Winter Tailwaters

As the mercury stays at or below the freezing point the fishing on the many tail waters in Colorado continues to be excellent. The South Platte, Frying Pan, Blue, and Yampa are all fishing good with decent midge activity. Most action has been sub surface with scuds, sowbugs, eggs, leeches, or annelids on point trailed by smaller midge larva and pupa. Good patterns continue to be Rainbow Warriors, Blue Poison Tungs, Ray Charles, Top Secret Midge, Black Beauty Midges, Cheeseman Emergers, Brassies, and Skinny Nelsons. Recent trips to the Blue produced a lot of fish below Green Mountain Reservoir and with the flows down below 150cfs the wading is gravy. The egg bite on the Pan has been going strong for over a month and the bend pool has good numbers of browns and rainbows eating breakfast all day long. The road into the Stagecoach tail water will close January 1 so get there while she is still open. The midges have been best on cloudy days here and the dry fly pool comes alive around 11am. Skiing is for people who CAN'T fish.

Bighorn River

Just got back from the Bighorn at Fort Smith and can say that the river looks good.  Good flows (2750cfs) and lots of happy fish.  Fish were plentiful and eager to take nymphs and dries.  There seemed to be more fish feeding in fast shallow riffles than during the drought years.  The black caddis hatch was outstanding and really brought the fish to the top and hoppers to grassy banks or edges of side channels was hot for big fish and aggressive takes.  Nymphing with caddis pupa, ray charles, and soft hackle sow bugs provided constant action during the day.  The cdc black caddis with frogs fanny floatant scored the most strikes and when I tied it on with 6x the action really heated up.  On our final day we were sitting across from 3 mile access waiting out some rain when it went off!  The rain stopped and the clouds held drawing over 100 fish to the surface to feed with reckless abandon.  The whole slick seemed to be boiling at times.  You could choose the fish you wanted to catch and the fish were so turned on that nothing could put them down.  We stayed in that slick for over 3 hours catching brows and rainbows pushing 20 inches.  Some more aggressive takes on the hopper point fly by bigger fish but the cdc caddis #18 was the right groceries.  I had not been to the Horn in over 2 years and it was good to get back,  maybe come during duck season for a cast and blast.

Road Trip Part 2 (Dust...Look Around You, What Do You See)

We were very tired after the float on the Platte and our next destination was over 200 miles away, so we treated our selves to a hotel room in Rock Springs, just over an hour from our next destination, Fontanelle.  The Green below Fontanelle Reservoir is a river that I have fished with mixed success, always catching at least a couple but never the elusive 10 pounder.  This river has a ton of food and some big fish but not a ton of them.  Maybe some  restrictions on bait use and bag limits would help the fish count.  We met a good friend at the Fontanelle Store, (everything comes with a side of dust), and headed out to launch boats and set shuttle.  The sky was a mix of thick clouds with just a touch of sun to take the chill out of the air.  This could be good. 

   The first fish was a huge Cutty about 4 pounds or so and the second fish came minutes later.  This big boy was a brown well over 20 inches and much fatter than the Cut.  Both fish taken on a chubby chernoble, which continued to produce big fish all day.  Other effective flies were Noble Chernobles and different drake patterns as well as streamers.  With the mix of high clouds and sun we set up on several groups of fish and caught several out of each group.  This was the best I had ever seen this place fish.  I have had some hard days here so a good day was welcomed.  We floated almost 18 miles that day, trying to average 20 per day, and saw only three boats right at 6am.  Heading north to Big Piney, and the Green again.

