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The US Fish and Wildlife Service called for more water for the endangered fish near Grand Junction this week and as a consequence the releases from Ruedi went back to 300cfs. This is getting silly. The consensus is for the flow to remain around 250cfs for ideal fishing conditions on the Pan. The US Fish and Wildlife Service saw one pike minnow in its fish ladder in the last 12 months and so that takes precedence over the many businesses in Basalt and generally in the Roaring Fork Valley which rely on a good fishing season to pay the bills for the remaining 9 months of the year. What between the EPA releasing toxic material into the Animas and now the US Fish and Wildlife cranking up the flows further for questionable benefits for a fish but obviously negative benefits for local businesses there is no wonder in the general discourse now one hears ever louder calls for adults to be put back in charge. The forecast for the coming week is similar to last week with the possibility of a little rain over the next few days, but generally temperatures ranging up to the low 80's and the chance of cloud cover. The drake hatches are still very strong in the top 2 miles towards the Dam. The fishing is excellent with a strong mixture of midges, drakes, PMD's and BWO. The Fork is still very busy over the weekend. On Saturday because of color coming into the Colorado from the Eagle, most traffic was confined to the lower Fork and what a traffic jam that was! The conditions remain ideal for this time of year and as the crowds leave the rivers are quite quiet now except on the weekend.
With the flows back up to 300cfs the wading is a little harder in the narrower sections of the Pan. So the best choice is to find the wider sections closer to the Dam where the hatches are excellent at the moment. Lower down though, the high water is making the dry fly fishing a rare occurrence. But nymphing is very successful with a lot of good fishing being reported. Recommended Flies:Use Drakes, PMD's, midges, bwo's, nymphs and attractors. The fish are also taking small nymphs and caddis patterns.Also use drake emergers before the fish key in on the naturals during the day. For mysis at the dam use Mike's Mysis. epoxy mysis, and BDV mysis. The midges will come off during the day, particularly if it is sunny. So try Wilson's Reverse Candy Cane #20, red and black chironocones #20, nick's larva in miracle pink, olive, and purple back, brassies #18 - #22, midge larva patterns #18 - #22, copper johns #18 - #22, rainbow warriors, black polywings #18 - #22 and bling midges # 18 - #22. In addition try dry patterns such as the z-wing real midge, black cdc midge and any similar dry black and gray patterns in sizes from #20 through to #26. The fish are taking generic nymphs such as pheasant tails and caddis larva patterns. The BWO's are coming off as well. Try emerger patterns such as rs2's and WD-50's. For BWO naturals use standard BWO's, parachute BWO's, parachute Adams, and Thorax patterns. For PMD's use emergers and dries. For emergers, use the RS2, the emerger, or the FPA shuck trailer PMD. For dries use the No-hackle, the Comparadun or the parachute. For drake nymphs try the Flavilinea, the FPA Nymph and the Muskrat. As soon as the fish start taking dries start with the emerger and then try W's Drake, the Wulff, the cripple, and the Comparadun.
Current Flow: near Emma - 538cfs (if you want more uptodate figures check out current readings on our "Links" page). The Fork spiked up during the week when we had some overnight rain particularly on Thursday night into Friday morning. But the river cleared quickly and now it is back down and just fractionally higher than it was a week ago. Part of the increase is due to the additional 30cfs released from Ruedi. The river was very busy on the weekend with the Colorado having blown as a result of the Eagle. It was a regular traffic jam and even fishermen starting later in the day found it was busy. So pick your time carefully if you want to avoid being an insignificant member of the Spanish Armada. On the other hand, if you just want a nice boat ride and some casting practice, it will be great. Recommended Flies: The best results on the Fork now are from nymphing. Use either stoneflies or attractor patterns down deep, with small nymphs or emergers as the second fly. In the clear water and bright days the fish are near structure or down deep. Try small baetis such as the FPA Sparkle Baetis, the FPA Thorax Emerger, and black pheasant tails have also worked well. For emergers, the rs2 in black or gray. Also the sparkle wing rs2. For small flies, copper johns, pc phlash, mercury rs2's, pheasant tails, bubble back bwos.
The conditions on the Colorado were excellent until the Eagle blew out and colored it up over the weekend. It will probably be colored up for a few days, so if you are coming up check with the shop as to the conditions on the Colorado in advance. If we get more rain that will prolong these conditions. Recommended Flies: Generally the way to go is nymphing with small baetis, the FPA sparkle baetis, sparkle rs2's and biot emergers. For stonefly nymphs use the BTB Hot Spot 20 Incher, rubberleg patterns such as Mike's BTB Coffee/Black and the Halloween Speckled Girdle Bug, with midges, worms and small baetis patterns behind the lead fly. Check out our new Frying Pan River Lodge. |
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