Frying Pan Anglers, guided fly fishing trips, fly fishing equipment, Frying Pan and Roaring Fork Fly Fishing Reports

Thursday August 13th. Shoshone has stopped releasing and is filling up now. This means that the Colorado should be starting to clear now. The Pan is still running at 510cfs and though touch wading is fishing well along the edges after a day. But is still makes the wading tough in places. It looks as though the predicted change is stating to show up as there is a little rain in the air. It will be a nice change. As the cloud came in during the afternoon there was a good BWO hatch and the fish took Adams Parachutes and similar colored gray bodied flies.

The Bureau put the Pan up again on Wednesday evening so that it is now running at 324cfs. It is a good flow but it is just starting to get a little tough for wading on the narrower sections if you are a little unsteady on your feet. The Fork is continuing to slow and is running at just over 600cfs at Basalt. The Colorado cleared up during the week and gave some spectacular fishing. The fishing was quite exceptional after the few weeks of unclear water. Have a look at some of these great catches from Mike’s client, Ed’s Client and Cameron’s Clients. The quality of fish coming out of the Colorado now is exceptional and a great testament to the excellent work that has been done by the DOW in working to re-establish the rainbows in our area since the whirling disease hit. These photos attest to the success of the effort.

The DOW have also recently released a lot of smaller rainbows into the Fork mid-river so that if the success achieved in the Colorado is repeated on the Fork, in a year or so it will be exceptional as well. Frankly it is hard to think of many other fisheries which are so extensive and offering trout of this quality and in this number at the moment. The Taylor is apparently fishing well at the moment but there is only a mere fraction of the miles of river available here in the Pan, the Fork and the Colorado. And the traffic is actually quite light at the moment.

The forecast thundery weather occurred during the week and a cooler change has arrived after a couple of very hot days. The weather is predicted to be clear now for the next few days. We are into August now and as expected the fishing will slow down in the hot bright afternoons. But overall the fishing has been excellent provided you make the effort to adjust your starting time to suit the day and get into areas which are less trafficked. Since last week it seems that the traffic on the lower Fork has dropped off a little as one suspects that the clearer Colorado has attracted some of the traffic. But still there is plenty of room on that big river and Mike indicated that he only saw one other boat where he floated.

Cam and Harry have had some exceptional dry fly fishing on the Pan all week and the drakes are still coming off higher up towards the dam. In fact this evening there were smaller drakes coming off mid-river but the hatch was not overly strong.

We are now posting photos separately to make the loading of the report easier for your computer. You can see the latest photos here.

With the flows having been bumped up a little midweek, the Pan is now running at 324cfs. The water condition is perfect and the hatches remain prolific. A touch of cooler air this evening and the action slowed down markedly around 8pm. The coming week predicts clear weather and temperatures in the low 80’s so the clear skies will mean it will get cooler quite quickly now as the sun goes down.

Cam and Harry reported great dry fly action all week on the Pan. The cloudy weather and a little rain certainly helped midweek but even when it was clear there were good BWO hatches. The changeable weather worked wonders.

Drakes are coming off higher up now although the smaller drakes were coming off mid river this evening during a very strong midge hatch interspersed with PMDs and some caddis.

A range of flies worked from midges, BWO’s, PMD’s caddis and drakes. If, as predicted, the weather is clear earlier in the coming week, take your time because the full moon will allow the fish to feed into the night and they will be sluggish first thing in the morning.

Recommended Flies: For the drakes try dries with emergers as droppers. The fish will get such a lot of pressure now that the drakes are coming off. Consequently, it is wise to carry a range in the hope that you will be able to present something which is a little different. Try the gray wulff #10 - #12, the Irresistible Adams #10 - #12, the Adams and Adams Female #10 - #14 and the Klinkhammer #14. In addition talk to the guides in the shop. We are trying to have at least one guide on hand in the shop each day during the season.

For drake nymph droppers try the muskrat nymph, the BH anatomical and the split-case nymphs all in #10-#12.

For the PMD's try Lawson's no-hackles #14 - #16 gray/yellow and also the pink no-hackles #14 - 16. Try comparadun patterns #16 and #18 as well as Barr's emergers and the FPA special PMD emerger.

In the morning try red quills #14 - #18 and spinners.

In addition try larger adams patterns, sulphur's #14 - #18 as well as other mayfly patterns as evening falls.

