Colorado River Salmonfly Update, Friday June 6, 2014
June 06th, 2014
Yesterday, Thursday, saw a much greater number of adult Salmonflies, both in the bushes stream side and flying in the afternoon. As has been the case the past few weeks with the big water, conditions are tough and the fishing was technical but….we actually got a couple of fish to eat the dry fly. Make that exactly two. That may not sound like a lot but, they made the day a much more enjoyable experience than the greater number of fish that ate the nymph.
Nymph fishing was far more productive than the dry fly action, using both a tandem nymph rig under an indicator as well as a dry dropper rig with a big foam Pteronarcys dry of your choosing. The usual Salmonfly nymphs such as Kaufman’s Stone, Cory’s Salmon Fly Nymph and Pat’s Rubberlegs, paired up with bead head searching patterns like Hare’s Ear and Prince’s among others have been as productive as any. Dry fly patterns that we like up there for this hatch are: Foamulators, Designated Hitters, Fuzzy Wuzzy Salmonfly, Loco Stone Salmonfly and Rogue Foam Giant Stone to name a few.
Fishing will remain tough and technical due to the big water. There are a lot of submerged willows and trees to snag on and finding the channel and holding fish remains a challenge. Conditions like this will favor dry fly fishing because you just can’t see much of the debris. There is still enough visibility for the fishing to be good, with 12-16 inches clarity at the banks and fish will be able to see your fly on the surface. The dry fly action may or may not take off this year as it does during low water years but, the only way to hit that one day where the fish really key on the dry is to take the chance that it’s today and head to the river.