Colorado Fly Fishing

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We are now heading into the primetime months of summer fly fishing! July and August provide anglers with a multitude of choices. Choices include being able to fish just about every waterway in the area and to fish with a variety of flies, rigs, and techniques. This is the season for hatches. We just finished with the salmon fly hatch. Currently, the golden stone hatch is prevalent on most of the area waters. We are seeing an early start of the infamous green drake hatch as well. Pale morning duns are in full blown regalia as well as caddis, yellow sallies and lesser sized dark stones. These are the main flies that you should have for most of the area waters.
My favorite patterns for each hatch are as follows:
Golden Stone – Morrish Fluttering Golden Stone #8
Green Drake- Furimsky’s Extended Body #12
Pale Morning Dun – Melon Quill #16
Caddis – Troth’s Elk Hair Caddis Tan #14-16
Yellow Sallie – Dreamcast Parachute Yellow Sallie #16
For non-hatch times, fish a dry/dropper rig with the Chubby Chernobyl up top and dropping a Tungsten Copper Bead CDC Flashback Pheasant Tail (#14-18). Other nymphs to drop include the Tungsten Yellow Sallies (#14-18) and the Two-Bead Pheasant Tail (#14-18), all colors of Copper Johns (#14-16) and PMD Emergers (#16).
For wade fisherman the best times to be ready to fish each of these waters are as follows:
  • Blue River- above Dillon Reservoir- now
  • Blue River below Dillon Reservoir- July 5 or when the water drops below 300 cfs.
  • Colorado River – all sections – now
  • Williams Fork River -July 10 or when c.f.s. flows drop below 200 c.f.s.
  • Eagle River- July 10th or when flows drop below 750 c.f.s.
  • Arkansas River- above Twin lakes outflow- July 10th or when flows drop below 300 c.f.s.
  • Middle fork of the South Platte – (South Park) – now
  • South fork of the South Platte – (South Park) – now
  • South Platte above and below Spinney – July 1 (or when flows drop a bit)
  • You can find stream flows at: www.dwr.state.co.us
  • Spinney Reservoir and Antero Reservoir are fishing great now!
Final Words (Top 5 Tips):
  1. Don’t fish too early! Fish feed more when the hatches are in progress and when the water warms up a bit. Be on the water about 9 a.m. Fishing late is good, especially for the caddis hatch.
  2. If you are struggling catching fish, reduce the size of your flies and your tippet.
  3. If you walk farther you will do better…Enjoy the exercise!
  4. Take water temps! If the water is above 64 degrees, GO HOME and give the fish a break.
  5. The best time to go fishing is when you can.