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Hopper Madness On Wyoming's North
Platte River By: Brian Endlich Rich and I left the
Corral Creek campground at 8 AM to make the 2 mile hike over the pass to Boulder
Gap. It was late August and the crisp morning air would turn hot and windy by
afternoon leading us to anticipate good hopper action later in the day. As we
dropped down into the Gap we passed an old fire ring in an inviting campsite but
no other fishermen appeared to be present. A pair of Golden Eagles carried out a
mating ritual on the canyon's thermals high above the boulder from which the
canyon derives its name. This huge boulder sits perched above one of the
canyon's most productive pools. It was about 9 AM
when we arrived at the river, a trico spinner fall was beginning to wane and
numerous trout were sipping spent flies. Many of the fish were rising tight to
the bank and we spent an hour sight casting to rising fish and mostly putting
them down. It is amazing how skittish trout are when sipping spinners, while the
same trout that will smack caddis flies with wild abandon. It was a bright dear
morning and as the air started to warm a sporadic mixed hatch of PMD's and small
caddis began. As I walked upstream I discovered a deep pool which had several
large rocks at the head that formed a complex series of current seams. A number
of nice fish were rising steadily along the current seams. I tied on a size 16
CDC elk hair caddis as Rich, my Close to noon a
thunderstorm blew in with ferocious gusts of wind but shed little rain in my
part of the canyon. I ducked back into the trees to get out of the brunt of the
wind, taking care not to be dose to the tallest tree in the grove. An
interesting feature of the monsoon season in Southeastern Wyoming, where the
North Platte enters the state from its headwaters in the North Park region of
Colorado, is that thunderstorms are quite scattered. It is very common to see a
large thunderhead moving across the valley streaming with rain and lightning but
completely surrounded by dear blue skies. As the wind abated I
was intently trying to entice a 12" rainbow that was giving me the
"picky eater" routine, nearly bumping my fly with his nose then
drifting away in obvious disdain. As I was tying on a 7X tippet and a size 20
caddis, Rich reappeared from upstream and asked why I was wasting my time on
such a puny fish - displaying a Dave's hopper that had been chewed to the bare
hook by a series of obviously large trout. He asked if I could spare any of my
foam hoppers since all his deer hair ones had been thoroughly trashed. My
favorite hopper imitation is a version I adapted from the hopper designed by
noted fly tier Jay "Fishy" Fullum that was featured in Western Fly
Tyer several years ago. After all the grief Rich had given me when I proudly
unveiled my new pattern, disparaging it as a MacFoam Fly, I had to stop and
consider for a few moments whether to give him one or not.
When he dangled the pathetically ripped deer hair hopper in front of me I
had to relent. I gave him two, and told him to be careful with them.
Then, I made him show me where he had been fishing. We made our way
upstream to a long gentle riffle about a half-mile in length. It was shallow in
the middle with tall grassy banks along which there were deeper pockets formed
by large rocks. As we moved forward
through the grasshoppers were everywhere. Rich directed me to make a cast about
40 ft upstream to a likely looking lie. As the hopper drifted back towards me
and Rich reminded me to keep tight line control, a large brown exploded under
the hopper. I had let just a couple of inches of slack line accumulate and the
nice brown was gone. As I moved upstream to the next prospective lie I was
determined not to lose another good fish to sloppy line handling. Since the
brush was heavy at spots along the bank I waded into the river about 20 ft out
from the bank. From this angle I
could easily cast to likely spots along the shore. The next fish to smash the
hopper was a 16" rainbow and this time I was ready for him. He immediately
went airborne and I quickly subdued and released him. Along this half-mile
stretch of river I probably caught more than a dozen rainbows and browns
primarily in the 14-16" range. The preponderance of 15 3/4" fish in
the North Platte and many other Wyoming Gold Medal waters is probably due to the
10-16" slot limit on these waters. Many of the local anglers are not
completely sold on the idea of Catch & Release fishing and lure fishing is
also allowed with no restrictions on hook number. Unfortunately, Rapalas are a
very effective lure here, so many trophy trout are harvested. I
had a number of notable experiences fishing this section of the Platte. A
good-sized brown grabbed the hopper after it had been pulled under the current
passing along the edge of a large rock. When I put tension on the line to begin
another cast the brown bolted downstream and I was fast on to him. The largest
fish I saw hit my hopper took it in a nonchalant head to tail rise giving me a
perfect view of his broad rainbow stripe. As he submerged I set the hook only to
have my hopper-less line come wafting back to me, the 4X tippet neatly severed,
no doubt by a sharp tooth. During this time Rich had crossed to the other side of the river
and was madly yelling for me to come and net a large fish for him. The river in
this section is nearly 100 ft wide and although it is relatively shallow, it is
still tough wading because of the slippery basketball sized rocks.
