The Colorado Angler Salmonfly Update Wednesday – June 5, 2013
June 05th, 2013
On Tuesday action in the Gore Canyon to Radium stretch was very strong all afternoon and into evening. Although the body of the emergence is done, a few continue to trickle out of the river each night and plenty of adults remain stream side as they can live for several days. There was a noticeably greater presence of adult Pteronarcys, in comparison to Monday, both in the bushes as well as flying around as the day went on. Dry fly fishing remains good to great depending on your location and level of commitment to the tactic. The best results have been from noon through the afternoon and into evening so, make sure to cover plenty of water and don’t give up too soon. Often times anglers may not have immediate success on adult patterns and may be too quick to give up on it and revert to nymphing, which may or may not be entirely productive, then never make the switch back to dries as the day moves into the best time of day for bringing fish to the surface.
Upstream in the Parshal area, the hatch is in full swing at the moment and has been now for a few days. Action remains strong on both nymph and adult Salmonfly imitations. Look to the access points from Reeder Creek all the way up into Beyer’s Canyon. Flows in the upper valley are even lower than the area below Kremmling, which makes for some easy wading. The flip side to that is in many spots the river is not currently full “bank to bank”, which takes away one of the best Salmonfly dry fly situations: adult bugs falling from the willows into the river. They still fall from the willows, now they just land on dry rock. Don’t worry, there are still plenty of riffles and pockets and seams to crash with dry flies. With the hatch still “emerging” from the river, there are still a good number of nymphs crawling to shore and fishing has been good in the morning on Pteronarcys nymph imitations. Then as the day moves into mid-afternoon surface activity starts to pick up. Again, don’t give up too early if you are looking to get in on the dry fly action.