North Platte River Fishing Report
Upper North Platte
USGS flow in real time @ Northgate 200ish CFS and dropping https://waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/uv?site_no=06620000
@Saratoga 250ish CFS and dropping National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service
The Skinny
The bugs have pretty much disappeared butt the fish are still eating. Still a few baetis and caddis…. The brown trout are in spawn mode, and haven’t been much of the equation. The rainbows are taking full advantage of the open spaces in the feeding lanes. Fishing seems to be best during the middle of the day when water temperatures warm up just a bit. Flows are shaping up as we have been getting some snow in the mountains.
Bugs to float: Stoneflies goldens (chubby and other big foam), Caddis (x caddis, elk hair).
Bugs to pull: Thin Mints, olive buggers, orange blossom special, rusty trombone, peanut envy
Bugs to drift: Stoneflies (pat’s to princes) Midges (zebra, mayhems, ju ju) Caddis(birds nest, soft hackles, graphic caddis, prince nymph) annelids(rock and san juan worms) PMDs (soft hackles, pheasant tails, split case)
Miracle Mile 500ish CFS
Flow in real time https://www.usbr.gov/gp-bin/arcweb_korr.pl
The Skinny
The Mile sucks! Extremely low catch rates We are considering backing off our home tail water, not offering trips there as the fishing is that tough. Over pressure from Casper and Colorado has affected the experience and quite possibly the fishery.
