Fishing Trip

[bryan hulse]

Just concluded a three day fishing trip to Wyoming with my brothers. We hit three access areas of the freestone section of the North Platte and spent a morning on the Encampment River. We had a wonderful time and caught fish, but had to work for them.

Weather prediction for that part of the country, I believe, incorporates the use of chicken feet, tea leaves, cracked eggs, and maybe some baby hair. The always dependable Weather Channel called for daytime temps in the mid 60’s with night’s dipping into the lower 40’s. We drove to Saratoga from Denver on Sunday and never saw the thermometer top 38, passed through a couple of inches of snow in Medicine Bow National Forest, and arrived on the Saratoga plains (and began fishing) to steady 20mph winds with gusts to 40, freezing rain, and some jagged snow. In the days prior to our arrival the 20% chances of storms materialized and nearly doubled the volume of water in the river and clouded it somewhat. The higher water wasn’t too big of a deal, the push was still less than some of the Smoky streams I fish, and the off color water meant we were able to use bigger tippet (4x was the smallest I tied down to, with the exception of 5x to trail a dropper from time to time).

We did well on Sunday despite the wind and weather. My brother Randy caught a fish on his second cast, and within an half hour each of us had realeased at least one fish. As time went on, and more and more patterns began “drying” on our patches, we were able to get a size and color down that worked best and the numbers began to increase. Our largest fish of the day was a 20″ rainbow I caught and released on a size 10 Picket Pin, the others averaged about 14 inches with a smattering of 9 and 10 inchers here and there.

Randy’s first N Platte trout

20″ rainbow

Foote Access the North Platte River

We stayed in Saratoga at the Wolf Hotel. Saratoga is a small town of fewer than 800 residents, there are no traffic lights, but at least three fly shops, four saloons, and a half dozen hotels. Fishing and hunting are big draws to the area (antelope season is in full swing as is archery season on deer, we encountered more hunters than fisherman and saw a few antelope strung and gutted at the BLM areas). The Wolf was built in the 1890’s and still retains a lot of the quaintness and charm one might expect from an early 20th century hotel. It’s current owners have tried to restore it to original condition without making it kitschy, or uncomfortable for 21st century guests. It boasts the areas nicest restaurant and a separate bar/pub. We ate at the bar each night and downed a combination of steaks, chicken sandwiches, and burgers, appetizers, beer, and a shot or two of whisky (it seemed like the Wyoming thing to do).

We fished at the Foote, Treasure Island, and Six Mile access points of the North Platte. Each was considerably different than the other despite all being part of the same freestone section of the river. One has to bear in mind that this part of the river is 90 miles long. Foote is a wide, moderately deep glide flowing through high desert that is broken by occasional riffles. Treasure Island rests in a valley, the banks are lined with cottonwood poplars, aspen groves, and high grasses. Its bottom is cobbled with potato sized stones, and here the river winds across the terrain creating nice undercuts, riffles, and long pools. The fishing at Treasure was by far the most consistent, however the average size fish was considerably smaller. We did well on nymphs, streamers and wet flies throughout the afternoon, until early evening when some bwo’s started showing and we could switch to dries. Six Mile is a canyon stream that is 50 yards wide in places. It has a silty, boulder strewn bottom that was a pleasure to wade. We fished there for just a few hours before leaving for Denver; we were probably on the water a little too early as the ground was still covered with frost and the fish were uncooperative (we landed one from this stretch).

Treasure Island Moose

Cattails along the Treasure Island path

We spent a morning on the Encampment River. It too is a canyon stream that stretches through 15 miles of BLM and wilderness land. A kiosk at the trailhead warns of the bear and mountain lion presence in the area, and we encountered no fewer than three kills along the four miles of trail we hiked. Those of you familiar with the Smokys would feel at home on the Encampment. It is a pocket water stream in its upper reaches that tumbles down the slopes of the Sierra Madre Mountains and out onto the plains. It is beautiful water in an absolutely stunning setting. The rainbow and brown trout that inhabit the stream are reported to average 14 to 16 inches. However, the ones we caught that morning were considerably smaller and were fond of large stonefly imitations.

Fall on the Encampment

Matthew working pocket water

Old bridge

Randy fishing a streamer

Unshaven, cold, but happy

We had a great three days in Wyoming. We saw hundreds of deer and antelope, a bald eagle, a bull and cow moose. We met some wonderful people. Ate well. Slept soundly. And, fished exactly as much as we wanted to each day.

My brother Matt and his girlfriend Michele were excellent hosts to us while we were in Denver. Matt, who is an excellent artist/blacksmith/welder showed us several of his public works on display throughout the city. They treated us to a superb dinner at Cafe Star, where one of their close friends is head chef. And we concluded the trip with a night at Coors field where we paid four times more for beer than we did admission, watched Barry Bonds botch some plays, and had a good time just being together.

Matt and Randy at ball game

Three brothers in Denver

Bryan

[anonymous]

Fabulous report and photos, splitshot! I’ve spent many happy days on the Encampment, and your post helped me retrieve some fine memories. Thanks for that.

WBM

[bryan hulse]

Thank you, WBM. It was our first trip to the area and we throughly enjoyed every moment of it. I failed to mention that the trip was a late birthday present from my younger brother, Randy. His gift has made getting older a lot more tolerable.

Bryan

[Mike Anderson]

Your younger Bro is a hell of a guy. That’s a trip you guys will talk about for years to come. Thanks for sharing. I’ll be calling my brother to schedule a trip soon thanks to this post.

Mike

[Zach Matthews]

Sweet.

[Author]

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