The fishing on the North Platte River during the week of July 8th was excellent. My Dad and I were fishing the river just upstream a few miles from the town of Encampment, Wyoming. The flows on the river were extremely low, making a float trip impossible. However, wading in the low flows of the Platte provided great action.

The bugs were everywhere during the entire week. Each morning I would find at least a couple large golden stone casings on each boulder inthe river.These were about size #6 or #8. Caddis were hatching along with PMDs in #14-16. The trico hatch was tremendous eachmorning while we were there. It looked as if there was a dense fog laying over the river each day at around 10 am. The spinner fall provided excellent action. The terrestrial life was brilliant as well. Large hoppers were everywhere along with plenty of ants. When the tricos were not hatching I was always fishing tight to the bank with a large hopper usually in a size #4 or #6. Some of my favorite hopper patterns throughout the week included the BC Dropper Hopper and the Idylwilde Parachute Hopper. But any large deer hair or foam pattern would get the job done. I also used a variety of large black and tan chernoyble ants that brought many fish to the net. Ipractically fished only dries all week but I did occasionally drop abeadhead off a hopper. A standard size #14 bead head copper john nymph worked wonders.

One morning, a heavy rain left the river slightly off color. My Dad and I fished woolly buggers and had a banner morning with plenty of big browns.