Transcript: On the Water with Dustin White
S5, Ep 124: On the Water with Dustin White
2023, Marvin S. Cash
The Articulate Fly
http://www.thearticulatefly.com
Transcript
Marvin:
[0:04] Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Flower, back with the last on the water of the season with Dustin White.
How are you doing, Dustin?
Dustin:
[0:13] Marvin, we're cooling off here, finally a little bit in Wyoming, so doing great, loving life. How are you doing, man?
Marvin:
[0:19] I'm getting there. Is the bunny giving you the finger? Always.
Dustin:
[0:23] Always is.
Marvin:
[0:24] Yeah. You should still pet the bunny, though.
Dustin:
[0:28] Yeah, the big middle ear. the one from a rabbit, but yeah.
Marvin:
[0:33] All good. So we were talking, so you're basically with maybe one exception, you think you're going to, you basically you're at your winter flows and so, you know, what does that look like and what does that mean for anglers?
Dustin:
[0:45] Yeah, I think anglers are going to see a lot more predictable, consistent conditions, uh, things are going to be temperature related, um, for the most part, uh, on the North plot, grass is, is diminishing the, the reef still has a a bunch of grass kind of stuck proper up at the dam.
But as you start getting those lower stretches, we're done with that free-floating moss.
Our hatches are much more predictable now.
And in all honesty, you can read this river right now like a comic book.
Especially the reef section for a lot of folks, it's a little more subtle.
It's a kind of a proper meandering Western Prairie-style river.
So a lot of times when water's up, it's tough to discern where those fish are holding at, but right now that we're at 500 CFS, the fish are in pretty obvious spots.
The mile always is a very easy river to read.
Now that we are at winter flows on the mile, for folks that are wanting to float that, I do wanna encourage some caution.
[1:56] Even though the water's down, that's actually when it becomes probably it's most difficult to row, most dangerous to potentially, you know, a center or as I've seen before, even sink a drift boat.
So just, you know, just take some caution if folks are gonna be out there rowing the mile, watch out for those sleeper rocks, you know, make sure you're kind of doing the duck and dive around the boulder fields that are there.
But in terms of fishing, pretty fantastic.
We are in full-blown, you know, dry fly and streamer season, which, uh, is, is such a fun time of year for us.
Marvin:
[2:34] Very, very neat. And so, you know, on the streamer side or the big Browns on the move yet.
Dustin:
[2:41] A bit, not quite. We're still probably, I mean, even though we've talked about, you know, we're cooling off, this week it was still in the mid-70s.
So, we still need to get, you know, some cooler temps to get those fish going.
So, you know, we are seeing those browns, we are catching some, but they aren't quite in full effect yet.
You know, we're seeing browns being caught with some regularity on the bighorn.
Those fish are holding pretty tight to the banks.
Water's a bit higher there, even though it's dropped.
The one thing on the horn to be aware of is there's still a ton of grass that's still growing from the bottom.
It's not broke loose yet. So, having the appropriate sink tip or floating line and going through that schematic run-to-run and how deep you are versus how high in the water column, that's going to yield a lot of success and a lot less frustration of raking in grass.
But yeah, we're starting to see the browns. Like I said, more of the Bighorn.
But we're probably a week or so out before we start seeing a little bit more of an influx on the North Platte with those browns, both on the mile and on the reefs.
Marvin:
[4:02] Yeah, got it. Now imagine your dry fly game is probably what, October caddis, maybe some blue-winged olives. I think you told me last time you still like crane flies, right?
Dustin:
[4:12] Yep. Craneslice is still seeing some here or there, but not too much anymore.
But yeah, October caddis, 100%, blue wings the afternoon, later in the afternoon, a ton of midges.
But it is a super fun time of the year to where, you know, when you get to those twilight hours, there's heads everywhere and they almost are eating anything you throw at them. So as long as it's in the ballpark, they're gonna be pretty happy fish.
