Fly Fishing Road Trips
Good People      Good Water       Good Fish

Nebraska was part of my 2016 Trip to Banff, covering states NE, SD, WY, UT, ID, MT, Alberta, British Columbia, WA, and Oregon. I drove from Chicago to Nebraska through the night for 9 hours; I arrived at 3 am.

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Arrived, but where? I was looking for a state park with trout, but I couldn't find anything. I found an opening between trees and parked behind them to get two hours of sleep. I woke up at 5 am and drove 30 miles to the first McDonald's to get Wi-Fi so I could work.  

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I finished my client's morning calls and had two hours until they started up again. After a quick internet search, I realized that at 3 am, I ran into a trout farm, then I asked myself, "What would Lauren do?"  My wife is very adventurous, and I've learned to do crazy things. So, I drove back 30 miles to where I slept the night.  it turned out It was the Swiss Alps of trout hatcheries. With little bridges between the ponds, freshly cut grass, and pine trees. Most hatchers look like concrete swimming pools with barbed wire.

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I talked to the caretakers who worked like dogs to keep the place up. They were going stock the river in the next hour. They said in 20 minutes, down a country road off a small bridge, fifty rainbows 14 inches plus trout would be dropped.

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I waited, and sure enough, the truck drove up. After the drop, I fished with a green copper john and landed two large rainbows. But it wasn't easy. I kept losing them because setting the hook off a bridge was hard. Slowly, almost all the trout move to cover. I drove back to McDonald's and finished my afternoon conference call.

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I did drive up about 50 miles and fished another stream, Long Pine Creek. I wanted to catch a trout that was not just dropped for a truck. That night I eat my stocked trout.

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Nebraska Done!