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Thread: clueless question here about wyoming...

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  1. #1

    Default clueless question here about wyoming...

    and i live here even. i know, i know. anyway, i have never fished the greys reef, platte, miracle mile, ect and everyone around here that has says its all private land and you have to use a boat. no problem, i have my little pontoon, but is that how you guys do it, or do you have to have a bigger boat for any kind of fishing there? i know that sounds like a completely stupid question, but man id love to try that. im in the northeast corner of wyoming, about as far away from there in the state as you can be, and have no friends here who have fished it either.

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Stamford, CT,USA
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    Your problem in fishing the private waters is the same whether in a single pontoon or larger craft. The land is private on the shore and under the water. Consequently you cannot anchor up or go to shore for fishing or bio-breaks.

    I infrequently visit those waters and just cough up the guide fee when I do.
    Max

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by huntnmuleys View Post
    and i live here even. i know, i know. anyway, i have never fished the greys reef, platte, miracle mile, ect and everyone around here that has says its all private land and you have to use a boat. no problem, i have my little pontoon, but is that how you guys do it, or do you have to have a bigger boat for any kind of fishing there? i know that sounds like a completely stupid question, but man id love to try that. im in the northeast corner of wyoming, about as far away from there in the state as you can be, and have no friends here who have fished it either.
    You have an advantage over most folks wanting to fish that land. Your license plates. Those land owners are not going to let a 1 or 2 county plate fish or hunt that property but they are a lot more likely to let a 23 county plate fish because you are more likely to know the rules and will probably do as they ask. That is why I always licensed my truck in Buffalo (16 county plates) while I lived in Casper.

    Ask. I never had any problem fishing the Miracle Mile. Land owners may have got persnickity over the last few years, but folks always reacted positively to a nice please and thank you for me.

    I wouldn't have a snowball's chance in h#ll these days with my "Greenie Weenie" plates.
    Kevin


    Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some person ever reads.

  4. #4

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    wow, that is food for thought. i didnt realize the ground under the water was private too. might have to knock on some doors... just a bummer to live in the state with the best fishing spots, but ya cant fish em!

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by huntnmuleys View Post
    wow, that is food for thought. i didnt realize the ground under the water was private too. might have to knock on some doors... just a bummer to live in the state with the best fishing spots, but ya cant fish em!
    Knock on the doors. I grew up in Casper and unless landowners have become total a-holes over the last 20 years, I think I was turned down twice for hunting due to my plates at one place and just because they didn't allow any hunting at another. I was never turned down for fishing. Most folks just wanted to know that someone was on the land and about where they were.

    I met some fantastic people asking to hunt or fish.

    30 years ago, I went to the Teapot Ranch north of Casper about a month before deer season. Billy was nearing 90 at the time and had a brand new bride of 85, also named Billie. Now, everyone had told me that the old man never let anyone hunt on the ranch and he had close to 500,000 acres either owned or leased. That's a lot of deer country and a lot of deer. I had my 16 county plates on my truck and I stopped, introduced myself, and we talked a bit. He told me he didn't usually let folks hunt because he was so close to Casper and all the hunters from Casper just had no respect for the gates or stock. We talked a bit more and he signed my tag to indicate he gave his permission. We talked a bit more and I told him that I lived in Casper and didn't feel right hiding the fact from him. "But you have 16 county plates!" he said. "Yeah", I replied. "I got those so guys like you would talk to me and not just throw me off the ranch right off." "I suppose you aren't gonna let me hunt now." Well, he was still OK with it because we had talked for close to an hour and he figured I was going t be OK. And he allowed that I was right in that he would have tossed me off the place if he had seen Casper's 1 county plates on my truck when I pulled in the yard.

    For those of you not familiar with deer hunting in Wyoming, it's a matter of fact thing. While a big production is made of a week of elk hunting and Elk Camp is planned starting the day the previous season closed, when deer season opens, it's a day trip. You pack a sack lunch, load up your stuff, go shoot a deer, bring it home, cut it up, and stuff it in the freezer.

    I showed up at his door at 3am Opening Day, just as I was told to. He welcomed me in for coffee and Billie fixed breakfast that was fit for kings and plenty of it. We were drinking another cup of coffee when the sun started to poke it's way up and Billy said it was about time to go get our deer. Said he knew just the spot. We put on our blaze orange vests and headed out the door when Mrs Billie scolded us, "Don't you DARE shoot from the porch!" I kind of chuckled and looked across the yard to see that the haystacks had been opened up to let the deer into them. 25 yards. Take your pick.

    2 minutes later we both have our deer and the backhoe has been fired up. The deer get hauled to the downwind end of the yard and dressed. Then back to the old cabin which had been converted to a fully outfitted butcher shop. By 9AM., both deer are cut up, wrapped and on their way to being frozen while we had some more coffee. I was home by noon.

    I went out once a month from then until I moved back to Denver. He was a true craftsman in wood and his bride baked fresh bread for him every day. Store bought bread just was not good enough for her Billy. He was 96 the last time I saw him and still ran the ranch. He didn't need to. If some of you recall the Teapot Dome scandal involving the Naval Oil Reserve back in the '30s, that oil reserve sits square in the middle of the Teapot Ranch. Between the leases on that and the other two or three hundred oil wells on the ranch, Billy had more money than he could ever spend.

    My point to this whole story is that 99% of the landowners you talk to are not a lot different from Billy. You will probably not get fed breakfast and have the fish corralled for you, but permission can be had. All you gotta do is be polite and ask.
    Kevin


    Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some person ever reads.

  6. #6
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    Aug 2007
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    Fished Gray Reef last year over Memorial Day Weekend. We rented a drift boat. Also one of the guys floated in his pontoon boat. If I remember correctly water was running about 3,000-4,000 CFS. Today it is running at 5400. Boat control is everything. We were rookies, and had few hookups, because of lousy boat control. I had the best luck right below the dam wading. Some good fish there. Caught fish on small zebra midges under a strike indicator.

  7. #7
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    Jul 2010
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    Washington
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    Gray Reef can be fished below the dam and all of Miracle mile is public. The Platte below the CO line has quite a bit of public access bu there can be some hiking involved.

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