A Tale of Pre-Runoff Fishing

May 16, 2019

Recent client with a pre-runoff gem.

Pre-runoff fishing has made its way into the North Platte Valley this year and despite what one might hope, it’s not always as glorious as you might see on Facebook and Instagram. Below is a realistic tale of two friends who made their way up to North Park for the weekend to try and get their own taste of pre-runoff fishing.

Kevin and Nicole had been fishing crowded tail waters all season. Small bugs, smaller tippet, big crowds and early mornings. They had heard about North Park from a friend, and were immediately intrigued. They started following the local fly shop, North Park Anglers, on Facebook and Instagram, patiently waiting for the lakes and rivers to open up and get the go ahead on pre-runoff fishing. Once they saw that the word was out and pre-runoff fishing was on, they started planning their weekend getaway. They drove up on Friday afternoon and got into town around 5 p.m., deciding to stop by the fly shop and grab a burger in town before heading out to the lake to set up camp. At the shop they chatted with the staff, bought some recent ticket flies and made a plan for the following morning. They were informed that water temps were still pretty cold in the morning, so there was no reason to be on the water at 6 a.m..    

“Sweet, that means we can actually eat breakfast in the morning and not run on four hours of sleep,” Kevin exclaimed, having spent the weekends of the last six months skipping the most important meal of the day. Kevin and Nicole left the fly shop, grabbed a burger at the local bowling alley (yes, the bowling alley) and headed to set up camp.

Saturday morning, Kevin and Nicole got up well-rested around 7, made some camp-stove omelettes and headed to the river around 8:30. It was a bright and beautiful day with a forecasted high of 65 degrees. They threw black and purple colored streamers and covered lots of water, but despite their efforts they ended up with only two fish apiece, nothing larger than 13 inches. Right before they left, Nicole suggested that they check the water temperature…45 degrees…brr. They headed back into town to give the fly shop staff a report and grab another burger. When they headed back out around 3 p.m., the once full and semi off-color river was now a scene from Willy Wonka…a raging chocolate river. They decided to head back to camp and spend the evening fishing the lake.

NPA staff member, Taylor, with a recent pre-runoff, meadow stream brown.

Temps dropped drastically overnight and the two woke up in frosted tents Sunday morning. Bundling up in their coats and hats, they made more omelettes for breakfast and headed to the river around 8:30 again. When they got there, Nicole immediately checked the water temperature…40 degrees. Not optimal feeding temperature for trout, but the cold weather had dropped the flows and cleared up the water back to good condition. This time instead of tying on streamers, they remembered the advice they got from the fly shop and set up nymph rigs with pink san-juan worms, and various smaller, size #14/#16/#18 bugs. Within the first two hours they had caught four fish apiece, but around noon they noticed the water started getting a little more off color. They decided to hit a few more holes and then call it day so they could get headed home in a timely manner. On the very last hole, Nicole’s indicator quickly disappeared under the water and she set the hook. After a few minutes of fighting and an expert-level net job by Kevin, Nicole had managed to pull out an 18 inch brown like the ones she had been dreaming about. Satisfied with the day, they packed up camp, shared pictures with the staff at the fly shop and headed home with smiles on their faces. 

The story of Nicole and Kevin’s weekend trip in search of pre-runoff fishing is one that we hear and experience all the time in the shop. Despite what Instagram’s highlight reel may portray, pre-runoff fishing is not always glorious giant fish one after the other. However, time on the water, a positive attitude, and changing things up can often reap great rewards.

Written by: Taylor Martin