Mayfly Musings

I try and visit New York State every June for several reasons: 1) To see my family 2) To visit old friends and reminisce about the glory days 3) To go on our annual camping trip to the Genesee River 4) To go to the Delaware River The Delaware River system is the best fishery east of the Mississippi.  For years I have had moments of agony and ecstasy on the Delaware. This year I was lucky enough to fish with some old friends and a new one.  Tim Flagler (creator of Tightline Productions) came up to fish with us and we had an absolute blast.  For years he has made the finest fly tying videos known to man (link is at the bottom of my blog) and it was awesome to chat with him and fish with him as well. My other buddies (Jared and Darren Clark) have "owned" the Delaware for years and this trip was no different.  They flat out catch fish and they hammered 'em again this year.  I still have so much to learn and I love that. The Delaware is a river where no ...

A good friend of mine came out to visit me in Colorado in search of Salmon Flies, trout, and just an all around good time!  The first fishing day we had was up in Gore Canyon on the mighty Colorado.  Due to poor snow pack this year the flows were around 800 cfs, which is incredibly low for this time of year.  I had read that there were Salmon Flies buzzing around about a week before his arrival so I was hoping for the best. Pumphouse was a mad house, but the majority of fisherman were putting their boats/rafts in floating downstream as we began walking in the opposite direction.  There were Salmon Flies buzzing around as soon as we hit the trail and I was excited.  We heard a wild splash or two, but there weren't many bugs on the water.  Some were flying overheard while others were performing their mating ritual on nearby trees, rocks, and bushes. The water was off color, but if we put our flies in front of fish, we were confident they would eat our del...

Fly fishing can be a fickle sport.  Sometimes there are days when the plan is spot on, but things just don't work out.  Today was  not  one of those days. Winter has faded in Elevenmile Canyon.  Today the birds were out and there were folks picnicking, hiking, climbing, and most importantly, fishing.  It was a great day to be alive.  As I drove up river I saw the sun give way to the clouds, which is what the forecast had predicted.  The flow was 80cfs, which was ok, but when the flows are above 100cfs more fish come out and eat dry flies.  Luckily for me, it really didn't matter.  There were olives and midges hatching when I showed up and they were still hatching when I left. In Colorado the sun can turn your awesome 10 fish afternoon into a 2 fish fiasco or God forbid, a skunk.  Clouds give these tailwater fish a chance to relax and enjoy their daily buffet.  The clouds were not out the entire day, but they did their job l...

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...