A Lookback at the 2024 Fishing Season
Sunflowers droop. Fall is in the air. It’s not uncommon to catch a guy using an air-compressor to blow out his sprinkler system before the first freeze. The last of the roadside Palisade Peaches; the first rumor of Alcova Sweet Corn; school buses, nearly the same hue as the sunflowers and goldenrod, ply the too-narrow streets of Casper. At night, from my porch, I can just discern the NC marching band rehearsing Louie Louie. Did it have to end so soon?
Peak fishing season is fading. Turning their attention to the upcoming hunting season, men put on backpacks stuffed with sandbags and toil the hiking trials. You can go into the fly shops now and browse at your own leisure. A month ago, these same shops were abuzz with customers nearly apoplectic at finding the size ten pine squirrel leech patterns. Nothing could stop them.
Ryan Anderson, owner of Platte River Fly Shop and Wyoming Fly Fishing was relaxed and in flip-flops the day I visited his shop on Highway 220. The iconic old school house, (two schoolhouse really) built circa 1907, fits the architype of what a fly shop should be. This shop has history, and quite possibly the largest collection of trucker hats in Casper. The newly built “guide shack”, where we met to talk, has comfortable chairs, a woodstove, and fridge where they keep the client lunches. Waders hang on every peg. It’s the kind of place you want to sit down and stay awhile. You can almost see the river from the porch.
“Last summer we had some big rain events—and they were playing with the water a lot—it kind of muddied the river for a lot longer than we thought it would. And, so, for that reason, we caught less fish--.” The cold wet summer of 2023 threw things off for even seasoned guides like Ryan. Many had to cancel trips. But the stars aligned this summer, and the season was a perfect combination of good flows and ample insects upon which the resident trout gorged themselves. Ryan offered a broad smile when he recalled this season.
“This summer we got tons of water coming down and that’s been awesome,” he said. With more water flowing through the system, Anderson and his team of guides had many more options of where they could launch their drift boats. Guides and clients got to spread out and enjoy fishing with less competition. “With lots of high, clear water in the summer we can spread the boats that are on the river out at a lot of different put-ins and take-outs. It makes it more fun.” He said the terrific water conditions made the “playground bigger.” Sure, people love to book spring trips on the Grey Reef section. But springtime fishing means low water and crowds back-rowing the obvious runs. Plus, the fish are gearing up for the spawn. Summertime, according to Ryan, is the real deal, when you are meeting our trout on their terms, when these fish are most powerful.
Ryan, a Casper native, and his wife Liz have owned the business for over fifteen years. Ryan began his guiding career in Montana, and then the wilderness of Alaska near the town of King Salmon. “On my first day, I was sitting there, and the owner came in and smashed a dinner plate against the wall. He fired the guy who had just hired me, and told me I was now the head guide,” he said. Guiding isn’t the glamorous job people imagine. Ryan recalls cutting the grass at one o’clock in the morning in Alaska because there was no one else around to do it. He eventually gravitated back to Casper where he felt grounded, where he could work the river and still raid his mom and dad’s fridge. Ryan has a high regard for our fishery, chiefly, for its ability to offer months and months of consistent fishing.
Ryan has a hard time comparing the North Platte to any other river in the Lower 48. Only in Alaska can you encounter wild rainbows of this size and quantity.
“It’s a bug-factory--a tailwater that has really big, fat fish. A big aspect about fishing in the summer is that you are targeting this fish at his absolute, physical peak. He is stacked. He has all of that water he’s swimming against and also just tons of food coming down. And so, he’s getting fat on bugs, and strong. A lot of these big rainbows that we’ll put clients into will just run to the other side of the river and snap-- you’re off,” he said. But being sawed off by a huge, wild fish is not a bad thing in the wet, and wild world of fly fishing. For guys like Ryan, and the thousands of anglers who come every year to experience Grey Reef—losing a fish can be a high point, something you’ll talk about for years.
There was a lot of hullaballoo about the new 35,000-acre Matron Access that became public this season. Guides and other stakeholders worried that these pristine riparian sections—excellent spawning areas—would be inadvertently damage when wade fishermen stepped on the redds. (Redds are the shallow nests trout make to lay their eggs.)
“You know, the thing about all the private land before—a lot of people complained about it--but it did one thing: it protected the spawn. It kept people from fishing to those fish while they were making more fish,” said Ryan. “I feel like the fly-fishing community—and the guides—are educating people to stay away from those spawning fish.” Ryan said that everyone learned to live with the new access rules. And his style of guiding always gives wade anglers plenty of space. He said he often anchored up along the new public section and retied his flies. He gave the wade fishermen their space. “There’s always another hole around the next corner,” said Ryan.
Ryan says that one of the joys of owning a local fly shop is hiring and training young people from the community and giving them a skill that they can turn into a career. More than anything else, the shop offers an enjoyable vibe where people feel welcome. If you want a taste of that vibe, drop by the shop for their Fall Festival on September 22 featuring local musician Zach Schommer. Ryan and Liz say there will be incredible deals on gear and clothing, plus drinks and food. You can see the old schoolhouse and even hang out in the guide shack with the men and women who make their living on the river.
