Colorado River Monsters (fishing)

San Juan worm. First time fishing it, and it paid off in the San Juan's. Caught an eager rainbow out of the San Miguel on a cdc zika surprisingly.

 

Had a last minute trip back down to the platte yesterday. Buddy called me at 6am and said "Let's go!" lol.

He caught 6 fish, another buddy caught 2, I got 0 again. The other guy that came with this time was a life-time fly fisher, set my flys up really nice and helped me with my cast.

Can't remember the type of flys they were using or gave me though. I remember something about an egg and strike indicator, can't remember the fly though

 

Ha, I am DONE with small stuff for the year. I tied a bunch of 24 to 26 top secret midges, rainbow warriors, and various midge patterns in fall. After a few weeks of fishing them I got tired of the drift mechanics of a standard rig. I’ve been back on the euro rig since December and have caught plenty on 14-18 perdigons, most simple red or green bodies with a flashy spiral, or blowtorch variations.

This past weekend I found some scrap plywood laying around and decided to make a fly tool caddy. Here’s the end result after some stain, “weathering”, and a touch of blowtorch.

 

So in the long run was tying 26’s worth putting them in the fly box or do you think the 24’s were good enough?
I’ve started tying a few terrestrials and a few more dries, trying to stay a season ahead...
That caddy of yours turned out pretty damn cool, love that rustic look. Your set up like I used to be, but my shit got out of hand...
Here’s a comparison of the standard vs midge jaws. Thats a 24 in the midge jaws.

 

Depends on what you mean by "worth it". I liked the practice and was satisfied once I was able to produce a good looking fly that was that small. I caught a few trout on them, which was pretty rewarding.

Do I think they're absolutely necessary? No. I think 26s are great for folks who like super technical low water and take a match-the-hatch approach. For sure, 26s are much closer to what the trout see all day long floating past them, but I've had plenty of luck on bigger stuff. I keep them in my box for those few occasions I'm feeling adventurous, but I haven't fished anything smaller than an 18 in months.

 

Micro-bugger night

 

I really want to try out micro buggers

 

They're fun. Those white ones are size 14 jigs with a 3.8mm bead and five or six lead wraps. I'll usually tie them on the point, then run another regular nymph with a 3.2 or 3.8mm bead 20 or so inches up the leader on a tag. I'll dead drift them a handful of times through a run. If nothing hits then give it two or three jig drifts. If I still don't have a bite I'll let them hang in the current and do a super slow hand twist retrieve (that works great on backflowing eddies). If it's good water, one of those options will produce a fish.

Nymphic tactics + streamer takes = wintertime fun.

 

Sell me some

 

Welp, more often than not my winter fishing days are considered successful if I get 3-4 fish in and keep my fingers from losing feeling.

I went with a buddy to 11 mile canyon last Saturday and managed to net 20. Right place, right time, I suppose. Gotta love the productive days.

 

I've never been up 11 mile but maybe I should...

 

Alright alright alright, today I did what I never should have done. I've had some alerts setup on FB marketplace, CL, and Moutainbuzz for the last few months looking for a good used fly raft setup. Today, and certainly against my better judgement, I called Riverboat Works to get a quote on a new Aire 136DD with the trout slayer package. The wheels are turning. I'm pretty determined to be floating by late spring. Anyone have a lead on a used setup?

 

I found a few people selling flycrafts last year.

 

Man, I tried for months last year to convince myself a flycraft would work out here. It'll cover a lot of water, for sure, but I ran into a lot of people selling to upgrade to a full sized. I think ultimately they're too small to hit the big stuff in CO.

 

I will admit to zero experience fishing from a raft but grew up canoeing in the midwest. What exactly qualifies in CO as "big stuff" other than the Colorado River west of Dotsero?

 

I'm referring more to rapid size than river size. A lot of the good fishing water in CO is class III/IV. The Flycraft three man is rated for class III and looks like it would be fine in many scenarios, but I don't want to be under gunned at the wrong time.

 

new to this thread.
was down at the nature center in pueblo on saturday, was the only one to get anything out of the class i was with. small 10 inch guy but was fun. there was some crazy meth head (im guessing meth) that came down to the water to fill his water filer (like a store bought brita filter idk what was going on). i was worried someone was gonna smash a window or so on my truck, but i stayed pretty close to the area so i should have heard something happen. there were a few of us there too.

was at 11 mile canyon a few weeks ago and was way colder with no bites. next time

 

Awesome, you got a trout on your first fishing trip?
Yeah Pueblo police have put a warning out about parking at Nature Center.

 

wasnt my first ever time fly fishing, that was a long time ago when i was a kid with my dad. now im trying to get into it independently so i can go whenever i want.

was my first time in pueblo though

 

Had a problem with my vision today, just couldn't see going to work...