Fishing Report

For the Week ending 18th September 2016

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The forecast turned out correctly with generally cloudy weather for a few days and now clear blue skies.The forecast for the coming week is the same with the possibility of rain midweek but clearing towards next weekend with clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid 60's. As we move into Autumn the colors are beginning to change. We had the equinoxial winds this week which blue some leave onto the water and made floating on the Colorado in the more open sections a mild challenge. Cameron and Ed were commenting that sometimes the winds were blowing the boats upstream! Still the fishing has been excellent all around.

The question remains when the Bureau will be able to drop the flows a little to make the Pan more wadable in the narrower sections. The hatches have been good closer to the dam but the higher flows have meant that the better sections for dry fly fishing are the wider parts of the river where the water can spread out and the fish feed closer to the surface. The hatches mid-river have been generally poor because of the higher water.

The Fork and the Colorado are in great condition now with excellent reports from float trips. Overall we are now entering our favorite time of the year for fishing and the outlook is ideal.

Frying Pan

Current Flow: below the Dam 300cfs.(if you want more uptodate figures check out current readings on our "Links" page)

With the cloud cover midweek there were some excellent hatches and great dry fly action. There are good drake hatches coming off near the dam, but the hatches don't last for a long time so it is a matter of being on the river mid to late morning.

There was some nice BWO activity mid-river during the cloudy period midweek, but the fish were fussy keying in on exacting patterns. The better results were flies with grey bodies such as the winger baetis or the Adams.

Generally the better results are from nymphing unless one takes the time to position oneself for the hatches. The higher flows continue to make wading a little tricky but it is possible that the flows could come down in the next few weeks if we get some more rain.

The fishing is excellent in the wider sections closer to the dam where the fishing are not competing with the higher flows which have made access a little tricky in the narrower sections. So take care where you try to access that water.

Recommended Flies:Use midges, bwos, pmd's and drakes, both nymphs and dries.

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.

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, Johnny Flash in Olive, Grey, and Black, Olive and Red Jujubee, trailing shuck midge black and cream.

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.

There will also be caddis and crane flies in the evening.

Roaring Fork

Current Flow: near Emma - 512cfs (if you want more uptodate figures check out current readings on our "Links" page).

The dry week kept the flows flat at Basalt. The fishing conditions are ideal with rafting access from Basalt still possible but getting skinnier by the day. The conditions are also good lower down towards Glenwood with the lighter pressure and marginally cooler temperatures. The cold overnight temperatures are really helping the conditions.

The best results are from nymphing and the best nymph patterns are getting smaller. Concentrate on small flies.

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.

For the stone fly nymphs good patterns continue to include the BB FB Epoxy 20 Incher, the BTB Hot Spot 20 Incher and the CTB RL Epoxy 20 Incher. Also try drake nymphs such as the FPA Nymph, or the poxyback. For variety try the muskrat as well.

Try streamers.

Colorado

The Colorado is generally in good condition and affords some great floating. The effective flies are getting smaller, but streamers are still yielding good results.

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.

Try streamers as well.

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