Fishing Report - 4/7/22

Another week of warmer weather has really opened up the fishing options in the North Platte and Laramie River valleys. The Laramie Plains lakes are all completely open and fishing well, while the North Platte, Big Laramie and some of the lower-elevation (8,500' and lower) tributaries are open and starting to heat up as well. The snowpack continues to hover around 85-90% of average for the season, but hopefully a few late season storms in the mountains can bolster that number before we head into runoff season.

Upper North Platte

Flows: ~ 850 cfs

Conditions: The Platte is open and fishing slow to fair through the town of Saratoga and upstream to Treasure Island access area, any public access upstream from here will still have some ice on it. Streamers and deep nymph rigs are still the name of the game here.

Flies:

Streamers; Tequeely, Baby Gonga, Wedgehead, Dirty Hippy, Pine Squirrel, Slumpbuster

Nymphs; Rubber Legs, Copper John, Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail, Zebra Midge, WD 40, Biot Midge Emerger

Laramie River

Flows: ~ 65 cfs

Conditions: The Big and Little Laramie Rivers are open in the Laramie Valley and should be fishing slow to fair, with fishing quality picking up as temperatures rise over the next week. Slow-stripped streamers and nymph rigs fished in deeper pools should be the most productive methods right now.

Flies:

Streamers; Tequeely, Baby Gonga, Wedgehead, Dirty Hippy, Pine Squirrel, Slumpbuster

Nymphs; Rubber Legs, Copper John, Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail, Zebra Midge, WD 40, Biot Midge Emerger

Tributary Streams

Flows: 25 - 100 cfs

Conditions: Lower elevation (below 8500') tributary streams are opening up and fishing fair to good. Streamers stripped through deeper pools have been effective, and nymph rigs fished in the same type of water should be a good bet as well.

Flies:

Streamers; Tequeely, Baby Gonga, Wedgehead, Dirty Hippy, Pine Squirrel, Slumpbuster

Nymphs; Copper John, Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail, Zebra Midge, WD 40, Biot Midge Emerger

Plains Lakes

Conditions: The plains lakes are wide open and fishing good to great. Fish are cruising in shallower water, so a well placed nymph rig, or streamers stripped in 3-6 feet of water should be productive as fish are fairly aggressive following ice-off.

Flies:

Streamers; Hell Razor Craw, Tequeely, Pine Squirrel

Nymphs; Zebra Midge, WD 40, Biot Midge Emerger