It’s on fire one minute, and can drive a grown man to his knees weeping like a small child the next. The Miracle Mile stretch of the North Platte River, located in central Wyoming, is one of the most challenging and rewarding stretches of river in the West - on many levels. When fishing the Mile expect the unexpected on a scale from life-threatening to incredible.On the life threatening end of the scale, there are signs to warn that water flows may change rapidly and unexpectedly - they mean it. I have friends that have bounced down the rapids thanking God for their wading belt and others that almost spent the night on one of the islands because the water level had risen to an impassible level during their afternoon fish. All things considered, The Mile is arguably one of the most dangerous wading rivers in world.
Eight years ago following an extended campfire, my die-hard fishing buddies and I went to sleep at 1 am in t-shirts bragging about how we could see every star in the sky. That night’s sleep was cut short 3-1/2 hours later as our tent collapsed under the weight of the snow. One day and three $120 tickets for ignoring a road closure later, we made it home safe and sound.
As for the incredible, my friend Todd and I hit the Mile on February 25th of this year for a quick fix and came away after five hours feeling like we had just won the lottery. We landed fourteen footballs between us, four of which were over twenty inches including three browns landed by Todd and my 25” rainbow featured in the attached photo.
There is a lot of speculation and theories on why the Miracle Mile is the way it is. You can study fishing reports, water flows, extended forecasts, hatch charts, and pray for success but the bottom line is that the Mile’s the Mile.
