Frying Pan Anglers - Colorado Fly Fishing Report 18th June

As predicted, we passed the peak of the run-off during last week. So from now on the level in the Fork should drop quite quickly affording some excellent fishing for the season. The Flow is still high at Glenwood and on the Colorado but higher up the level has dropped over 600cfs in just a week.

The Pan has dropped to 200cfs by the end of the week indicating that Rocky Fork has passed its peak as well. The tributaries are clear so the Pan is pristine.

We had some hot weather during the past week with the temperature in Basalt getting into the 90's on occasion. Despite the forecast, we had no rain or thunderstorms so it is quite dry. The forecast for the coming week is similar but perhaps not quite as hot. There is a suggestion that we might get some thunderstorms later in the week. They would be welcome for both the cloud cover and the precipitation.

If you are coming up and want a more accurate report on the water quality, give us a call at the shop and we will be only too happy to provide you with as much accuracy as we can.

Summer activities have certainly started in the Valley. Last week the Food and Wine festival and Aspen Film: SummerFilms starts today. In addition this week sees the beginning of the Snowmass Summer of free music, the Aspen Theater in the Park and the Aspen Center for Physics series of lectures. These events will certainly begin to bring a lot of visitors to our Valley.

For those who might be interested in booking the Taylor Creek Cabins we advise that we a fully booked for July and August and only have a few days left for September.

During the past week there have been large numbers of fishermen, particularly towards the Dam. Closer to town there have been a few fishermen but the pressure is less.

The marginally lower flow and bright light has pushed the fish to the shaded edges and into the deep water. We now have a range of consistent hatches from PMD's, midges, BWO's and a few caddis lower down.

Cameron reported good fishing with PMD's mid-river while Harry had some great days closer to town on caddis. Barry had some excellent BWO and midge fishing during the week higher up.

Recommended Flies:

With PMD's coming off try emergers and dries. A barr's emerger or the FPA PMD emerger #18 work well. Try fishing them behind orange stimulators.

For baetis try a small FPA sparkle baetis, a thorax sparkle baetis, the icebreaker or a pheasant tail before they start to rise. Try sizes #18 - #22. In addition, when the BWO's start coming off try RS2's and other emerger patterns behind a dry. It doesn't hurt to try the emergers behind the nymphs if the fish are staying down in the higher water. For dries, use parachute Adams, Matthews sparkle baetis, biot BWO, the extended body BWO and the grizzly Adams. Take sizes from #18 - #24.

Midges come off during the day and in the evenings so try WD-40's #20 , red and black chironocones #20, brassie's #18 - #22, midge larva patterns #18 - #22, black polywings #18 - #22 and garcia's rojo midges # 18 - #22. Try the gray loopwing emergers #20 - #22, the special emergers both with and without the trailing shuck and gray RS2's #18 - #22. Also carry dry patterns such as the z-wing real midge, suspended midge and any similar dry black and gray patterns in sizes from #20 through to #26.

There are some caddis coming off on the lower Pan so try emergers and dries towards evening. Closer to town the fish are taking stone flies. Try the crawling caddis as well.

Roaring Fork

Current Flow: near Emma - 1290cfs (if you want more uptodate figures check out current readings on our "Links" page).

With the water level having fallen over 600cfs since last week, we are definitely passed the height of the run-off. It is still big water but the color is good and the fishing is improving, particularly higher up.

Ed reported good fishing in the lower Fork with caddis, PMD and drake emergers. Travis reported reasonable fishing in the lower fork with PMD's 20 inchers and on the Colorado with the H & L Variant where a few drakes were coming off. However the Colorado was dirty.

Recommended Flies: Use the same flies as the Pan. (See our report for the Frying Pan). In addition use baetis nymphs and emergers, bwo's, streamers, stone flies such as the 20 incher and golden stones. Also use larger dries such as stimulators and with the hot weather try a hopper with a dropper. Use caddis emergers and then dries as the day progresses. Lower down use drake emergers and dries.

With the improving conditions on the Fork, the Colorado should begin to improve, but it is currently still big discolored water. So if you are in the area, make the trip a little further up the Fork towards Basalt where the water conditions will continue to improve as the flow drops in the coming week.

Recommended Flies: caddis dries and emergers, PMDs - nymphs emergers and dries; bwo's - nymphs emergers and dries; 20 inchers size #10 - #14; streamers #6 and #8. Green drake emergers and dries.