Evening Update Colorado River Salmonfly Watch – May 23,2013
May 24th, 2013
Reports coming back into the shop this evening from our guides on the Colorado River indicate good action on Salmonfly nymph patterns. Just a few adults were spotted, with no obvious abundance of exoskeletons stream side. Clarity did drop slightly as the day went on, starting out about 18″ and diminishing to around a foot late in the day. Water temperatures once again saw a dramatic swing from overnight lows down to 51 degrees climbing to 59 at the highest point of the day. That should be right in there were we start to see a good solid emergence.
Today was a spectacular day with regards to the weather. Lots of sun and air temperatures climbing into the mid 70s in the Kremmling area. While we are concerned about the possibility of this heat bringing down an additional push of snow-melt, so far the stream flow gauges on the Upper Colorado are not showing signs of that happening just yet. As we typically see that manifest itself in the early morning hours just after midnight, we will try to update that information again in the morning. Make sure to check our facebook page for that in the morning. We are seeing a good spike in the gauge on Piney Creek down at State Bridge and that is a good indicator of what Sheephorn should be doing. With that in mind, it would certainly seem as if the clarity should be dropping as you pass State Bridge and head down river. Keep in mind, the hatch will still come off in dirty water and that is often the case, as long as the water temperature is right. That just makes it that much tougher to get your flies in front of a fish but, as we saw last weekend, Colorado River fish will still eat even if by braille.
All of this being said we are optimistic that the hatch should start in earnest either this evening or Friday night if water temperatures continue on their current trajectory. We have a man camping on the river tonight and the moon is, for all practical purposes, full. This could make for some interesting happenings. Check back with us here at thecoloradoangler.com or feel free to give us a call at the shop and we will give you the straight up info as we know it. 970.513.8055.