My cell phone alarm beeps at 4:30am. I disarm it quickly and clumsily so as to not wake up my wife. Creeping through the house as quietly as I can, I kick on the coffee maker and slip on my waders.
It is still dark outside as I point my Subaru south out of Laramie on Highway 287 toward the Colorado border. My destination is Leazenby Lake, a few miles out of town. This is a small lake developed as a sanctuary for migrating birds, and it has been stocked with rainbow trout.
I pull in to the public parking area as the first hint of sunrise begins to peek over the Laramie Range to the east, giving me just enough light to notice a few mayflies fluttering about. I pull my already-assembled fly rod out of the car and walk through the gate to the water.
As I step into the water, I am greeted by the familiar sound of rising rainbow trout taking insects off the surface. Within 30 minutes from waking up in Laramie, I am standing knee-deep in the water casting my dry fly to rising trout, and the sun is just beginning to come up.
It does not take long. My first cast of the morning hooks a trout as the sky turns into the deep, familiar hues of another fantastic Wyoming sunrise. Trout continue to rise all around me, as if oblivious to my presence.
Over the next couple hours, as the sun ascends higher into the sky and the temperatures rise, more casts yield more takes and trout on the end of my line. Perfectly content with my morning, I pack up and head back into town just in time for breakfast with my wife and daughter.
Just another day in paradise.
Watch this video I took on this early morning fishing trip:
Jeff McDonald is a member of the Laramie chapter of Trout Unlimited (Laramie Valley Trout Unlimited). He enjoys traveling Wyoming with his wife and daughter, fly fishing, skiing and photography. You can watch Jeff's fly fishing videos on his Laramie Angler YouTube channel.
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