Low water, high water, clear water and muddy water. One thing the all have in common is they all have trout in them eating bugs. GO FISHING
Spring runoff is NOT a reason to take time off of fishing. Fish gotta eat. You just need to work a little harder for it. The rewards are plentiful and one of the benefits to being a dedicated fisherman, or woman, at this time of year is some of the biggest trout are caught prospecting the runs, seams and riffles.
Its definitely an interesting year which had us wondering if we will indeed experience a “true” runoff. River flows up to and above 2,000 cfs on the Eagle River didn’t seem likely this year but what a difference a week makes.
Flows have been hovering just below 1,000 to today’s flows of 1780 @ STP(Sewage Treatment Plant) and 2300 below Wolcott allowing for safe passage while still quite technical. If you’ve got the skills, floats from the STP all the way down to Duck Ponds west of Gypsum are producing terrific fishing. While the river can be pushy and there are periods of boulder dodging between float fishing, there are many fishing opportunities.
Fish streamers tight to the banks and also in the “soft pockets” in the arm pits at the head, middle and tails of water which parallels fast current. Here is where I suggest you forget what you think you know about streamer fishing. Typically you cast as tight to the bank as possible, stripping slow to fast off the bank for about 6 feet from it. Try as you must, to stop stripping continually! The water is not as clear and the fish cannot track the fly with your continual stripping so give them a chance to turn and grab it. Spring streamer fishing involves a lot of dead drifting your flies. Articulated flies work best, Crystal Bugger Pearl, Motor Oil, Sex Dungeon and other large, articulated offerings. Realize that your articulated fly is working for you as it floats through the water. Flipping back and forth and doing its job. Yes, you need to pick up the slack and keep from snagging the bottom, but trust me, it works. I fish 20-25# leader with only 3 feet of tippet. This allows you to do some landscaping as you pull up branches and sticks cause you rarely break off. But, you do bend out hooks and roll the hook tip so keep a sharpener and hemos handy to manipulate your flies back in to shape.
Also, should you dare, run a second fly off the back of the streamer. Start with a Pats stone (Coffee & black is my favorite) but switch it up to a san juan, squirmy or some of the other small offerings already mentioned. Guides choice, Frenchy or other caddis imitation. The second fly gets picked up a lot while nymphning the streamer.
Whenever possible, eddy out along the sides of the rifle runs where you can. Be sure to know if you are on public or private and don’t go dropping your anchor where it’s not legal. Let the rower hold you along the side of the riffle run and nymph the bejeezus out of the run. Super productive. Run pats stones, squirmy wormies and a myriad of caddis and mayfly nymphs through these runs. You will catch fish. REMEMBER, don’t be afraid to go small. In A LOT of the riffle runs we fished the past couple of weeks the most, and biggest fish, were taking the smallest offerings. Size 14-16 caddis imitations and even midges! Try to throw something with a “hot collar”. Orange or pink works well in the off colored water. Guides choice, Frenchies, soft hackle hares ear with an orange collar. 99% of your flies should have a bead head. If you need weight, add it. If you dont, dont. I typically keep a Pats stone on as my lead fly which gets my rig down. If needed, I’ll add some shot above it to get my 1 or 2 following flies down and tick, tick, ticking the bottom ensuring I’m getting in the fish’s face.
There are less banks so watch your step as you work the shoreline. Search out your accessible water and locate the soft pockets, riffles and holes that give the trout a reprieve from the fast flowing water. A quote more often said in the saltwater environment applies to fishing runoff. “Dont leave fish to find fish” Once you’ve hooked a fish in a certain location, know there are others for you have located an area where they have a reprieve from the high flowing water. Ply the water where you got him fishing with confidence that there are likely many others holding in the same location.
This is a time of year to cash in on your knowledge of the stream at lower levels. If you can remember where the small, or large, shelves dropped off into deeper runs, fish there. That is a prime spot to run your flies off that ledge and into their faces. I’ve been educated a few times by friends who had intimate knowledge of where these runs existed and we now returned to these locations to fish shelves I was unaware were there. If you know, you know.
Fishing from the bank leads to (typically, no place is safe) less tangles so throw 3 flies. Pats, san juan worm 2 tone with bead in the middle, caddis nymph. Locate the fish and change up your offering to dial in what they can see, and eat.
If you’re fishing from a boat and one person is streamer fishing and the other nymphing, have the streamer fisherman in the back of the boat. If you’re wading with 2 rods (Highly recommended) fish your nymphs through the area you are working and then run the streamer through it before you move on.
