 |
| Notice the lack of snow on Friday. |
David and I used to work together for a nationally known nonprofit. And discussions soon turned to fishing. I thought I would make it to Wyoming for business reasons and get some fishing in. That never happened and we have both since parted ways with the nonprofit.
 |
| First fish, about 16 inches. |
 |
| Snowing Saturday on the Mile. |
 |
| My Brown on Saturday, not much compared to David's |
A Facebook post here and there, turned into a trip north to the North Platte River. Promises of large browns tempted me.
 |
| David's nice Brown on the Mile. Same fish in the top photo. |
I drove I25 to Laramie, spent $34 bucks on a hotel and grabbed a beer and burger at
Altitudes. I headed west to Sinclair, then north to the Miracle Mile. The drive in was beautiful.
David had a meeting and was running a bit late, so I grabbed lunch and started fishing the Mile. The flies of choice… Spaghetti and Meatballs, or San Juan Worms and Eggs. I was into a fish 15 minutes later, it took the worm. So easy, but yet so deceiving for the weekend.
That would be the only fish caught on Friday. David joined me and we hit a couple of spots before dark, but no fish. What was to be a camping weekend, turned to a couple of nights in what might be considered a hotel in Alcova, Wy. The Mile is in the middle of nowhere with no amenities and no cell phone coverage.
Friday night the weather turned as a cold front hit the west. Nighttime temps dropped into the single digits. (Though several people were camping.) We were up early (and fished till dark.) The roads were slick and icy on Saturday morning, but we made it to the river. After all this is Wyoming and a little snow doesn’t stop much of anything.
David talked about his uncountable trips to the Mile since he was a kid. Stories of fishing, good beer and work filled the drive time to the river. We hit four or five different spots on Saturday. We tossed Spaghetti and Meatballs and numerous streamers to the depths of the river, which was pretty busy for a cold snowy day. Many of the spots we wanted to fish were filled, not to mention some jerks in a raft floating through a hole we were casting in. David said the fishing was slow, though he caught a good dozen, to my single brown.
But I saw enough good water and trout, I knew I
wanted to fish the Mile again
 |
| Fremont Canyon Section |
 |
| Fremont Canyon section. |
On Sunday, the weather was still cold, but it was sunny. Oh, I love the western sun. So warm even when temps are low.
 |
No need for a Koozie at lunch,
cold beer and hot river side stew. |
We fished the Fremont Canyon section of the North Platte…absolutely beautiful water, what a gorgeous section of river and rock formations. During spring run off, kayakers paddle this section. There is also some great rock climbing in the area.
 |
| Nice 20-inch Rainbow in the Fremont section, woollybugger. |
We fished hard again, but the fishing was just as slow. We pulled in a few nice trout to make it worth the trip.
 |
| Rainbow, took a copper zonker. |
 |
| Took a Zonker. |
I can’t wait to go back. Fishermen must be eternal optimists to travel in hopes of catching fish. It only took 6.5 hours to get home. That’s pretty close and worth a long weekend.
