Time: 10:00AM – 5:30PM

Location: Mile Marker 11.5 area, began where dead trees span the river.

Fish Landed: 34

Frying Pan River 08/24/2012 Photo Album

When I returned to my camp site on Thursday evening there was a break in the weather that allowed me to prepare dinner, but as the sun sank behind the western mountains, it began to rain lightly again. Once again I adjourned to the Santa Fe and read by the light of my headlamp for an hour or so. At around 9PM there was another break in the rain, so I took advantage and hurried into the tent, but I woke up several times during the night to the sound of raindrops splattering on the rain fly.

Friday morning wasn’t much different from Thursday as the tablecloth was coated with water and there were heavy clouds and mist everywhere. Once again I took my time with breakfast and packing a lunch and took a 40 minute walk from the campground along the road that follows the perimeter of the lake high above. I snapped some photos from the high vantage point and returned to the campground. I decided to start a bit later on Friday as the air temperatures didn’t warm quickly without the benefit of sunshine and the fishing really didn’t seem to pick up until mid-afternoon.

Lowest Water Level I’ve Seen

My strategy for Friday was to fish the water at the bottom border of the 2.5 mile public section below the dam. Perhaps the green drakes had moved and were entering the coldest stretch of water. I drove to the downstream border with the private water and executed a U-turn and parked at the first pullout above the place where two or three dead trees spanned the river and formed a nice pool.

Yellow Beginning to Show on Foliage

By the time I was prepared to begin fishing I discovered another fisherman with a guide had moved into the water on the south side just above the fallen trees. This was exactly the water that I was anxious to fish, but I’ve discovered patience is generally rewarded, so I decided to prospect around the small island just upstream and then check back closer to when the hatches typically begin. Once again I tied on the Chernobyl ant and added a beadhead hares ear dropper. First I worked the smaller left channel next to the road and landed a medium size brown near the top in a shallow run. I circled back to the bottom of the island and covered the water to the right of the island with no success. At the top of the island I prospected the 20 foot wide riffle/pool where a cube shaped rock protrudes and a tree is growing from the middle of the rock.

Here I hooked a rainbow on the Chernobyl to the right of and below the rock that hosts a tree, and then another rainbow smashed the Chernobyl just to the left of the rock. Late morning fishing was looking pretty encouraging, and the fisherman and guide appeared to do me a favor by forcing me to this area. I gazed across the river from the tree rock, and determined that I could probably cross at this point. There was some attractive water on the opposite bank where the main current angled to the left and then ran along the bank for fifteen feet or so before dropping into a swift channel. Between the rocks where the river angled and the bank there was a nice wide smooth area of water roughly three feet deep. I managed to wade across the tail of tree rock and then maneuvered to a nice position to the side of the angled pool just described.

I began casting the Chernobyl and hares ear combination to the pool area, and as I prospected this water I spotted at least five or six decent fish. Unfortunately they were quite selective. I could see them react to the Chernobyl ant as several moved a foot or two toward the drifting giant ant, and others twitched their tail when it came into view, but none would commit. I did see a rainbow rise and sip in a tiny insect a couple times so this began an hour of fly changing as I went through a pheasant tail nymph, zebra midge, griffith gnat, parachute ant, PMD comparadun, a gray caddis, and a CDC BWO. I finally landed a brown on a long downstream drift of the CDC BWO at the very tail of the pool just before the current smashed against the bank.

At 11:30 I decided to eat my lunch in case a hatch commenced earlier than Thursday. The air temperature was moderately warmer, but there were still quite a few large clouds with only infrequent appearances of the sun. I grabbed my lunch bag and water bottle and walked down the road to the fallen trees and discovered that the nemesis fisherman had departed.

Start of Fishing Friday Afternoon

After lunch at 12:15 I returned to the bottom of the pool where the fallen trees span most of the river and returned to the Chernobyl ant plus a beadhead phesant tail in anticipation of PMD activity. I tossed the pair eight feet out in the current just below a large rock above the angled trees and a medium sized brown grabbed the pheasant tail on the swing. Next I began prospecting the still water along the left bank between the bank and the faster main current. I began shooting casts upstream within five feet of the bank and in short order three nice 12-13 inch trout crashed the Chernobyl. Two were rainbows and one was a brown and I was shocked at this good fortune using the buoyant attractor as I now reached seven fish on the day.

