The Colorado Angler Salmonfly Hatch Update, Saturday Morning June 8,2013
June 08th, 2013
Another good day Friday on the Upper Colorado River for the Pteronarcys Californica. The main emergence continues on the upper valley above Parshall and up into Beyer’s Canyon. Large numbers of adults are clinging to vegetation and rocks along the river and there are still good numbers of nymphs stacked up under rocks against the shore. This would indicate that we should see at least a couple more days of continued emergence, adding more adults to the mix. In the upper valley, the bite starts pretty early in the day, with good results from mid-morning through the afternoon. Fish are still taking nymph imitations with steady interest but, you don’t even need to tie one on if you ask us. Dry fly patterns continue to bring plenty of fish to the surface, even when no rises are to naturals are visible.
This is an area where the Salmonfly hatch will differ from other hatches that emerge from the water. Salmonflies emerge by crawling up onto dry land and then shedding their exoskeleton. So, instead of fish moving into a feeding lane and picking off drifting bugs as they emerge or float on the water waiting for wings to dry, trout will be on alert for adult Salmonflies that either fall onto the water from their perch along the banks or return to the river late in the day to lay eggs. Fishing this hatch will take a slight adjustment to your approach. In most cases you will not be fishing to a consistently rising trout. Although, you will have great chances to cast at a splashy rise form, a lot of your casting will be trying to incite a fish to strike. With that in mind, focus on casting to edge water, pocket water, on seams, in riffles and on ledges and drops. You may have to cover a little bit of ground but, the effort will be it.
Down in Gore Canyon and below, there are still a fair number of adult bugs in the area, while the emergence is mostly done, save for a few stragglers. Friday afternoon was again productive on adult Salmonfly patterns, it seems as if the trout continue to seek out the big fix like a Lyndsay Lohan on a bender just before another stint in rehab. Again, we are totally focused on pitching larger dries at the moment, since we figure to throw more than our fair share of nymphs in the months not occurring in summer. Look for this to be the most productive from the interior of Gore Canyon down to Little Gore, with the possibility for spotty action as well in Yarmony Canyon. That faster moving, canyon water is going to be a more consistent producer than the flat, featureless water. This may be the last good weekend on the stretches below Kremmling for the hatch this year. We’ll keep you posted on that.