Transcript: On the Water with Dustin White
Transcript
Marvin:
[0:04] Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly, and we're back with another On the Water with Dustin White. Dustin, how you doing?
Dustin:
[0:13] Marvin, I am loving life. How are you, my friend?
Marvin:
[0:15] Oh, it's all good. Just trying to stay out of trouble. And you know, the funny thing is, right, we're, uh, I'm watching streams here in the mid Atlantic with almost no water hitting almost 70 degrees for trout.
And you're out there in the high mountain desert getting rained on every day.
Dustin:
[0:31] Oh my goodness, yeah. I mean, it's been, there's just never been anything like this that we've seen here.
I mean, this is so unprecedented, the amount of rain that we've had, and it's just kind of consistent every day. Big, big thunderstorms are rolling in, and I think we've been basically wet since the early part of May.
Few days scattered here or there that will be dry. We don't really get rain, but it's a lot of precipitation and that cumulated, you know, with the runoff that we've had from all the snowpack. I mean, there's a, this is a lot of water we've got moving through our system.
Marvin:
[1:09] Yeah, I guess though, right. When it's, it's wet, usually means the hopper situation is going to be pretty good, right?
Dustin:
[1:16] I wish I'm looking, I'm just digging brother.
Marvin:
[1:20] I'm looking for something.
Dustin:
[1:22] Yeah. Unfortunately, not the case there, but fingers crossed that I think we might never say never, but with the amount of rain we're getting, it could be a little bit of a difficult year for those of us that look forward to hopper fishing every summer.
Marvin:
[1:42] Well, that's a bummer. I thought that when it was damp, it bled for a bumper crop, but I guess not.
Dustin:
[1:49] No, yeah. So what ends up happening with our hoppers is if you have a dry season, which it typically is very dry here, and why the North Platte is a really fantastic hopper fishery is because we are in a high desert, that those hoppers are looking for green grass.
And as everything dries out, the only grass that really remains green is the grass along the riverbanks.
And so, it drives them to the riverbank and then they fall in, get accustomed to seeing those hoppers plop in the water and spin around trying to get themselves out.
And that's typically what occurs. Well, if we don't have the field drying out that much, the hoppers really never are pushed towards the bank to find that green grass because, You know, frankly, all the grass is going to stay green pretty long.
So that's generally speaking, the drier of a year it is for us, the better the hopper fishing tends to be.
The wetter the year, the more it's a bit of a struggle there.
Marvin:
[3:00] Well, we'll see. So we were talking before we started recording and with all the rain you're getting, you know, you're telling me that the bighorn is blowing out early and often, right?
Dustin:
[3:11] Yep, Big Horn's blown out. There's a lot of ag creeks that dump into it, especially higher in the system, just below the Wet in the Waters ramp.
And so, if folks are going up to wade fish, fun fish on their own, totally fine to do that if you buy the reservation permit in the Wind River Canyon and about the top two miles or so of the Horn.
But once you you get down lower, there's a lot of that red clay, that red rock that can get introduced into the system, and it can blow out pretty quickly.
I think the saving grace of it is they are, with the amount of snow we've had, they're moving a lot of water through the system.
So, we have been around 3,000 CFS, and actually this week they are going to be bumping that up to 4,000.
So even when it blows out Marvin, it clears out pretty quick, uh, just because of, of all that water that's pushing through it.
Marvin:
[4:11] Yeah. And we were talking before that as long as you're willing to drive about 80 miles an hour on the slick, uh, slick roads on the mile, you're good.
Cause you'll be on plane, right?
Dustin:
[4:20] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My Honda Ridgeline, uh, it gets on plane pretty quick.
And so if the tires never touch the dirt, you don't have to worry about the mud, uh, you know, slipping and sliding.
But no, yeah, the road's pretty treacherous. Anyone that's fished the mile and has driven out there knows that it's a pretty gnarly road.
About 16, 17 miles of it is nothing but oiled down bentonite.
And so once we get some water, that becomes incredibly slick.
And you look at your boat out of the rear view mirror and it's no longer there.
It's actually jackknife beside your cab. But folks are going there.
It's fishing exceptionally well. Just, you need to take it slow and safe to get there. But that is the nice thing. the mile doesn't have.
Really any feeder creeks that are ag creeks that dump into it.
So it really does not blow out after that rain.
