July 27th 2017:
The recent rain definitely helped our rivers by cooling down the water temperature and forcing the fish to relocate with the rising water levels. The water appears slightly off color but most of the algae and debris is starting to dissipate. The half-day stretches from Day Ranch to Cookout and Cookout to Station 8 have been a little tougher prior to the rain, but we expect that with the continued Trico hatch and a bump in the water levels the fish will be on the feed once again. North of town has fished well with several big fish landed from the Foote to Pick stretch. We still cannot use East Lake due to last week's closure, but the high mountain lakes and streams have been fishing great.
The next few weeks will continue to improve and we expect dry-fly fishing to be in full bloom here in the next 10 days. Depending on water temperatures and fish behavior, we might start offering full day float trips again if we continue to have cooler nights and precipitation in the afternoons. For those who would like to check out Savery Creek, they just bumped the flows to 100 CFS so we expect that fishery to be excellent throughout August. Savery Creek is a great option to find big cutthroat, rainbows, cutbows and tiger trout north of the 20'' mark. Please contact us if you have any inquiries or questions!
*We are days away from lifting the Hoot-Owl Closure*
The OBC Streams Department is implementing a "Hoot-Owl" closure on the North Platte River from 2PM to midnight, starting on Friday, July 19th on guided fishing trips until conditions improve. Hoot-Owl closures exist in states like Montana where the Game and Fish Department decide that the fisheries need to be closed to fishing after 2PM because water temperatures reach a toxic level for fish and become detrimental to the fishery. Increased water temperatures result in less dissolved oxygen and higher mortality rates for fish. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department does not implement Hoot-Owl closures within the state, but we as fishermen, guides and stewards of the river have made a decision that guided fishing trips will not occur on the North Platte River after 2PM until conditions improve.
The fish in the North Platte are happily feeding in the mornings with water temperatures between 62 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Over the past week, the fishing has abruptly turned off around 12:30—1 PM because of increased water temperatures. To protect our fishery and to prevent mortality within the population we will not be offering guided fishing trips on the North Platte after 2PM until conditions improve. Scenic floats do not have the same affect on the fishery, so this Hoot-Owl closure only applies to fishing trips. We want to make sure we provide the finest guided trips and believe resting the North Platte in the afternoon is the best professional and ethical decision at this point.
We want to remind our membership and guests that the North Platte River is one of several fishing options we offer. So please keep in mind that we have plenty of full-day options that excludes the North Platte. The Encampment River Wilderness, high mountain lakes and streams, Savery Creek, and our lakes are some of the other fisheries we want to promote as full-day options right now. We expect to lift this closure in the next ten days when the conditions improve. We hope this does not inconvenience our members and guests—instead we strive to educate everyone about our fisheries and spread awareness to protect our rivers and fish.
