Colorado River Salmonfly Update – Tuesday June 10, 2014
June 10th, 2014
Good numbers of Salmonfly adults remain present along the river from Gore Canyon down to State Bridge. It is hard to say how many nymphs remain ready to emerge, as flows are still too high to get a good survey of rocks against the banks.
Monday saw a return to sunny skies and warming temperatures after a cool and rainy Sunday. The overall effect to that cold seemed to be most recognizable Monday morning as the fishing was a little slow to start but improved as the day moved into mid-afternoon. Whereas Sunday fished better than expected throughout the day considering the weather. Water temperatures rebounded very well yesterday under high sun, with a carbon copy forecast for today.
Stream flows have continued their steady decline and as of this morning are just under 6,000. Even with the slight bump in Blue River releases yesterday, we expect that flows have definitely peaked and if they rise again it should not get near the almost 9,000 that we saw just 10 or 12 days ago. Although this is a good drop in volume, there are still plenty of submerged willows and other snags. Plan on losing some flies, even with the stouter size tippet that you can throw with the big water. (We are throwing 0-2x and getting plenty of action.)
Fishing remains a technical endeavor but, it can be good. On Monday we had a couple of guides on the river and their dry fly action was very good at times with steady nymph action as well. It is a totally different type of fishing than the past two years of low flows. You need to pick the river apart, finding the breaks in the current, as well as submerged structure that holds fish.
Fly patterns remain the same with big Stonefly nymph such as Kaufmans Stone Nymph, Cory’s Salmon Fly Nymph, Berry’s Super Stone and Pat’s Rubber Legs followed up with the Bead Head searching pattern of your choice: Prince, Hare’s Ear, Pheasant Tail etc. For Dries: Fuzzy Wuzzy Orange, Locostone Salmon, Rogue Foam Stone, Foamulator – Orange or Black, Half-Cocked Salmon.