2018: The Year in Review

2018 was a great year on the water!  I fished some familiar water here in Colorado, some old haunts back home in New York, and explored some new water as well.  I also tied more flies and new patterns than I had ever before.  Some of you already know this, but catching fish on your own flies makes fly fishing even more rewarding.

This Green Drake Dun was floating along untouched on the Main Stem of the Delaware River.

The year started out on a COLD trip up into Eleven Mile Canyon.  I probably spend more time up there than anywhere else, which is awesome, but one of my goals is to branch out and fish some tougher spots and new water in 2019.  

I caught this beauty on a tiny midge dry in January.

February and March also fished well using small midge nymphs and dry flies.  I often will walk long stretches of water to hunt for risers during the winter.  Another big bonus of doing that is that my feet stay warm!  The bwo's come off in March, which can sometimes lead to an absolute feeding frenzy.  

Horace, pictured below, actually ate a midge "olive" dry.  To date this fish is one of my favorite of all time.  You just can't beat those colors.

Not everywhere in Colorado has a tremendous bwo hatch, but for me this year, the Eagle River and certain sections of the South Platte delivered.  The Eagle is a tremendous fishery with extremely hard fighting fish.  I did nymph more before the thickest part of the bwo hatch on that river and the rewards were spectacular.  As I wrote about during my first few posts back in March, the chocolate thunder or foam wing emerger is a must have during the winter months and when bwo nymphs are in the water column.  

April and May brought about nice weather, but low water.  The snow pack was extremely poor last winter so we never really experienced a true runoff in most parts of Colorado during 2018.  

My good buddy Darren and I got into some "Double Trouble" on the Colorado during the Salmonfly hatch and then we ran into some Bighorn Sheep on our way up the Taylor River.  I took my first trip to Gunnison to fish and we stayed in the hamlet of Almont.  We had a good 'ol time there and caught some nice fish as well.  

Next was my annual trip back to New York to see my family, friends, and or course, to fish the Delaware River.  Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions (See the link to his amazing videos below) came to fish with us this year and we had a fantastic time.  There is nothing like fishing the mighty Delaware.  The scenery is spectacular and since all of the fish are wild, it is as challenging of a fishery that you will find in the world.   

I saw some tremendously beautiful wildlife while floating the river with my trusty "guide" Nixie.  We have been floating the Delaware every year since 2011 and needless to say it's worth the trip if you've never been there.  It's a tough place to fish so don't expect 30 fish days are anything like that, but sometimes one fish can make a day! 

This fatty brown took an Iris Caddis in the foam line.  He was quite a fighter! 

When I came back to Colorado in July the Trico hatch was in full swing.  I wrote numerous times about the Trico hatch this year so check out some of my previous posts for information on how to master the hatch including my blog entitled: "3 Must Have Summer Dry Flies" that I wrote for FlyCast.  The Trico hatch in Colorado is amazing, especially on the South Platte.  I had some banner days on the water and I hope to get even better in 2019 by fishing more drowned Trico spinners for the biggest fish. 

This famous fish aptly named "George," slowly ate my spinner after about 30 casts or so...what a fish!

It was a HOT summer in Colorado and even on some tailwaters I had to check the water temps to make sure they weren't too high to fish.  Always remember to check water temps if there are warnings.  Rivers with lower flows can heat up at an alarming rate from sunrise to midday and any river temps 65 or over should not be fished.  Preserve our fisheries and remember to respect the environment we live in. 

As summer rolled into fall the temps cooled a bit and the fishing continued to be solid.  I made it out to the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork Rivers for a much needed break from coaching and I caught some truly beautiful rainbows out of both rivers.  The Fork especially produced plenty of quality, hard fighting fish.  Every time I go to that river I learn more and more, sometimes the hard way. 

This fish took a caddis larva pattern.

In October I made my first trip to New Mexico to fish the San Juan with some friends including my best buddy Jared who made it out from New York.  Check out my previous post about that trip if you want to learn more about that special fishery.  

Here's one of my favorite photos from that trip: 

November and December were filled with a few more trips out and some more awesome memories.  Those of you that fish know how important conservation is in order to preserve the resource that these fish and other wildlife call home.  Let's not forget that in 2019.  

Here are a few more photos to close out my Year In Review.  The first is my new toy.  I purchased a Regal Vise with a stainless steel head as a coaching gift to myself and I can tell you that it was worth every penny.  The lower left photo is a great pic of a brown that fell victim to a size 22 black beauty.  Lastly, was my last fish of 2018 that was caught on the Arkansas tailwater in Pueblo.  

If anyone has any specific questions about my posts or fly tying feel free to e-mail me at magostinho10@gmail.com.  Also, if you have any ideas about what my future posts should look like or topics you would like me to discuss please don't hesitate to ask.  I hope you all had a successful 2018 and I'm looking forward to traveling to some new places and meeting new people in 2019!   

Until my next post, tight lines everyone!