Deep Creamy Colored Rainbow Took Chernobyl After Lunch

Upstream View from Fallen Tree Pool

At 1PM I began seeing rising fish toward the tail of the pool just above the fallen trees. The productive water along the bank had now been covered so I walked back to the tail and clipped off the two fly combo and tied on the money fly, a size 16 light gray comparadun. As the frequency of rises increased so did the refusals to my fly so I seined the water with my tightly woven net and scooped up two mayflies. Upon inspection I realized that they had quite yellow olive underbodies and they were closer to size 14 than 16. I searched through my fly box that contains quite a few tied for Pennsylvania including sulfur comparaduns and selected a size 14 and knotted it to my leader. The Keystone State fly proved to be a saviour as I netted seven fish mostly in the 11-12 inch range in the bottom 10-15 feet of the run/riffle/pool above the trees.

Nice Brown Liked PMD Imitation

I worked my way across the river just above the trees and began casting back to the middle from the right side facing upstream. The right side, which is actually the south side of the river, was actually more attractive with much more water of moderate depth that is typical holding water for trout. Unfortunately now that I achieved my ideal position, the fish began rejecting the size 14 fly that had served me well for the first hour or so of the hatch. I decided to switch back to the money fly, and that landed me a pair of medium sized fish, but my success was spotty.

I decided to abandon the fish rising in the faster water where the faster current fanned out over a rocky bottom, and began to work my casts to the shallower slower water upstream. This proved to be the answer and I landed another eight medium sized mostly brown trout by 3PM. It was an unbelievable sustained two hour hatch that yielded fifteen fish, but for some reason I felt like I could have done better. At this point I decided to continue working my way up along the right side as quite a bite of attractive water remained. However, as I attempted to make a step, my right heel got wedged between two rocks. My momentum carried me forward while my wedged foot remained stationary and I fell forward. I caught myself but for a spit second some water trickled over the top of my waders, and I could feel cold water seeping down my left leg. My feet were already cold from the icy temperatures coming from the bottom release dam and it wasn’t an extremely warm sunny day so I decided to wade back to the opposite shore and then go to the car and change.

I removed my waders and turned them inside out to dry and changed all my clothes for dry replacements. After a half hour in the direct sunlight, the wader feet felt dry enough to put my feet into. It was now probably 3:45 so I stood on the shoulder of the road and observed the area where I’d fished in the morning with the cube rock and a tree growing from the middle of the rock. The amazing hatch had clearly dwindled by now but I could spot a couple fish, so I decided to give them a try. I tied on the money fly and began prospecting and quickly picked up fish. Apparently the fish were tuned in to stragglers at the end of the hatch and they were jumping on my money fly with confidence.

First a small brown inhaled the comparadun next to the cube rock and then two nice rainbows devoured it in the nice faster riffle just beyond the rock. I moved closer to the bank and began shooting casts directly upstream above the cube rock and landed two more nice browns along the left edge. I could see one of the browns leave its station close to the bank and swim two feet to confidently sip in my fly. What a confidence builder that was. When I reached the point where the faster current was tight to the bank I retreated and planned my next move.

Great Success in Smooth Water Beyond Riffles

I gazed up and down the river and then across and spotted the triangular pool that frustrated me for an hour in the morning. Could those five or six nice fish be duped as well by my hot money fly? Brimming with confidence it was time to take on the challenge. I waded along the bottom edge of the cube rock pool and then along the top of the faster water to a point near the top of the triangle. I began casting to the closest current seam first. It was like feeding candy to a child. The trout leisurely glided up and sipped in the comparadun, and I landed four or five nice trout in this area. Once I fished the triangle out and disturbed the water with multiple fish landings, I moved up along the right bank a bit and landed another brown.

As the shadows began to creep over the river, I noticed an increase in mayflies. Was this another wave of PMD’s or something different? Once again I held my net in the water and scooped up a BWO. I switched the money fly for a CDC BWO, but the visible fish that I drifted over rejected my BWO imitation. By 5:30 my fortunes had waned and the shadows were lengthening and I was getting quite chilled so I retreated back along the bank and crossed below the cube rock.

It was quite a day on the Frying Pan River. I experienced two hours of an intense PMD hatch, but I actually enjoyed the aftermath period more when I could focus better on individual fish and had success doing so. The pace was less frenzied, but I caught as many fish, and the fish were on average larger. I still had Saturday to look forward to.

Time: 9:30AM – 5:00PM

Location: Mile Marker 8; Area downstream and across from spring

Fish Landed: 20

Frying Pan River – 08/23/2012 Photo Album

Jane’s best friend Wendy was scheduled to visit from South Carolina August 22 – August 27, and they wanted girl time together, so I agreed to vacate the house and go on a camping/fishing trip. Initially I planned to go to the White River in the Flattop Wilderness; however, I read in one of my magazines that the flows on the White were low and the DOW was encouraging fishermen to not fish there due to high water temperatures. After reading this I decided to shift my plans and visit the Frying Pan River below Reudi Reservoir instead. The Frying Pan is a tailwater, and therefore I expected it to offer cold water and nearly ideal flows.

