Mayfly Musings

After my previous post I have been thinking more about my dry fly fishing successes and failures since I moved to Colorado.  I'm approaching my 3rd full year out here (July 1st is the anniversary of my arrival) and so I decided to post a few "older" fish, where I caught them, how I caught them, and then finally some tips for us all to remember when dry fly fishing.  Enjoy. Below was the first fish I caught in Colorado on a dry fly.  This Deckers rainbow ate a hopper behind a huge rock and I literally jumped when he crushed my fly.  Thanks amigo. I caught this fish on a bwo dry in a back eddy up in El Dorado Canyon.  Its beauty surprised me and I have gone on to catch more beautiful rainbows in creeks and rivers throughout the state. I continued to explore in 2015 and a guide in Idaho Springs pointed me in the direction of cutthroat trout on upper Clear Creek.  There is a lot of water to explore up there and I recommend to check it out.  ...

Deckers, CO can be a tough place to fish.  Our lack of snowfall this year has left Cheesman Lake lower than normal and so the flows at Deckers have been about half of where they should be.  Now that being said, the BWO's haven't minded one bit.  Like clockwork they have been hatching under cloudy skies and in the bright sunshine.  Unfortunately, the latter has kept the fish extremely skiddish. I have fished several spots at Deckers the past two Saturdays and the dry fly fishing has been difficult to say the least.  I have seen plenty of fish in extremely shallow water doing the old "grab and go."  It's almost like their stealing something...I prefer that when it's my fly!   As is so often the case, the most consistent rising fish have also been the most likely to eat an imitation, but last Saturday I really struggled.  It looked like they were eating my fly and then I would set the hook, only to catch air.  I think I was a little...

On the third day we hit up the Fryingpan River.  Some of my friends know that I have a deep affinity for "The Pan." (FLASHBACK) When I moved to Colorado in the Summer of 2015 I drove up to the quaint town of Basalt to chase after the famous rainbows and browns that call the Fryingpan home.  On that fateful day I pulled off at the first available stop, but found faster water.  I tried to nymph with no luck and then put on a streamer.  My first solid strike (the tug is the drug) resulted in a miss, but I knew there were fish. After a 3 1/2 hour drive I was excited.  I walked upstream only to bump into a sign stating that I had approached private water.  I had looked at a map before my trek and determined that the river had plenty of public water that was interrupted by private stretches.  I headed upstream to another pull off with decent looking water.  It was the PMD (Pale Morning Dun) time of year so I put one on and hooked up.  Guess wha...

Our second evening on the Eagle was special.  We had done "alright" during the day, but after Day 1 our expectations were high and we were not disappointed once the late afternoon hours arrived on Day 2.  We headed to another spot and I had my thoughts on rising fish.  I had nymphed more than normal on Day 1 and the first half of Day 2 so I wanted some fish to scarf down a well presented dry fly. The second spot we hit was a beautiful freestone piece of river.  There was a stretch of fast water and then a nice long deep run that opened up into a slow pool.  It reminded me of a section of the Genesee River back home in New York.  As I glanced downstream I saw dimples on the water from 200 yards away and I won't say that I hit jogging pace, but I briskly walked my way down to these fish ignoring the beautiful run that my compatriots were about to destroy.  There weren't many bugs on the water, but there were a few fish rising every so often.  I ha...

After dinner my friend Tim and I taught our compatriots the in's and out's of the great game of Euchre.  I hadn't played in far too long and winning felt quite satisfying.  After I gloated a bit, (don't worry, we lost the next two nights. #karma) we called it a night and drifted off to dreaming of abundant midge and mayfly hatches...or at least I did. It was cloudy and cool on the morning of Day 2 and although breakfast was fulfilling, I was hoping to fill my net with some trout as quickly as humanly possible.  I shared an Evil Olive pattern with the 4th member of our crew, Chris.  I told him to give it a shot in the faster water as I had done the day before and I once again headed upstream.  Since it was too early for surface action, I wanted to nymph the water that was covered in midges and mayflies only 18 hours earlier. The water there was slower than down below so I was not surprised to have less takes on the flashy olive pattern and more takes on my bo...

Preparing for a multi-day fly fishing trip gets my heart pounding.  In life, if an ample amount of time is spent preparing for something, the results typically yield the effort put in.  This trip was no different. Several work friends and I decided to hit the Eagle River and the famous Fryingpan during our much needed Spring Break from school.  While we were there I learned a new word; glamping.  Essentially it's glamour camping with all of the amenities you can imagine.  In our defense, the temperatures dipped below freezing every night so sleeping in a tent would not have been near as comfortable as sleeping in a warm camper every night.  Plus, we put in our time on the water each day so it was important to be properly rested each night so we could wake up, eat a hearty breakfast, and start fishing. The Eagle is a freestone river that can rise and fall due to melting snows or heavy rain.  Luckily, we didn't have to worry about either of those thi...