Spring fever has struck everyone pretty hard in Aspen this week! On our two day float on the Colorado near New Castle, we had beautiful sunshine filled days w air temps in the low 50’s. At the put in we were rewarded w some gorgeous pre spawn rainbows taken w double nymph rigs. Chartreuse glo bugs were strung up as the lead fly trailed w either a # 20 black midge nymph or a # 16/ 18 red midge nymph w a white glass bead head.
Unless you’re fishing the Frying Pan (just below Reudi Dam) the name of the game this time of year is to sleep in, go grab some biscuits and gravy at the Hickory House, and wet a line by LATE morning. The action will slowly crescendo throughout the day and w any luck you might find a midge, BWO, or even a winter stone fly hatch by late afternoon, early evening!
Both days yielded similar results nymphing and we even took a few fish(German browns too) on natural colored tan/ brown bunny strip streamers w stinger hooks which help to alleviate short strikes.
The second day produced the most fish taken on dry flies. With the Scott G2 as our fly rod of choice, we strung double and even triple dry fly rigs to 9′ 6x flurocarbon leaders. Our top fly of choice was a #16 parachute adams followed by a #18 griffith’s gnat w a hi-vis post followed by a #20 black midge. The black midge was the clear winner and although the fish were predominantly smaller yearling rainbows, the action was nonstop for as long as we cared to fish. The light was so low and flat at this point the “HD Flip” camera didn’t do much of the dry fly action justice.
Hopefully we’ll get a few more float trips on the Lower Roaring Fork and the Colorado in the next few weeks. Just after Easter we’ll do a five day float on the Green in Utah, so definately stay tuned for that. The Green is an EPIC fishery in April and not too many boats! If you make it up there yourselves be sure to bring LOTS of layers and extra gloves!!!!! Stop into Trout Creek Flyshop and tell Emmett Heath I said hi! Enjoy!!