After a lackluster winter, the spring fishing season is on in Wyoming about a month early, unofficially kicked off by the flushing of the North Platte River.
The flush entails releasing water through five dams upstream from the river’s legendary Gray Reef and Miracle Mile stretches south of Casper.
It kicks the river’s flow from roughly 500 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 4,000 cfs, fishing guide Eric Anderson told Cowboy State Daily.
“The flush is going to be simulating spring runoff,” he said
It was expected to begin late Friday or early Saturday, said Anderson, a fly-fishing guide for the North Platte Lodge and The Reef Fly Shop in Alcova.
It will run through March 14, with flushing flows beginning at 7:30 a.m. Monday-Thursday and at 3 a.m. other days, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Elsewhere in the state, there is already open-water fishing on the Green River and the Big Horn River, fishing guides told Cowboy State Daily.
Green River Looking Good
While the snowpack in other areas might be dismal, it was at about 97% of normal in the Wind River Mountains and Wyoming Range, which feed the Green River, said Ryan Hudson, owner of Wyoming Fishing Company Guide Service.
His company offers float fishing trips along the Green River from Pinedale south to Interstate 80.
Stretches of the river were still frozen as of Friday. However, the section below Fontenelle Reservoir and dam typically stays open year-round, he said.
“Typically, we’re not floating until sometime in mid-to-late April,” he said, adding that extended float trips might come early this year.
However, there’s always the chance of heavy spring snow and rain.
“It always seems to show up, it’s just a matter of when,” he said.
His client bookings for March are up about 50% over normal, but he wondered how many people might cancel if the weather turns nasty.
“I have a feeling we’re going to get knocked down, because the weather is going to turn its ugly face,” he said.
Big Horn River Getting Popular
The Big Horn River near Thermopolis has stayed mostly open all winter, said Chris Ryan, owner of Big Horn Guide Service.
“We started booking float trips in early January,” he said.
Clients have been catching rainbow trout, brown trout and the occasional cutthroat, he said.
The Big Horn River has gotten increasingly popular for anglers and pleasure floaters, and with the unusually warm weather, crowds should start showing up soon, he said.
“It’s been so nice, there’s been a lot of people fishing up here,” he said.
“We just had a really odd winter. I think with the weather and the temperatures, we’ll see things kicking off early,” he added.
That could include early insect hatches, which will bring fish near the surface, making for ideal dry-fly fishing conditions.
“I think things will be early, bug-wise,” Ryan said.
‘It Never Really Stopped’
While ice fishing this year might have ended before it even got started, open-water fishing never ended, said Trent Tatum, co-owner of the North Platte Lodge and The Reef Fly Shop cottages and RV park.
“It never really stopped. We had a few intervals of winter-like weather,” he said.
Otherwise on the North Platte, “you could have spent the bulk of the offseason on the water,” he said.
Even so, “traffic was light” on the river most of the winter, Tatum added.
Like Hudson, he wondered how many people might book spring fishing trips, but then back out if storms roll in.
“This time of year, you get a lot of people who play the weather game,” Tatum said.
“You can have a great day of fishing in the worst weather. You just have to be prepared for it and you have to want to do it,” he said.
With the flush set to go, crowds should start showing up.
"The flush is kind of the catalyst to get things going. Some people like fishing during the flush, although the majority like being on after the flush,” he said.
Anderson said he thinks it’s a good thing that the flush will be about a month early this year. That way it won’t conflict with spring trout spawning.
The flush clears the river of silt and sediment, he said.
“It’s a natural cleaning deal. It cleans off the spawning gravel for the rainbows,” he said.
It also improves the fishing.
“It’s great fishing because it (the flush) is stirring up a lot of food,” Anderson said.
So far, people have been catching some big fish on the North Platte, 18- to 22-inch trout, he said.
“There’s (also) a bunch of, I would say, medium-sized fish, 12 to 15 inches, that fight really hard,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