Have been spooky, and that's the other thing with lower water, without as much movement through, they're demanding a little more precision on presentation and from a further distance out than what would be optimal for some folks.
So, being able to air out a pretty precise 35 to 50-foot cast is pretty difficult to do for a lot of folks.
But a lot of these fish don't want us to get any nearer than 35 feet before they spook off. And that's pretty indicative of low clear water.
So, if you're wade fishing, you definitely have an advantage to spot and stalk and get in a good position where you can make a cast.
But if you're in a drift boat, just be aware that they're probably not going to let that boat get any closer than maybe 35 feet. So, casts, you know, are going to be at least that, if not a little bit further.
Marvin:
[5:41] Yeah, I got it. And I guess, too, one of the benefits of the, you know, I always think about this when the water is low is to kind of, you know, fish and fish that day, but also think about, you know, this is what the river bottom looks like when the water is higher so that you can fish a little bit smarter the rest of the year, right?
Dustin:
[5:56] Yeah, absolutely. You kind of start learning, oh, there's a bucket here that I don't even know about or wouldn't have been able to tell, or there's this point that comes out that this fish probably going to hold on even though it doesn't necessarily reveal itself in reading the surface of the water when water's up.
So absolutely, take those mental notes.
If folks are unaware or are exploring new waters, you know, having that kind of tuck away in your memory bank, so to speak, can help down the road as well once water's back up.
Marvin:
[6:33] Yeah, absolutely. And you know, folks, this is our last episode of the season.
And so we're going to draw and we're going to draw for a half a day guided trip with Dustin.
And really happy actually for the person that won this. They're a very regular question asker at the Articulate Fly across a lot of our fishing reports and wanted to let Brenner Johnson know that he won the half day.
So congratulations, Brenner.
Dustin:
[6:58] Awesome. Congrats, Brenner.
I'm stoked that you won it and, uh, uh, even more stoked to be able to share some time on the water with you coming up. So I I'm stoked, uh, and really, really appreciated the question that was asked.
Marvin:
[7:14] Yeah, absolutely. And, uh, you know, as we wrap things up for the season, you know, what does the off-season hold for Dustin James White.
Dustin:
[7:22] You know, Marvin, there's not too much of an off-season. Obviously, I'm gonna head back to the great state of Ohio and guide there in Pennsylvania for our Lake Run steelhead that come off of Lake Erie.
And so it'll be nice to get back to my home waters there and be able to target some steelbows, as we call them.
And then, yeah, I'll be heading down to the Carolinas and doing a bit of red fishing and take some folks out to do that. So, that's a little bit of what the off-season looks like before kicking right back out here to Wyoming.
Marvin:
[8:00] They don't have good pierogies in Casper?
Dustin:
[8:03] No, I don't have my Slovenian dishes that I am well-accustomed to in Cleveland, or Eastern European dishes are few and far between here if we're not making them on our own, which We do do a lot of.
We do a lot of pierogi making and sauerkraut and sausages, but it has to usually rely on friends coming out to fish with me from Northeast Ohio that bring the groceries out with them.
So I get to do that. And thankfully, I had a few buds that came out and fished with me a couple weeks ago that stocked me up on all the proper Eastern European mustards and everything else that are a bit of creature comforts for me.
So So, yeah, I'll be eager to get back to Northeast Ohio and have some proper food.
Marvin:
[8:52] Yeah, and you won't have to buy rounds of drinks at whatever bar you make people watch the Browns game on, right?
Dustin:
[8:58] Oh, exactly. Yeah. The Browns backers crew here in Casper is a party of two. Yeah, absolutely.
Marvin:
[9:08] Well, there you go. Well, listen, it's been super fun working with you on this again this season.
And, you know, folks, fall is my favorite time of the year to get out there and fish. So get out there and catch a few.
Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Dustin.
Dustin:
[9:25] Tight lines, Marvin. Thanks so much.