Monsoon Hogs

It has been an active Monsoon season all over the State of Colorado this month. And as a result, we have had to deal with some periodic muddying of the rivers.

This past Friday we had a huge storm system role through, completely blowing out the lower Roarin Fork below the Crystal. On Saturday, my friend Capt. Matt Thomas and I put the rafts in at Hooks Bridge in Basalt and floated the middle river down to Carbondale. The fishing was fantastic, and our guys had such a good time they rebooked for Sunday. With the Lower Fork still running dirty, we decided to roll the dice and put the drift boats in at Carbondale anyway. Needless to say, we made the right choice. The river provided non-stop action and the dirty water let us sneak up on some real nice fish. Including one beautiful, 20.5", wild rainbow trout.

Summer Update/Colorado River Float

Summer is flying by once again, and as usual, it's been phenomenal. The rivers are in great shape, the fishing is good, and we have all been staying busy helping people catch fish.

Currently, the Roaring Fork and Frying Pan Rivers are fishing fantastic, top to bottom. We are transitioning out of our big summer bugs and into are fall baetis and midge cycles. Though there are Green Drakes and PMDs still to be found on the upper frying pan.

The Colorado is blown out from recent rains and will remain so for at least a few more days. This river has essentially been blown out for the last two weeks. When it clears, it will be like spring all over again. Hot, hungry fish, and lots of them.

Contact us about current conditions and to book some fall fishing. It is going to be an amazing September.

Though a bit delayed, here is a bunch of pictures I took on a Colorado Float about two and half weeks ago. Right before the mud showed up.
When it clears, it will be better than this.

Hope to see you this fall.

It's summer time again...

After a long and relatively cold spring we are finally into our summer season. The runoff took everyone by surprise this year, after the cold spring we got a stretch of really warm weather in early June and the Roaring fork unleashed its fury. We saw levels on the river that I doubt we will see again. The snowmelt has moved through for the most part and the Fork is now running clear and things are happening.

The float fishing on the lower river is

on fire right now, mostly nymphing throughout the day but the dry fly fishing is great from late afternoon through dark. An evening float will put you right in the middle of the green drake hatch for some of the best fishing you will see at any time here in the valley.

The wade fishing on the upper Fork is hitting it's stride, the water did stay cold longer than usual this year so things are happening a little later in the season. We are starting to see good caddis hatches as well as some PMDs and the sporadic Baetis hatch, nymphing in the mornings with a the fish starting to look up in the afternoons.

The Frying Pan has been super consistent the last couple of weeks. The water level just dropped opening up even more water to fish. You can put a bunch of fish in the net on nymphs in the morning and then fish dry flies during the afternoon PMD hatch.

Feel free to call us at the shop 970 920 6886 and we can give you up to the day reports - the fishing is only going to get better throughout the summer as all those bugs that are ready to hatch start popping.

February Fishing

Been out of the loop for a couple of weeks with a broken shoulder but things are feeling good now and have been guiding clients 5 of the last 6 days. The weather has been snowy but temps are staying in the upper 30's and low 40's. Big rainbows like warm snowy days. This is a fact.

Andrew, pictued above, landed 15 - 20 fish and 10 were over 16 inches.

Everyone else did fine too. The "little" midges are hatching every day from about noon to 4 and I am starting to see some of the "big" black midges that really draw fish to the surface. Consistent dry fly fishing is right around the corner.

Happy New Year!

Is there a better place to spend the first day of 2010 than on the banks of the Roaring Fork river?

The big rainbows were feeding today, most fish were fooled by a little black midge. The river is clear of ice and there is plenty of open water to fish. The total for the day was 13 fish in the net with another 8 or 10 that jumped off.

We also landed plenty of browns.