A good friend of mine fly fishes. He looks so cool as the line zig-zags past him and he eyes it through his sunglasses. I envy his coolness, the way he commands the line.

When I found out I'd be going to Saratoga, I decided it was time I learn how to fly fish. So I asked Mike "Hack" Patterson, of Hack's Tackle and Outfitters in Saratoga, to teach me. He did, and I think he did a good job - but I'll save my bragging for later. Besides, I learned a lot more about fly fishing than how to boast.

Fishing is a technical, number driven sport.

I see this when I step into a tackle shop full of different kinds of flies, different sizes of leaders, different poles in different weights.

Numbers guide fishermen's choices: Are fish biting the larger number 14 Royal Wulff or the smaller number 18 Para Adams?

What is a Wulff, I wonder, as I poke around in the fly bins.

Numbers quantify fishermen's success: Look at my 22-inch brown trout. It's a beauty.

To me, it looks bloody.

But I discovered, in fishing, numbers are bragging rights and technical knowledge is power.

Kerry Huller, a Casper Star-Tribune photographer, and I arrived at Hack's around 8:30 a.m. Hack shook our hands and introduced us to our fellow fishermen and fisherwoman. We met Vince Hytrek, a guide for Hack's, his wife Kim and his brother Andrew. Saratoga locals need little convincing to skip work and go fishing.

Kerry and I stowed our bags.

We encountered our first number of the day before we even got to the river: stating aloud our height and weight for the fishing license. Short and average wouldn't work. So, what the heck, 5-foot-1 and 118 pounds.

My first fly-fishing lesson: Height and weight don't matter to a real fisherman. Don't sweat those numbers.

With licenses in hand, we headed towards our starting point at Treasure Island, 10 miles from the Hobo Hot Pool takeout in town.

Our driver, Dave Walters, masterfully backed up to the river with two boat trailers attached to the truck. That's skill. As Vince and Andrew unloaded our fishing vessels, Hack prepared our rods, lures and flies. I watched, hoping to learn something, but hundreds of bugs kept buzzing my head. I swatted them and Hack scolded me.

"Don't you dare swat that midge," he said.

Lesson two: Bugs are good. They indicate what food source the fish are seeking, and thus what flies to use. Also, the more bugs there are buzzing over the water, the more the fish will bite at your fly or lure.

There are 40 different kinds of mayflies in the Platte Valley region. If someone asks what the fish are biting, don't just say mayflies, Hack said. Tell them what kind and how big.

Kerry and I joined Hack in one boat and the Hytreks took the other. Kim is outdoorsy. And a great fisherwoman. Given Saratoga's non-fishing numbers - zero stoplights, zero elevators, zero shopping malls, seven bars - it's no surprise Kim learned to love the river.

"Women have to be outdoorsy here or they don't survive," she said.

We shove off. This day we will fish the locals' favorite 10-mile float from Treasure Island to the Hot Pool, a stretch of river where it's not uncommon to catch 20 fish or more. It will take half a day.

Lesson three: Know where the good fishing is.

In the Platte Valley surrounding Saratoga, there is 135 miles of freestone river (no dams), Hack said. And there's 3,000 to 3,500 fish per mile.That's some good fishing for Rainbow, Brown, Brook and Golden trout, as well as Snake River Cutthroat, Colorado River Cutthroat, Splake and Cuttbow, a cutthroat-rainbow hybrid.

The upper North Platte River has been deemed a blue ribbon wild trout stream by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Lesson three has a second part: Do a full day float and get in all the fish-ridden mileage you can.

The gods must shine upon Saratoga, I decided. The float we did has the highest concentration of fish in those previously mentioned 135 miles of Platte Valley river. For you ski bums out there, that's like skiing out your front door onto your favorite, freshly powdered hill. But it also means competition.

Lesson four: "What's said on the river stays on the river," Hack said. Never give away the location of a prized fishing hole that can boat eight fish in 20 minutes. Enough said.

Lesson five: Movies don't know squat about fly fishing. They always show some desirable guy hanging behind a girl, moving her arm for her. That would be annoying.

And they say to do a 10 o'clock, 2 o'clock motion.

I asked Hack about this, thinking I knew at least a little about the sport. He cursed the movies and their formulaic mumbo-jumbo.

But, if I insisted on a reference, Hack said, bring the pole up to 12 to feed the line and release it at 2. But it's better, for once, to ignore the numbers here.

Feel it.

Listen to the whir. Say "Hack's Tackle" when you pull your arm back before moving it forward. Be patient.

At first, I didn't look nearly as cool as I wanted to look. I caught my own ponytail in my hook and then my own shoulder. But after a while, I got the hang of it. I probably still didn't look cool struggling to boat my first fly-fishing fish, but it sure felt good - once I got past the blood. It was a 16-inch brown. I had to throw it back.

Lesson six: Know the area's fishing laws and limits. For example, Saratoga has a slot limit. Any fish between 10 and 16 inches must be thrown back. Those are the river's brew trout, the best breeders, Hack said. Throwing them back has prevented the North Platte from having to be stocked for 25 years. All the fish are wild, Hack said.

OK, it's time to brag. When I give you these numbers, remember that April isn't the best month to be fishing in Saratoga - usually after June is much better. The six people in our fishing party caught a combined total of 24 fish in about four hours.

Here are the stats:

- Kim was the leader with 13, including the biggest, a 22-inch brown.

- Hack was next with four. But remember he was rowing and guiding most the time.

- Vince caught two. He also rowed and guided most the time.

- I caught two, both with an olive beaded wooly bugger.

- Kerry caught her first fish ever with a Panther Martin spinner.

- Andrew, usually a fishing great, caught one.

Lesson seven: Fishing is all about bragging and making fun of those who catch nothing. Don't sympathize.

It was a good day on the river. We saw four bald eagle nests, a few with babies, high in the trees. Rock Chucks, light brown, burrowing ground squirrels, scurried around the bridge supports on the banks. Blue herons soared above. And the ducks fished alongside us.

Lesson eight: "If you don't stop and look once and awhile - put the rod down - you're missing half the trip," Hack said.

Easy for him to say, I thought. He can catch seven fish in the time it takes me to remove the fly hook entangled in my hair.

But as we dismounted the boat, I learned something else about Hack that made his comment seem not so trite.

Hack only has one leg. His prosthetic right leg is painted with a brown trout chasing a rainbow, in full color. It's beautiful.

Hack used to work at the saw mill until he got into one really bad accident. But he says it's the best thing that happened to him. It gave him the life he loves - a life on the river, fishing, teaching others to fish and enjoy the journey.

"Every day I'm thankful to be here," he said. "Wherever I go, the sun shines."

Lesson nine: Buy a season's fishing license, every summer, wherever I am.

In Wyoming, they only cost $29.50.

**On the net

Visit the Web site at http://www.casperstartribune.net/slideshow/brownheaven to see a slideshow of our North Platte fishing trip and to meet Mike "Hack" Patterson and Vince, Kim and Andrew Hytrek.

**More Saratoga

Saratoga is our Hometown on the Range this month. Check out Sunday's Range section for more stories about the Hotel Wolf, the Hobo Hot Pool and the people who do all they can to stay in a town where the pace is slow, the fish plentiful, the people few and the friendships deep.

**Reach Hannah Wiest at (307) 266-0535 or hannah.wiest@casperstartribune.net