The Land of Rainbows

The "Mile"

The plane arrived at midnight, mountain time in Wyoming. We were tired and didn't feel like stumbling in the dark to find a campsite. Naturally, we found a Walmart to buy some food, water, and a cheap cooler for the week. The parking lot served as our unpacking and sleeping quarters and it was two o'clock before we finally settled down in the little space remaining in our rental car. New water beckoned in the morning and the anticipation was high…

The section of tailwater we headed to in the morning is called the "Miracle Mile". It is not a mile long, nor would I deam it a miracle, but it is a lovely section of water. I am sure it received its name because its sole existence derives from the Bureau of Reclamation building a dam, providing stable flows, and a steady stream of cold water downstream to the next reservoir. The river itself reminded me of my local river, the Lehigh. Big and swift, the "Mile" tumbles over a bottom of basketball sized rocks, slippery as all hell. All along its five plus miles, free campsites can be found, making it an ideal destination for a traveling angler. In the Fall and Spring, it receives a strong influx of lake run trout that are huge. Needless to say, we didn't get to tangle with any of those beasts, but we found most of our fish were incredibly healthy, fat, and full of fight. They averaged 14-18" with a few around 20". Almost all were rainbows, which account for a large majority of the river's population. We caught several small brown trout, cutbows, and a surprisingly amount of cutthroat which will be detailed next post. 

About an hours drive through desert scrub...

Our rental, which was way too small. 

We used 6wt. switch rods to give us some more control. 

Based on online reports, we were expecting to nymph a lot on this river. The golden stonefly hatch had come and gone and it was still too early for some hopper action, even though we took a few fishing a dry dropper combination. We heard that the streamer/swing bite was slow and our efforts only reinforced that report. With the abundance of food in the drift, reports also indicated that it would be rare for us to find any consistently rising fish. Our first few hours featured a lot of changing flies before we settled on an effective combination for nymphing. The "go to" became a flashy soft hackle with a tiny midge dropper. Throuhgout the day, caddis were emerging and any rock in a riffle would leave a multitude of small black midges on your hand. Not exactly rocket science to figure out why the combo was so effective. Many of our fish came at the end of drift as the soft hackle raised off the bottom. Some of these takes were incredibly violent and featured strong runs downstream in the fast flows. Reports suggested using 3-4x, while we fished effectively with 5-6x.

Happy to be catching trout after a few years in Africa...

Rabbits...

A few super shitty things happened on the first day of the trip that could have been even worse. After fishing our first run, I exited the stream via a very tiny footpath. Nestled along the trail in the grasss was a young 4-5' prarie rattlesnake. I spotted it as my foot was coming down directly next to it. A close call which made me keep my eyes peeled the rest of the trip. In the middle of day one, I was crossing the river and slipped ruining a DSLR in the process. Completely my fault. Lastly, I left a few rods propped up against a bush only to find them later chewed upon by the many rabbits all over the place. They seemed to zero in on my aqua colored skagit head and chewed it into a dozen pieces. So much for swinging the Platte. A few leaders also met their end but thankfully, the rest of the fly lines were spared. 

Beautiful...

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Drake sighting.

Backing bound...

Incredibly acrobatic rainbows...

At the end of the day, we found a long run and pool that featured many rising fish throughout it's course. We celebrated the day with a cold PBR and watched the trout rise before putting on some dry fly leaders. Many small fish came to hand, a few big bows rubbed or broke us off, and one particular big fish snapped my 5x on the first run. Matt landed the best trout of the evening, a fat bow that jumped four times. As the sun set, a very bright full moon appeared, putting a damper on our efforts throwing mice. It was so bright your could have read a book. We later found out that it was a "blue" moon. 

Quite a day...