Post By: jibber Posted: 5/29/2021 10:16:41 AMPoints: 21038
Fished the Colorado around State Bridge last week. The water was running low. About 400 cfs by the Kremmling gage. Should be about 2500 cfs. The Salmon flys were hatching. Tried everything. Got one nice rainbow trout on a black woolly bugger.
Reply by: jibber Posted: 5/30/2021 6:54:46 AM Points: 21038
No. Not feeding on the surface. I did see one nice fish jump completely out of the water after something. I got the feeling I was a day late to the hatch.
Reply by: VINNIE Posted: 5/30/2021 8:18:22 AM Points: 788
I like the float from Rancho Del Rio to Catamount bridge..17 mile with lots of wild river but gentle. Usually late summer beat the banks with streamers and a wolly/prince nymph combo under an indicator.. Hoppers are good too.
Reply by: not too old to fish Posted: 5/30/2021 6:28:47 PM Points: 9244
It is a little strange that you don't see that many fish rise to the Salmon flies even during the peak times. I used to fish the river around Hot Sulphur Springs and you didn't see all that many fish rise to the adults but when they did rise it was quite the splash. We kept a few trout to eat and their stomache was always packed with plenty of the adult flies. One of the reasons for not seeing many rise was the river was almost always high from the run off that time of year. I really can't remember having even slightly roily water during the hatch, it was usually discolored. We would catch the adults and keep them in our bait box and drift them with a small split shot.
Reply by: i2fly Posted: 5/31/2021 7:45:31 AM Points: 2355
Two of my friends have been doing well during this hatch. One said he netted over 20, just 2 days ago. He was happy as a clam. He and I went to Delaney Buttes he caught nada. I cracks me up that my river fishing friends think lakes are easy. Then they find out otherwise. Lol. There is even snobbery among fly fisherman. Dry flies or bust....
The last time we had especially low water I hit the Byers Canyon section and did well on the stoneflies. It’s a great hatch that is typically obscured by high water. We also used to try and catch the Gunnison River for the stonefly hatch. We never hit it right. I still have many fond memories of the Black Canyon. But never of the stonefly hatch.
Trout don't always feed on Salmon Flies all day. Timing and luck are everything. One time I met a guide coming off the water. He said they did not get any fish on Salmon Flies. I walked down below the takeout and caught several on big flies.