And this is just such a fun time a year to be fishing the mile.
The sucker spawns in full effect right now and they're eating bugs.
We haven't really seen any fish looking up too much, but it's fishing exceptionally well.
So folks are willing to brave the mud and have, uh, all terrain, you know, vehicles and are willing to spend a good 45 minutes at the car wash afterwards. It's worthwhile to do. Yeah.
Marvin:
[5:50] Take your friend's boat, right?
Dustin:
[5:51] Exactly. Make sure you put the cover on it. Uh, that's a, that's a friendly piece of advice there. Yeah.
Marvin:
[5:58] And I guess they haven't scraped it yet this season. Have they?
Dustin:
[6:02] No. So they usually wait till after rainy season. So, again, most years they would be doing it probably about right now, but we still have some rain in the forecast for the better part of the next week.
So they usually wait till that's kind of done and out of the way because they go through and grade it and then the next rain, all of us guides come ripping through there with our trucks and our boats and we put the ruts back in.
So they usually wait till they're through most of the rain and then they'll come through and grade the whole thing.
Marvin:
[6:34] Yeah, all the more reason to be just a little bit more cautious than usual.
Exactly, exactly. And so is there a silver lining on the reef or we need things to dry out a little bit there too?
Dustin:
[6:46] You know, the reef has been fishing, I mean, it's just fishing wonderful.
The unfortunate thing is, is depending on how much rain we get or don't get, we're kind of leashed to the top 8 to 12 miles of it.
Generally speaking, everything, and folks are familiar with it, everything below government bridge is, for the most part, been a little off limits.
Unless someone's willing to, you know, do streamer float on a day, you know, maybe after it's cleared up a little bit. The reef's running at 1,500 CFS.
They had backed that down just to hold water back since Glendo had so much in it and there's some flooding there with the rain and all the water moving through it. But it's just fishing great.
We're finding pods of fish that are looking up.
So there's some unseasonably early dry fly fishing for For those that are interested in that, they're eating blue wings and midges voraciously.
It's been a lot of fun. And so, while the lower stretches, the stretches of water that as you approach town might not be viable options yet, the good news is that top 8 to 12 miles is fishing lights out.
Marvin:
[8:03] Yeah. So, uh, since we've got a, not a stellar of fishing, fishing situations, we normally have, you think we should throw in a couple of bar recommendations in the Casper area?
Dustin:
[8:13] Happy to do so. Um, some of my favorite spots are Frank's, um, it's a butcher shop slash, uh, bar slash, um, yeah, restaurant.
It's, it's a good, I am pretty sure you and I enjoyed a good Bloody Mary there. Yeah.
Marvin:
[8:31] It's a meal in and of itself. you.
Dustin:
[8:33] Oh, yeah, you don't need to order any other food if you get the if you get the Bloody Mary there that one's always a Favorite of mine so folks are in town or around.
That's a good time. And then also the Derby Club in downtown Casper is Another one of my favorite spots to take folks to Both of which are a little bit of hole in the walls.
Both of those are a little bit of hole in the walls You know, it's not you don't expect to have a really great restaurant in a bar that's in a butcher shop yet There is and Derby Club Same sort of thing.
You don't you don't expect to have such a good meal and and atmosphere But it's it's fantastic spot.
Marvin:
[9:15] Yeah, I would say it Frank's. I think the beef tenderloin quesadilla is pretty killer.
Dustin:
[9:19] Oh It's great. Yep. Yep, pretty pretty fantastic.
Marvin:
[9:23] Yeah, absolutely And so, you know folks we love questions on the articulate fly you can email them to us You can DM us on social media, whatever is easiest for you.
And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag and you're going to enter, enter you into a drawing for something cool from Dustin at the end of the season and Dustin, before I let you go, you want to let folks know how they can catch up with you and get on your guide calendar. Yep.
Dustin:
[9:45] You can give me a call. Uh, uh, you can call the ugly bug, uh, area code three Oh seven, two, three, four, six, nine zero five.
You can stop in the shop there on Center Street in downtown Casper, or you could find me on the social media networks, particularly Instagram.
My handle is at Dustin James White.
Marvin:
[10:07] Well, there you go. Well, listen, folks, you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Dustin.
Dustin:
[10:15] Tight lines, Marvin. Thanks so much.