Frying Pan Anglers - Colorado Fly Fishing Report 18th June

Another generally hot week has passed but on Thursday we did get a little rain. The first for over a month. It was a welcome change but we would be grateful for some more if the weatherman could accommodate us. He is promising more thunderstorms and rain as the coming week progresses.

The fishing has been excellent over the past week. The Fork has still been coming down and with the flow in the Pan being unseasonally low at 182cfs, the Fork is getting shallow below Basalt earlier than normal. The water condition is excellent.

During the week there were several reports of drakes on the Pan. By Saturday there was a nice drake hatch mid-river and although the fish were not taking them off the top they were taking emergers aggressively. They will be all the way up to the Dam some time this week.

We now have a lot of visitors in town and are in full swing for the season. There were a lot of boats and rafts on the Fork on Sunday at various points however as the day progressed they cleared so that towards evening there were only a few fishermen on the river.

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

Beautiful brown taken by Sandy Karp while floating the Fork on Sunday afternoon. Caught on a #18 pheasant tail.

The Bureau has done it again! This past week they dropped the flow in the Pan to 156cfs for most of the week and then put it back up to 182cfs on Saturday. 156cfs was just too low for the fish in some places so raising the level back to 182cfs is a good start. Hopefully in the coming week the flow might go back up to the mid 200's which would be ideal.

On Saturday mid-river, drakes were coming off intermittently around midday. Then some cloud cover blew in and they started coming off in earnest in the afternoon. Generally they were the smaller flavilinea about #14. The fish were not taking them off the surface but they did take the emergers. So many fish broke off on 7x that they used up all the emergers. So the solution was to sink a cripple with a little lead. That rig proceeded to catch fish at the same rate. As a matter of interest, I then sank a comparadun and that worked just as well. So the drakes have arrived on the Pan and are there to be enjoyed for the next couple of months.

There are now several hatches of PMD's a day. In addition, midges are coming off morning afternoon and evenings while BWO's will come off if there is any cloud cover, or on the bright days, in the shade. There are caddis as well particularly in the evenings but they are not as dominant on the Pan as the Fork.

Recommended Flies:

For drakes try the dries, cripples emergers and the nymphs. Over the next month or so, there will be so many drakes offered to the fish on the Pan that they will become very selective. The solution will be a combination of good presentation and perhaps a pattern with a touch variation from the norm.

With PMD's coming off try emergers and dries. A barr's emerger or the FPA PMD emerger #18 work well. Also try the hunch back #18 and the #18 special emerger. Try fishing them behind orange stimulators. If the activity is a little slow during the day, try some nymphs down deeper.

For baetis t ry 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 Pan so try emergers and dries towards evening. In the evenings or in the shade, the caddis will be coming down to the surface. Try the crawling caddis as well. During the heat of the day, try terrestrials such as hoppers close to the banks where they are undercut.

Roaring Fork

Current Flow: near Emma - 550cfs (if you want more uptodate figures check out current readings on our "Links" page).

The flow continues to drop and now the water condition is generally excellent. Despite the marginally increased flow from the Pan the Fork has dropped another 200 cfs at Basalt over the past week. The best fishing is either in the mornings or the evenings as it slows down in the afternoon for a couple of hours.

The rain on Thursday evening resulted in a little color from the Crystal on Friday consequently the Fork had a touch of color lower down on Friday afternoon. At this time of year a heavy downpour can cause this so if any rain is in evidence check with shop or just drive a little further up the Roaring Fork Valley past Carbondale.

Ed, Cameron and Harry have all reported good floating during the week, particularly higher up. In the evenings the hatches are prolific.

Lower down it is the same with the bugs coming off prolifically as darkness falls. The drakes are now higher up the Fork towards Aspen, but the fish will still remember them lower down with a few stragglers still about from time to time.

Recommended Flies:

Overall the best results on the Fork are from nymphing.

During the day use PMD and BWO nymphs and emergers behind hopper or stimulator patterns. If you are nymphing deep down, use plenty of weight in the fast running water and pick where the fish are a little protected behind structure or deeper down in the slower water.

In addition use caddis emergers as well. For variety put on a stone fly or a drake nymph during the day fished deep if things slow down.

In the afternoons and evenings there is a myriad of bugs coming off or in the air, yet the fish are still keeping low most of the time. So continue to use PMD and BWO nymphs and emergers. Use caddis pupa and emerger patterns as well as the caddis are prolific in the shade and towards evenings.

With the drakes coming off higher up the Fork use drake nymphs and emergers in the afternoons and evenings.

Colorado River

The Colorado water conditions are now better with the Fork coming down further. There was a little color as a result of some rain, but it should come good again shortly.

Recommended Flies: caddis dries and emergers, PMDs - nymphs emergers and dries; bwo's - nymphs emergers and dries; yellow sallies #16 - #18; 20 inchers size #10 - #14; streamers #6 and #8.