Road Trip Part 1 (A Little Boat Ramp Called Prospect

A few days ago I returned from a trip that took us over 1750 miles, 175 of which spent floating 3 different rivers.  Flows on the upper North Platte were still about 650 cfs so we started off for Saratoga and a nasty road to a boat launch known as Prospect.  I now understand how this road is rendered impassable after even the slightest rain and my anticipation grew as we crept down a narrow canyon towards the river.  Saratoga was a buzz of activity that morning but almost all of the traffic would be from Bennet Peak downriver.  We launched the boat at about 9:00 that morning and began chucking streamers immediately.  Even with bright sun we hooked several browns immediately and were getting follows every other cast.  When the streamer action started to slow I picked up a another rod and right away started hooking fish on size 10 and 12 stimulators.  There were yellow sallies, a few pmd's, and tons of caddis, especially closer to dark.  We caught fish all day on dries and, the biggest of which was just over 20 inches.  The scenery is spectacular and there is a smaller micro canyon lower down that fishes well with streamers and big dries.  The float took about 10 hours and with higher flows putting in at 6 mile with a raft and some pontoon boats would be a killer all day float at 25 miles.  Pick to Bennet is about 17 miles and if the flows were closer to 1000 the fishing would have been even better.  Can't wait to go back, maybe float Northgate to Six Mile in the fall, late October or early November.

 

caddis

  The caddis hatches on both the South Platte and the Blue have been excellent over the past weeks.  The Blue below Green Mountain Res in particular has a thick hatch starting about 10:30 am and lasting as long as 5 pm, with plenty of other bugs  evident all day.  Fish seemed to rise best from 11-2 and were twice as likely to take a dry if it was skated across the water rather than dead drifted.  Nymphing the riffles during the hatch was very productive and we fished most of the day with dry dropper rigs, a PMX with tungsten caddis droppers.  The lower flows made the wade fishing excellent and we fished the river downstream from the dam almost 2 miles with no body else in sight.

Salmonflies

The Salmonfly hatch on the Colorado River has been going for almost 10 days now with the number of bugs starting to diminish.  Several anglers reported some of the best fishing they have ever had in both Gore and Byers Canyons.  Who doesn't like aggressive top water action with 2 inch long dries tied on with 8 pound tippet.  A hike up into one of the mentioned canyons is your best bet to still get some action locally.  These great bugs are hatching on the North Platte below the state line in Wyoming and the Gunnison is expecting the emergence in a week or so.

In a recent trip to the Colorado River we also noted caddis, olives, pmd's, and stones of various sizes and colors.  The water was still very stained but large flies fished close to the banks did well as well as large stone droppers.  The trend on this river now is clearing and dropping so a trip to the upper Colorado is a good bet.  Other hot spots include Cheeseman Canyon, the Blue, and Grey Reef which has had an awesome later spring with great hatches and rising fish.  The Poudre is high and nasty right now and the Big Thompson is bumping up and down but fishing well.

Virginia Smallies

On a trip to Virginia and Delaware last weekend I was lucky enough to try for Smallies on the Shenondoah for a day.  My Father, Brother, and self  alike all used to fish the 'Doah and the Potomac  for bass, Smallmouth in particular.  What used to be an awesome fishery 15 to 20 years ago has experienced a decline in fish and water quality over this time putting what few guides there were out of business for seasons at a time.  Here and there would be a decent season but more often that not you could fish a whole day and get blanked.  You could imagine my excitement upon receiving a call from my dad to tell me of recent success on the Shenandoah.  On the day before I left Virginia we floated with A friend of my Father, "thanks Dave!", and tore it up.  An 8 mile section of the river with action the whole way; if I caught 1 I caught 100.  Fish were eager to eat clouser minnows and flashy baitfish patterns; as well as some local favorites, again, "thanks Dave". Most of the fish were smaller, but if the water quality holds up next year should be fabulous.  These rivers in Virginia may be rebounding from years of runoff from the many chicken farms scattered around the mountains.  already booked my trip for next year.

Salmonflies are showing themselves this week around the state.  The Colorado and the North Platte are both seeing hatches while the nymphs are crawling around the Gunny.  With cooler temps these rivers are clearing and fishing can be HOT during these windows.  Salmonflies on top is about as much fun as a guy can have and if you are lucky enough to fish the hatch you will chase it the rest of your life.I have friends going to Byers Canyon, and the North Platte this weekend so I should have an accurate report by Monday.