S6, Ep 59: On the Water with Dustin White: New Fly Patterns and Summer Fishing Tips
Join host Marvin Cash on The Articulate Fly for another engaging episode of "On the Water" with Dustin White. Dustin shares his recent adventures, including a whirlwind trip for Memorial Day weekend and some exciting updates about his fly patterns being picked up by Montana Fly Company. Dive into the latest fishing conditions across Wyoming's renowned waters, from the Big Horn's mossy challenges to the sucker spawn on the Mile and the thriving PMDs on the Reef.
Dustin offers valuable insights into navigating these waters, including practical tips for tackling mossy conditions, the importance of having the right vehicle for rugged roads and the best public ramps for launching on the Grey Reef.
Don't miss Dustin's shout-out to Black Tooth Brewing Company, a staple in the Wyoming community, known for its great beers and support for local events, including fly tying sessions. Whether you're planning your next fishing adventure or looking for a great local brew, this episode has something for everyone. Tight lines!
To learn more about Dustin, check out our full length interview.
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Speaker:
Marvin: Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly,
Speaker:
Marvin: and we're back with another On the Water with Dustin White. Dustin, how are you?
Speaker:
Dustin: Marvin, doing excellent. How are you doing, my friend?
Speaker:
Marvin: Yeah, just trying to stay out of trouble, and you know, you're back.
Speaker:
Marvin: You were like the traveling Matt for Memorial Day weekend, right?
Speaker:
Dustin: Yeah, yeah. I went back for, you know, saw some friends, went to a wedding.
Speaker:
Dustin: And as I got to see a ball game, it kind of blew into town real quick and got
Speaker:
Dustin: right back in the saddle.
Speaker:
Dustin: And yeah, I've been on the water every day since.
Speaker:
Marvin: Yeah, it's interesting, too, because we were talking before we started recording
Speaker:
Marvin: that you were on the road.
Speaker:
Marvin: I think you literally were like, I can record any time. And your Instagram had
Speaker:
Marvin: you sitting up in the upper deck of the ballpark.
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Marvin: So we kind of ad-libbed a little bit more than normal. But, you know,
Speaker:
Marvin: one of the things we didn't tell folks is that you've got some patterns that
Speaker:
Marvin: have gotten picked up by OMQA that are in fly shops now.
Speaker:
Dustin: Actually picked up by MFC. So Montana Fly Company picked it up.
Speaker:
Dustin: And it's, yeah, it's a caddis pattern. I've been fishing for,
Speaker:
Dustin: you know, a number of years, both here in Wyoming and back east in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Speaker:
Dustin: So, yeah, it's a caddis pupa. It comes in a few different variations.
Speaker:
Dustin: Variations um so um like you
Speaker:
Dustin: know i like you can you can run it as a standard nymph
Speaker:
Dustin: you can uh swing it yeah because it's got a soft tackle collar on it um there's
Speaker:
Dustin: a protagon version of it that can be ran under a hopper so a lot of different
Speaker:
Dustin: variations that i like to run with it but uh yeah mfc uh was gracious enough
Speaker:
Dustin: to pick it up and so yeah folks uh if you don't see it in your local fly shop,
Speaker:
Dustin: be sure to ask your fly shop to see about ordering some of the white,
Speaker:
Dustin: Caddyshack from MFC.
Speaker:
Marvin: Well, there you go. And so, you know, since you've been out on the water every
Speaker:
Marvin: day since you've been back, what are you seeing?
Speaker:
Dustin: Um we're seeing that you know a lot of
Speaker:
Dustin: fish it's been really really good uh kind of on
Speaker:
Dustin: all fronts uh you know starting north on
Speaker:
Dustin: the on the bighorn uh quite a bit mossy now um
Speaker:
Dustin: it usually does get mossy you know at this time
Speaker:
Dustin: of year but i would say this is mossier earlier than normal
Speaker:
Dustin: um the the typical fare
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Dustin: of scuds and sowbugs still are are doing well to
Speaker:
Dustin: nymph them but just be aware you're gonna probably be you know picking
Speaker:
Dustin: a lot of moss off off your flies um you can
Speaker:
Dustin: leash the banks probably it's a little more success in faster
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Dustin: current um but uh otherwise yeah
Speaker:
Dustin: you're gonna have to kind of be picking your lanes on the mile we are in the
Speaker:
Dustin: thick of the sucker spawn right now so um we are you know so stoked because
Speaker:
Dustin: those those big fish are uh pushing about a pathfinder and into a river system
Speaker:
Dustin: so been really really good uh we want to cost some folks though you know make
Speaker:
Dustin: Make sure you have a good vehicle to get out there.
