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 Grey Reef Goodies: Wyomings World Class Tail Water
Posted by jason-c on August 25, 2004
The North Platte at Grey Reef is my favorite place to fish. It is located about 30 minutes south of Casper, WY near the town of Alcova, WY. That makes it a long 6 hour drive from my home on Parks City, UT. Grey Reef is a phenomenal tail-waters fishery. Fish there average 16-18 inches long although many fish are better measured in pounds as 6-12 pound fish are caught regularly. And there are over 4,000 fish per mile! Its remoteness, abundant food supply, slot limits and Wyoming’s unpredictable weather have all worked together to make this one of the best fly fishing destinations in the country.
It is not easy though. Time of year, time of day and patterns can all work for or against an angler. The weather can change in an instant. On one February trip a few years ago the temperature dropped from 65 degrees to below 0 in less than 12 hours. I have also seen 100 MPH plus winds on many occasions. Weather like this can turn the 6 hour drive into nearly a complete waste of time. On that particular trip I spent most of the three days I had there in a cabin drinking, tying flies and playing cards.
Initially I hesitated to make the trip because of concerns by the Wyoming Fish and Game over drought induced low flows and high water temperatures. But the reports were posted back in July and we have had plenty of cool wet weather this August. Water temps were in the low 60’s at Grey Reef Dam so I decided to go for it.
In the last few years fishing pressure at the dam has greatly increased. Several fly fishing publications have slutted out Grey Reef. In the past I would never dream of even telling other anglers about it, but the secret is out so it does not matter much now. There are many miles of fishable water if you have a boat. Wade fishing limits anglers to a about a half mile total of public water below the dam. The river can flow as high as 2,000 cfs in the summer making wading impossible. Fall and winter flows usually range between 400 and 800 cfs. On the Thursday the river was dropped to 500 cfs, perfect!
I arrived after dark on Friday and set up camp. I woke up and started fishing at 4:30am on Saturday. This time of year early morning and late evening is the ticket. Sinking lines and streamers are usually very productive and this weekend was no exception.
I caught over
twenty fish the first morning before 8:00 am. Most were around 18 inches. I did catch one rainbow about 23 inches and one cut around 22 inches. Almost all of the fish I caught were on a little Rainbow streamer I tie (size 6) or a Platte River Spider (size 4). The quality of the evening fishing matched the mornings. Although, most of the evening action was after the sun had set. The second day I picked up a Brown that was around 8 pounds! Unfortunately, my camera person was out to lunch for all the big fish (I am reviewing her resume!). I did get a nice shot of this Brown caught by Kray Lutz who guides for North Platte anglers out of Casper, Wyoming.
All in all in was a great trip. I will be heading back mid September and the fishing should be even better.
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Re: Grey Reef Goodies: Wyomings World Class Tail Water
by MarshallD on August 25, 2004 http://www.flyanglersguide.com | Cool Post Jason
Sound like you have to be there at the right time and if I can get there sometime, I'd surely look you up to fish with. Split the gas 'n go.
hmmmmm ....fall. Can you give us a 2 - week window? Best early Sept.?
marshallD |
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Re: Grey Reef Goodies: Wyomings World Class Tail Water
by joe-m on August 31, 2004 | | great fish I should have gone to wy!! Maby in sept... |
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