The midges will come off during the day, particularly if it is sunny. So try WD-40's #20, red and black chironocones #20, brassies #18 - #22, midge larva patterns #18 - #22, copper johns #18 - #22, black polywings #18 - #22 and garcia's rojo midges # 18 - #22. Mike reported great success this week on smaller black midges such as the miracle midge.

As they come off 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. In addition try 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, loopwing emergers #20 - #22 and FPA special emergers #20 - #26.

For baetis try the FPA sparkle baetis #20-#22, FPA emerging baetis #22 - #26 and small pheasant tails #20 - #24. When they get up on to the surface use Parachute Adams, gray special emergers, olive body dries and winger baetis patterns.

As the season progresses and the fishing pressure intensifies, particularly with clear skies, the tippet will be most important. So be prepared for the fish to become more particular on presentation and anything else which might alert them to any risk. At this time of year, particularly in the slower water 7x is the minimum and 8 - 9x should be considered if the fish are particularly wary.

Roaring Fork

Current Flow: near Emma - 604cfs (if you want more uptodate figures check out current readings on our "Links" page).

The flow has dropped over 100cfs over the week despite the Bureau having put up the flow in the Pan by 50cfs midweek. Now with the Fork running around 600cfs at Basalt the conditions are excellent and the water is perfect. The bright hot days will induce the usual afternoon malaise in August but if the weather gets a little cloudy the hatches will keep coming off. There are good hatches now of midges in the morning, BWOs in the afternoon and PMDs and caddis in the evenings.

The numbers of rising fish are not large now despite the hatches so one suspects that there is so much food in the water they generally don’t need to expend the effort to go after the adults on the surface. The exception is the large number of small rainbows which are rising along the edges having been planted by the DOW recently. They are small and very aggressive chasing caddis dancing along the surface.

The consensus though remains, that nymphing is the most productive way to go. From stoneflies, to pmd, caddis and baetis nymphs and emergers to attractors like prince nymphs. With the water level lower now it is possible to fish the structures now so concentrate in those areas and below riffles and aeration.

Recommended Flies: Try drakes higher up as the fish will remember them, caddis emergers and dries, baetis and pmd nymphs, emergers and dries, stone fly nymphs such as Mckee's and Pat's rubblerlegs and yellow sally patterns.

PMD's are now in abundance and there are a few yellow sallies still about. Try PMD nymphs and emergers such as Barr's emergers #16-#20, the FPA biot PMD shuck trailer emerger #16 - #18, the Bubbleback and dries such as the comparadun, Lawson's no-hackle gray/yellow and pink as well as sulphurs in the evening.

For yellow sallies try the small nymph patterns like Kyle's yellow sally as well dries such as chuck's yellow trude, Flint's Yellow stone #16 and the Glasstail little yellow sally #16.

Although the drakes are nearing the end of their cycle, try Irresistible Adams #10 - #12, Adams and Female Adams #10 - #14 and gray wulffs #10 - #12. In addition try drake emergers such as the straw wings and dries. Put a smaller fly behind the drake like a PMD or a BWO.

The bwos also come off, particularly when it is cloudy so try baetis nymphs and emergers such as rs2's , FPA sparkle baetis #20 - #22 and the FPA emerging baetis #22 - #24.

The golden stones are now coming off at night so try stonefly nymphs with smaller nymphs.

When floating try a dry/dropper combination of orange stimulators and large dry stone flies or hopper patterns, with a smaller caddis dropper, PMD nymphs and emergers or baetis nymphs and emergers. As evening progresses try double dries.

Colorado River

After the colored water cleared in the Colorado early in the week, the fishing began in earnest and the quality was exceptional. Cam, Ed and Mike are now preferring the Colorado to the Fork given the quality of the fishing and the low level of traffic. So long as the weather remains clear the fishing will be great. Nymphing deep down is yielding the best results with baetis, PMD nymps and attractors.

Recommended Flies: If you are going to try the Colorado, try the Adams and Adams Female, the gray wulff and the Irresistible Adams #10 - #12. Try PMD nymphs emergers and dries such as the Lawson no-hackle pink and gray/yellow patterns #14 - #16. Try baetis nymphs and BWOs when it is cloudy. Try the adams as well as rs2s. In addition caddis are in abundance. Also try hopper patterns against the banks.