Rod sent to me this morning (maybe they are snowed in). LOL!


Allen with a nice bow:


Rod's new Livingston rod and a nice bow:


Allen with another nice bow:


Another view of a beautiful bow:




Rod with a very nice bow:


Rod with another nice bow:

 

[okflyfisher]

Wow Larry! Great report! Thanks for sharing. Sure makes this flatlander green with envy! Glad you all had a great trip despite the strong winds. Sure hope to make it up there..... Some day!

Donny

 

[cerec_cat]

Which Livingston model is that? Looks like a 6 wt

 

[mcnerney]

Which Livingston model is that? Looks like a 6 wt

That is correct!

 

[Joey Bagels]

Solid work, gents. Wind reports are like fishing, completely unpredictable most times.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kentuckysteve]

Great report Larry.Love the photo's.
Thanks for sharing the trip with us.