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| Fly-fishing the North Platte River in Casper, Wyoming,September 2006 | |
| By Capt Dave Beshara |
| In December 2005 I was present at the induction ceremony of Stu Apte into the IGFA Hall of Fame. Peter Merriam (Merriam Vineyards), a good friend of mine, was also present. Peter’s company donated all the wine for the ceremony. At the conclusion of the formal ceremony a silent auction was held. I found myself bidding on a two day fly fishing trip on the North Platte River. As the bidding progressed, I noticed that one other bidder was jumping my bids. After several jumps, I decided to end my bidding and let the trip slip away. The bidding closed and the winner of the two day trip was read aloud. It turned out that the winning bidder was my friend Peter! A short time later, Peter walked over to me and invited me to join him for the trip. I was surprised, honored and readily accepted the invitation. Following several days of planning and contacting Capt Mark Boname of the Platte River Fly Shop (who donated the trip) we finalized the trip plan. Peter and I departed Boston on September 17, 2006 at 8 in the morning, arriving in Denver at 10 Mountain Time. From there, we rented a car and made the drive north to Casper arriving at 2 in the afternoon. We were tired, but decided to drive over to the fly shop to set up plans with Mark for the following days. As we made our way along the road adjacent to the river, we couldn’t help but notice that the river was “silted up” from some heavy rains a few days prior to our arrival. Mark suggested that for the first day, we fish one of the nearby lakes for trout and carp. Carp in Wyoming??? I guess, why not! After a few laughs, we drove back to our hotel, checked in, had dinner and retired for the evening. We were up 6 am, grabbed breakfast and headed over to the fly shop to meet with Mark. We took another look at the river and decided to fish Pathfinder Lake. The morning air was chilly with temps in the mid forties with considerable cloudiness. These were not ideal conditions for sight fishing carp, but we would make the best of it. Pathfinder Lake is comprised of sand flats and large rocky outcroppings. The lake is heavily populated with crayfish, the main food source of the resident trout and carp. Mark had created a version of the Woolly Bugger pattern that mimics the crayfish as well as other small resident baitfish. He has named them the “Vanilla Gorilla” (see the Platte River Fly Shop for the recipe) Platte River Fly Shop  We decided to fish with 6 wt rods, Peter with a Powell Tiburon and I chose my Sage XP. Both rods are “fast action tapers” and quite capable of handling floating lines tipped with AirFlo fast sinking poly leaders and weighted woolly bugger coneheads. Our leader/ tippet materials were from Frog Hair by Gamma in 2X and 1X. The morning fishing was quite productive as we landed and released several carp in the 7-11 pound range. The afternoon fishing improved significantly as the temps rose up to the 60’s with the sun breaking through the cloud cover. The sunlight allowed us to sight fish the carp just like sight fishing for redfish in the Florida flats. The carp would present their tails as they foraged along the sand flats. So casting a fly to the feeding carp became quite easy. At times, their entire backs would become exposed! The day turned much better than we had anticipated. Fishing carp on the sand flats in Wyoming!  That evening we had a great dinner at Poor Boy’s Restaurant and enjoyed our recall of the day over a bottle of wine. The plan for Tuesday was to float the N. Platte River in Marks drift boat. We were on the river by 8:30 am and by nine, had landed two very nice rainbows. The fishing had slowed for a bit but picked up just after noon. The fishing remained excellent throughout the remainder of the day. Both Peter and I landed and released several rainbows in the 3-4 pound range. Later in the day, Peter hooked, fought and lost a rainbow estimated by Mark to be 6 pounds. The fish put on quite an aerial display before throwing the fly. Great day of trout fishing! We went directly to dinner from the river and ate at the local Outback Restaurant. The day was great and we laughed the whole day through. This would be a day to place in our minds' scrapbook.  Wednesday’s plan was to fish the upper N. Platte River. We met up with Mark at the fly shop and headed for the put in area. The water had finally cleared up a bit and as such we anticipated a super day of trout fishing. The day started out slow with each of us landing a few 1-2 pound rainbows. As was the case on Tuesday, the fishing picked up in the afternoon. Peter had a great day hooking and landing several large brown trout including a very nice 5 pound male and 4 pound female. Both were gorgeous trout. Throughout the day, we both hooked and landed quite a few rainbows in the 1-4 pound range. It was amazing fishing, Mark surely knew the river! Back and forth, from side to side, both Peter and I would hook fish after fish! The day finally came to end and we were more than satisfied with one of the best days ever….anywhere!  Mark Boname is truly a great river guide and angler. I swear he knows each fish in the river by name! It was most enjoyable fishing with Mark for those three days. We never ran out of good conversation (or fish) for that matter. The three days had flown by…and we wished that we could have spent another day on the river, but it was time to head home. I have fished with Peter many times in the past, but these three days would prove to be the most memorable of all. Good company, great guide and excellent fishing made for a great trip!
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| Capt Dave Beshara |
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