Frying Pan Anglers - Colorado Fly Fishing Report 18th June

The cold weather has certainly arrived. Clear blue skies, and no snow. The opening of the ski season was very poor with minimal skiing terrain available. But the fishing was certainly good in the cold although the hatches were minimal. We had a number of visitors in town over the Thanksgiving holiday although the cold kept a lot indoors.

The weather for the coming week is predicted to be predominantly cloudy, cold and snow showers. The cold weather has dropped the flow in the Fork to the lowest it has been since last Winter (290cfs). As the sun continues to get lower and the cold sets in the key now will be to try and fish in the sunny areas as the midges come off.

If you have a mind to get out on to the river, be extremely well dressed and comfortable. Look for the wider sections of the rivers where the sun will shine for a while longer. The options will diminish over the next month as the days get shorter. The narrower parts of the Frying Pan valley will not get much sun now for several months. Similarly some parts of the Fork will also be mostly in shade for a while now.

From now on it will only be the hardened fishermen who will be out on the river. There will be excellent fishing over the coming months. The key will be to take care in handling the fish. Preferably leave the fish in the water and break off the fly if you can’t easily remove it. Holding a fish out in the freezing air for a photo during the coldest days can kill it as its gills freeze. So take care and enjoy some excellent winter fishing.

The cold weather arrived, but not much snow accompanied it. With the cold, the hatches dropped right off. In the bright light the fish sought as much protection as they could in deeper parts of the river and in the shade. The fish are now down deep or in the slower parts of the river below areas of aeration. The fishing on the Pan mid river was good this weekend when the sun was on the water. The fish took black biot midge patterns fished deep with a red rojo midge.

The fish are still on the redds at the moment but as the water gets colder the spawn will finish. They will continue on the redds below the dam well into January.

Recommended Flies: With the cold of winter having arrived, the principal hatch will now be midges. They will come off during the day, particularly if it is sunny. So try WD-40's #20 , red and black chironocones #20, brassie's #18 - #22, midge larva patterns #18 - #22, copper johns #18 - #22, black polywings #18 - #22 and garcia's rojo midges # 18 - #22. Try the gray loopwing emergers #20 - #22, the FPA special emergers, biot 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 #28. As the cold weather intensifies the midges will tend to get smaller, so be prepared to fish very light leader and very small flies. In addition try and sight fish and concentrate on drifting the fly right to the feeding fish. They will not move much as it gets colder and the feed gets smaller. There is no point in expending much energy for minimal return by chasing a #30 midge floating past.

In addition try egg patterns down stream but keep off the redds. Shortly the only spawning fish will be near the dam as the rest of the river gets too cold.

Roaring Fork

Current Flow: near Emma - 290cfs (if you want more uptodate figures check out current readings on our "Links" page).

The principal hatch at the moment is midges which are coming off in the mornings as the sun hits the water.

The fish will take small nymphs and midge emergers when nymphing during the day. With the arrival of the colder weather and possibly some snow things will really start to slow down. The big fish won’t take after streamers as it gets colder and they will move to the deeper slower parts of the river. When that happens, it will be a matter of nymphs such as princes and copper johns, various midge patterns and egg patterns.

Recommended Flies: Overall the best results on the Fork are from nymphing now that the cold weather has arrived.

During the day use midge emergers and tiny nymph attracters. See some of the patterns we have mentioned for the Pan. If you are nymphing deep down, use plenty of weight and pick where the fish are protected behind structure or deeper down in the slower water. Also try princes, brassies, copper johns and eggs deep down.

Colorado River

The water in the Colorado remains clear at the moment. It is not as cold as the Fork yet so there will be a few BWO’s coming off as well as midges but generally try streamers if floating or alternatively nymphs and eggs deep down.

Recommended Flies: BWO nymphs; midges emergers and dries during the hatches, eggs and princes, 20 inchers size #10 - #14; streamers #2 - #8.