Speaker:
Dustin: We've had, you know, our typical heavy spring rains that, you know,
Speaker:
Dustin: on that Bentonite Road driving out.
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Dustin: If you don't have all-wheel drive with, you know, a four-wheel drive with good
Speaker:
Dustin: clearance, good tires, you could find yourself stuck.
Speaker:
Dustin: And we actually saw, you know, unfortunately, a few folks in accidents and,
Speaker:
Dustin: you know, kind of crashing the cattle gate. So if you're going out to the mile.
Speaker:
Dustin: Even if it's not after the rain, make sure you've got a vehicle that actually can make the drive.
Speaker:
Dustin: A lot of folks think that the Subarus or smaller cars can make it,
Speaker:
Dustin: but it's going to be a little challenging.
Speaker:
Dustin: On the reefs, things are fishing fantastic. We're starting to see more and more
Speaker:
Dustin: PMDs coming off. And I would say that's still probably our best bug at the moment, PMB patterns.
Speaker:
Dustin: Not really a whole lot of surface action.
Speaker:
Dustin: We're still seeing some yellow sallies being taken as well, more on the mile
Speaker:
Dustin: and more and more on the reef.
Speaker:
Dustin: So all systems are firing on all fronts.
Speaker:
Dustin: Water has been boosted on the mile and the reef. So it's big water right now.
Speaker:
Dustin: So just be aware of that if you're going to go out and float it or weight fish
Speaker:
Dustin: it to know that, you know, it's kind of bigger water. So just be,
Speaker:
Dustin: uh, just be aware of those and, uh, you should have, uh, some success in the water.
Speaker:
Marvin: Yeah. And I guess the other important thing too, is if you go out to the mile,
Speaker:
Marvin: you have to go at least 80 miles an hour to stay on plane, right?
Speaker:
Dustin: Yeah. You got to get on plane. Yeah. Yeah. Other, yeah. That's other,
Speaker:
Dustin: otherwise you're going to feel all those bumps, but, uh, if you could,
Speaker:
Dustin: if you can get your truck and your trailer on plane, you'll be just fine.
Speaker:
Marvin: Yeah. And so, uh, we've got a question for you from Logan and he wanted to find
Speaker:
Marvin: out where all of the public ramps are on the reef. beef.
Speaker:
Dustin: Yeah. So in terms of launching a boat, the top public ramp on the Gray Reef
Speaker:
Dustin: would be just below the dam on the river left side.
Speaker:
Dustin: You're not going to have another public ramp until you hit Lusby.
Speaker:
Dustin: River mileage, that's about eight miles downstream.
Speaker:
Dustin: The next ramp down would be Government Bridge. So that would be,
Speaker:
Dustin: you know, what's classically considered the reef. So you really only have those
Speaker:
Dustin: three ramps of put-ins and take-outs.
Speaker:
Dustin: Government Bridge is about 12 miles down from the reef ramp.
Speaker:
Dustin: So that's really all that's public in terms of launching your boat or raft at that point.
Speaker:
Dustin: Below that, you get into the trapper's route section.
Speaker:
Dustin: You'd have Whitetail, you'd have Chalk Bluffs, and then even further down from
Speaker:
Dustin: that, probably another 12 or so miles would be the Seacrest Ramp.
Speaker:
Dustin: Once you get past that you got another four miles you're at Bessemer Bend in
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Dustin: the ramp there and then probably another 12 miles you're actually hitting the
Speaker:
Dustin: town of Casper then at Robertson Road so you know on the Gray Reef itself really
Speaker:
Dustin: the the points of launching if you're going to launch on the reef,
Speaker:
Dustin: you're really only looking at just below the dam at the Gray Reef Dam eight
Speaker:
Dustin: miles down you hit at Lusby, but then there's only a four mile scenic Everman break,
Speaker:
Dustin: which would be classically the end of the Reese. So hopefully that's, that's helpful.
Speaker:
Dustin: Um, you know, also want to encourage folks, you know, make sure,
Speaker:
Dustin: uh, you, uh, you know, if you don't have Onyx, uh, carry a map with you, be looking around.
