Frying Pan Anglers - Frying Pan Anglers fly fishing, fishing reports , fly fishing equipment, guides, guided fishing trips and float trips. Aspen, Basalt and the Colorado.

For Fly Fishing on the Frying Pan River, the Roaring Fork River and the Colorado River for the week ended 28th June 2009

Latest update 2nd July. With the flow in the Pan having just dropped to 336cfs and the Roaring Fork back to just over 2000cfs at the moment the runoff has finished and the flows are coming down fast! The Pan is now perfect and the Fork will be excellent for floating from Basalt this weekend.

The past week saw a continuation of the warming weather with some days reaching the 90’s. At the same time we have a substantial amount of rain in keeping with the prediction of thunderstorms. Consequently The rivers pushed back up again. Ruedi is full and therefore the bureau have been releasing water to keep level with the inflows.

At the moment the Pan is running at 664 but is very clear. The Fork is running close to 3000cfs at Basalt. A look at the graph indicates that if you took out the increased flow from the Pan and adjusted for the rain, the Fork is certainly topping out. The current weather prediction is for 4 days of clear skies with temperatures in the high 70’s. If we have a dry few days one would expect the Fork to begin to drop confirming that we are completing the run-off.

It has been a strange enough runoff this year with the longer stretch of cooler weather and the high rainfall having extended the high water over a longer period. However the water is in great condition despite it being high and fast. The rainfall has been remarkable and has contributed to excellent growth. The grasses are high, the trees have been weeks ahead of their usual growth period and the hay growth has been excellent.

All things being equal, from here one would expect the rivers to drop quite quickly. The acquifers should be filling well which will keep the springs running and the water flowing longer into autumn.

The recent rains coupled with Ruedi being at capacity has caused the Bureau to release more water to maintain control of the run-off. The Bureau can’t let the water run over the top of the dam because thereafter they will have no control of the flows. Consequently the rains coupled with the higher temperatures last week caused the Bureau to push the flows from 308cfs back up to 664cfs. However the Bureau has now dropped the rate back in 3 50cfs increments to 495cfs so that by the weekend at this rate the flow will be significantly lower.

The coming week is expected to be relatively hot with clear skies. This means that the flows should start to drop coming into to Ruedi and therefore we should see a concomitant drop in the releases as the week progresses. We are well past the peak as evidenced in the lower tributaries which have been running clear and dropping now for some time.

The hatches are strong now with PMD’s coming off twice a day, caddis abounding in the evenings of hot days and the ubiquitious midge making several daily appearances. This week during the rain there was a strong BWO hatch as well.

Harry and Mike reported some excellent trips out despite the higher water. The condition of the water is excellent and his clients found a lot of feeding fish along the edges and in the quieter sections of the rivers.

Keep an eye on the water levels in the coming week. One would expect that with a few days of dry weather, the releases will drop quite quickly. Give us a calla t the shop if you are coming up or look at the links page to see the latest readings on releases.

Recommended Flies: The warming weather will encourage the PMD's as well as caddis lower down. Midges still predominate although there are some larger mayflies coming off now as well mid morning on the brighter days. The BWO's are still in evidence on cloudy days but diminishing in number.

For the PMD's try comparadun patterns #16 and #18 as well as Barr's emergers and the FPA special PMD emerger. Never pass up the opportunity to try a lighter colored pheasant tail #14 - #18. In addition try larger adams patterns as well as other mayfly patterns as evening falls. The fish will be attracted to the silhouette rather than the color of the fly. As it warms there will be 2 PMD hatches a day and the concomitant ensuing spinner 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, brassie's #18 - #22, midge larva patterns #18 - #22, copper johns #18 - #22, black polywings #18 - #22 and garcia's rojo midges # 18 - #22.

If the fish start moving higher in the water column or get active under the surface, 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.

When the fish are on the surface try dry patterns such as the z-wing real midge, suspended midge and any similar dry black and gray patterns such as a parachute Adams in sizes from #20 through to #28, loopwing emergers #20 - #22 and FPA special emergers #20 - #30. Use light tippet all the way to 12x depending on the brightness of the light and the degree to which the fish are getting particular.

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.

Roaring Fork

Current Flow: near Emma - 2570cfs (if you want more uptodate figures check out current readings on our "Links" page).

With the past week of hot weather and a lot of rain, we had some quite dramatic daily changes in the flows of the Fork. It is evident that the Fork has stopped rising much more and is now oscillating in a 500cfs range from mid 2000’s to 3000cfs. However with the prediction of warmer weather and clear skies, and with the expected drop in releases from Ruedi this week, one would expect that by the end of the week the flows will be falling as we continue to move well past the peak. In evidence, by Tuesday the daily flow daily peak has dropped signficantly over the past 3 days despite the very hot last few days. By the weeks end with the anticipated dry weather it will be lower.

The water condition is excellent though high and fast. The fish are on the edges and in the quieter or deeper sections. Floating is fast and in the evenings is productive if you throw some big dries. There is a lot of float traffic as rafters and boaters just enjoy the high water and the hot conditions.

Keep an eye on the flows to confirm that the levels are going to settle as the week progresses.

Recommended Flies: For the moment with the flow fast and rising but still below its peaks, the water is in good condition.

Fish the edges and deep down with caddis emergers and dries, baetis and pmd nymphs, stone fly nymphs such as Mckee's and Pat's rubblerlegs and golden stone patterns, worms and attractors. Also try larger midge patterns along the edges as well.

The fish are now looking up well so a dry/dropper combination of orange stimulators and large dry stone flies with a smaller caddis dropper will work particularly in the evening. During the day, put on a nymph dropper or caddis emerger behind the large dry and fish the edges and seams.

If you are floating, try streamers against the edges and in the quieter pockets as well as attractors, large stone fly nymphs with caddis emergers and san juan worms.

Colorado River

The Colorado is still essentially unfishable at the moment and the higher flows from the Fork have contributed.

So the best advice is that if you are in the area and want some great fishing, just turn on to Highway 82 at Glenwood and head towards Basalt for clearer water in the Fork and the pristine waters of the Frying Pan.

Contact Details:

Basalt Phone Number: 970 927 3441

Other details

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If you would like to receive this report on a regular basis please email us at report@fryingpananglers.com and let us know.

Are you interested in a career as a fishing guide? We are always on the lookout for good guides who are interested in establishing themselves in our catchment area. Whether you want to be a wade guide or a float guide we have opportunities open. If you are interested give us a call at the shop (970 - 9273441) and speak to Art about the requirements and opportunities.

Frying Pan Anglers is a specialty fly fishing shop, and a licensed (#2389), insured outfitter in the State of Colorado.

We provide guiding services on the Frying Pan River, and float and guiding services on the Roaring Fork and the Colorado Rivers.

Whether you are a beginner or an accomplished angler, you can't go wrong by using one of our guides to help you learn our area's fine rivers. It is always a good idea to hire a guide at the onset of your vacation so you will learn the rivers and pick up on some of our productive fishing techniques.

In addition to walk/wade guided fishing trips we also offer float fishing trips in McKenzie style river boats. We supply the equipment and a hearty lunch on full-day trips.

Basalt is a short, thirty-minute drive from Aspen and is at the center of Colorado's Gold Medal fly fishing. The Frying Pan River joins the Roaring Fork just a few hundred yards from our front door.

We now have our own private access stretch of the Frying Pan River. It is available to those staying in Taylor Creek Cabins, guided trips and where there is availability, the public provided they sign in at the shop. This is the best Colorado Fly Fishing has to offer.