When I finally made it across Rich had already landed a 23" brown.
As we went to remove the yellow stimulator from its jaw we noticed something
black inside its mouth. Rich yanked on it and out popped a partially digested
8" rainbow that had met its demise head first We marveled that a fish
stuffed to the gills would still be feeding. Rich said that he had actually been
casting to a different smaller trout when the monster came up from underneath to
grab the stimulator first. Rich had
hooked and landed 8 good fish in this one nice run that flowed down behind a
small island. Since it was getting late in the afternoon we decided to start our
hike back while there was still a chance there would be enough light to find our
way to Corral Creek. As we were walking downstream the sun was dipping behind
the canyon walls and the splashy rises that signify trout bombing caddis began.
It was a tempting site but we were low on food and water and dinner was an hour
hike away. Whenever I go to the North Platte I always take a day or two to
fish the mile of public water at Boulder Gap that is sandwiched between the
large cattle ranch holdings along the river. To set foot on private property in
Wyoming is to risk a $1000 trespass fee and a day in court, but Wyoming access
laws are a convoluted story for another day. I have always done well in the Gap
with dry flies and believe that you could fish the eariy morning trico spinner
fall, switch to PMD's and caddis dries mid-morning, fish hoppers in the
afternoon and switch back to caddis in the evening never fishing anything but
dry flies. We have also done well with nymphs at the head of the large riffle
that lies below the massive boulder. The largest trout I have caught out of the
Boulder pool is a 21" brown that I hooked near the tailout on a brown bunny
leech stripped aggressively in the late afternoon. I hope to go back again within the next few years and spend a few
days camping and fishing in the Gap. There is also very good fishing downstream
of the Corral Creek in the canyon that runs to the Bennet Peaks campground about
a mile away. The largest trout I have caught out of the Boulder pool is a
21" brown that I hooked near the tailout on a brown bunny leech stripped
aggressively in the late afternoon. I hope to go back again within the next few
years and spend a few days camping and fishing in the Gap. There is also very
good fishing downstream of the Corral Creek in the canyon that runs to the
Bennet Peaks campground about a mile away. I have no qualms about sharing this access information with you
because this section of the Platte River appears to be underutilized and we have
pretty much had the entire place to ourselves when we have been there in the
past. The best months to fish this section of the Platte are August and
September. September is notable for its prolific BWO hatches. July is generally
unfishable due to algae blooms caused by the high day and nighttime temperatures
and sparse rainfall. By late July and early August the summer thunderstorm
pattern has started, in the Rockies this is known as the monsoon season and it
brings cooler There are numerous restaurants, motels, and fly shops in the nearby
town of Saratoga. Not to mention an air strip capable of accommodating a 737.
Probably the best known fly shops are Medicine Bow Drifters and Great Rocky
Mountain Outfitters, both of which have websites (www.medbow.com,
www.grmo.com) and up-to-date stream reports. But my favorite shop is Hack's
Tackle, an unassuming bait, tackle, and fly shop where they dispense good advice
and have very reasonable rates for guided trips (and no website, yet). Saratoga
is a one hour drive from Laramie Airport, but most people fly into Denver and
make the 4 hr drive to the Platte.
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