Speaker:
Dustin: There's a lot of, a lot of private water that's on the Reese,
Speaker:
Dustin: a lot of different ranches and landowners that, uh, uh, you know,
Speaker:
Dustin: uh, we, we don't want to, um,
Speaker:
Dustin: trespass ass on their property or anything like that, or, or,
Speaker:
Dustin: uh, abuse those, those privileges that we might ask.
Speaker:
Dustin: So, you know, just be, just be aware, um.
Speaker:
Dustin: Um whether your river left river right one of the
Speaker:
Dustin: helpful things that blm has done for us in terms
Speaker:
Dustin: of what's public and private in terms of wage fish there are
Speaker:
Dustin: blue and red signs so if you see a blue sign on one side of the river that indicates
Speaker:
Dustin: that it's public all the way down so you see either a red sign or a private
Speaker:
Dustin: trespassing sign so that's a good way you know if you if you don't uh uh know
Speaker:
Dustin: uh the way around to identify what's public or private um but i always like to to, you know,
Speaker:
Dustin: suggest to folks, hey, you know, download Onyx.
Speaker:
Dustin: It helps out a lot to know, you know, where those boundary lines are pretty well on the reef.
Speaker:
Dustin: But in terms of launching, you know, I'd say the actual gray reef ramp launch
Speaker:
Dustin: that's right below the dam or the Lesby launch would be the way to go.
Speaker:
Marvin: There you go. And, you know, folks, we love questions on the Articulate Fly.
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Marvin: You can email them to us or DM us on social media, whatever is easiest for you.
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Marvin: And if we use your question, I will send you some Articulate Fly swag,
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Marvin: and we'll have a great drawing from Dustin at the end of the season.
Speaker:
Marvin: And we're going to work on that before next time.
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Marvin: And, you know, as we always do,
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Marvin: Dustin, you know, what is our culinary gastronomic shout out this time?
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Dustin: Yeah, this week, we really want to shout out Black Tooth Brewing Company.
Speaker:
Dustin: They've got a couple of locations here in Wyoming, both up in Sheridan,
Speaker:
Dustin: which is their headquarters down in Cheyenne.
Speaker:
Dustin: But we're proud to frequent our downtown location here in Casper.
Speaker:
Dustin: They've been a great partner to us both
Speaker:
Dustin: in terms of you know friends uh fellow guides
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Dustin: uh clients that we get off the river we can go grab a grab
Speaker:
Dustin: a beer they often have through trucks but they also host our our tie-in events
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Dustin: that we have in the winter uh to teach you know folks fly tie-ins uh weekly
Speaker:
Dustin: uh here so they've been a good partner um really really great beers uh they're
Speaker:
Dustin: a great host to a lot of good events in town and now just a good staple in our community yeah.
Speaker:
Marvin: Any Any special brews they've got online that you want to let folks know about?
Speaker:
Dustin: Well, they just released the Guide Boat Gosa a week and a nod to our guiding community here.
Speaker:
Dustin: So that just came out. I'm generally a fan of the Hot Freak,
Speaker:
Dustin: which is a pretty middle-of-the-road IPA.
Speaker:
Dustin: So that's usually my go-to most of the time.
Speaker:
Dustin: But they've got a constant rotation of their beer.
Speaker:
Dustin: So they got something for everyone, whether you're into, you know,
Speaker:
Dustin: pretty middle-of-the-road pilsers, loggers, whether you like,
Speaker:
Dustin: you know, all the avant-garde sours,
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Dustin: traditional IPAs, East Coast, West Coast, that whole thing, stouts,
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Dustin: porters, they've got something for everybody. So it's a great spot.
Speaker:
Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, listen, folks, as I always say, you owe it to yourself
Speaker:
Marvin: to get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Dustin.
Speaker:
Dustin: Tight lines, Marvin. Thanks so much.
Dustin White
Guide
Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, Dustin had a rod in his hand soon after he started walking. He spent much of his childhood and adolescence fishing for muskie, pike, and bass on his family’s lake property. Any and all family trips were spent on the water chasing numerous species of fish in both freshwater and saltwater. However, Dustin’s favorite form of angling has and will always be targeting Trout and Steelhead on the fly. Dustin spends his winters guiding for Steelhead on the tributaries of Lake Erie. Dustin is a graduate of Sweetwater Travel Guide School, and he is a proud pro-staff member of a number of the industry’s top manufacturers. He is also the cofounder and director of “Nimi on the Fly,” a nonprofit charity that seeks to promote character building, enrichment, and conservation with youth the sport of fly fishing.
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