I left work at 10AM on Wednesday morning and returned home and went for a run, ate my lunch, packed the Santa Fe with all my camping and fishing gear, and departed Stapleton by approximately 1:45. I headed west on I70 and then exited and drove south on CO 82 at Glenwood Springs. I made good time and decided to stop at the Wendy’s in El Jebel for dinner. After dinner I continued south on 82, and some large clouds appeared, and I drove through some light rain before turning at Basalt and driving east along the Frying Pan River to the Little Maud campground next to Reudi Reservoir. I selected campsite no. 7 and paid for four nights, and then set up my small REI tent. I looked at my watch and realized there was still time for an hour of fishing, so I drove down along the river below the dam to mile marker 12 and parked.

Dave’s Campsite at No. 7, Little Maud

As I was driving along I noticed a young shirtless bearded man climbing the bank across from the river as he surreptitiously gathered something and placed it in a sack. Was he gathering some sort of illegal drugs? As I was getting ready to fish in the wide pullout at mile marker 12, a gray Toyota Camry wheeled into the lot and parked below me. There was a female driving, and as I looked on, the young man arrived with his sack and climbed in the car. Were they creating the appearance of gathering something so they could monitor fishermen and break into their cars to steal valuables? I checked my car several times to make sure it was locked before I went down to the river to fish.

I tied on a Chernobyl ant and a beadhead hares ear and began to work the nice bend run and pool next to the car. It was hard to concentrate as the young man was now across the street on the bank harvesting again. The young woman was kneeling on the ground next to the car similarly picking something. I experienced a refusal to the Chernobyl and a momentary hook up before deciding to move up the road to an area with a series of stair step riffles. In the waning light I once again had a momentary hook up and a couple refusals. It felt like the fly was in the fish’s mouth, but the hook never penetrated the lip as I pulled it out of the mouth. By 8PM it became quite dark so I carefully returned to my car and gave it a quick inspection to make sure it wasn’t broken into or vandalized.

At this point the young man approached me and explained what they were doing. He took me across the street and pointed to the vines crawling up the hillside with creamy flowers on them and explained that these were wild hops plants. They were gathering the blossoms to make beer, and he held a flower under my nose to smell the hops scent. He said the hops had been planted by early miners in the valley and the plants continued to flourish. He told me that his girlfriend found some on the ground right next to the car which explained her strange activity. I questioned him to make sure he was certain of all this, as I was concerned that if he misidentified the plant, they could be drinking something poisonous. He assured me he did quite a bit of research. There was a big brown sign in the pullout that warned against taking firewood, rocks or plants from the national forest, and he explained that this was the cause for their secretive demeanor. The strange experiences that accompany fly fishing never cease to amaze me.

I returned to the campground and a light rain commenced, so I remained in the car to read and stay out of the rain. As ten o’clock approached there was a break in the rain, so I climbed into the tent and curled up in my down sleeping bag and fell asleep as the rain once again created a pitter patter on the rain fly of the tent.

On Thursday morning I awoke to overcast skies and wet surroundings as I made my breakfast, packed a lunch, and gathered up my fishing gear. The weather would pretty much remain the same all day with overcast skies, large clouds and air temperatures that never climbed above the 60’s. I had stopped at the Taylor Creek Fly Shop in Basalt on Wednesday night, and the salesperson informed me that the heaviest concentration of green drakes was between mile markers 8 and 10, so I drove to the pullout just below mile marker 8 and prepared to fish. It was quite chilly so I wore my fleece top in the morning, and I was fairly comfortable.

Brightly Colored Rainbow Landed Thurs. Morning

I walked down the road a bit to the next pullout and dropped down the bank to the river which was fairly narrow at this point and only a two foot corridor of softer holding water along the bank. I already had the Chernobyl ant and beadhead hares ear on my line from Wednesday night, so I stayed with that offering. As I began prospecting the slower water, I hooked and landed a nice rainbow on the Chernobyl and a small brown on the beadhead hares ear. By the time I reached the attractive pool next to the car and went a bit above I had landed three more small browns on the beadhead hares ear. This all took place over a period of 2.5 hours, so the fishing was actually quite slow, and I decided to break for lunch. I could see at least four or five nice fish in the pool by the car, but they were ignoring my offerings and pretty much hugging the bottom of the pool.

Nice Deep Pool Where I Parked Thurs. Morning

I ate my lunch by the large pool and afterward continued fishing upstream from where I broke for lunch. From previous trips to the Frying Pan, I knew that the green drakes typically emerged some time between 11AM and 2PM, so I tied on a green drake comparadun and began to prospect with this large fly. Fish were not attracted to this large morsel, so I added a beadhead pheasant tail as a dropper thinking that perhaps the PMD nymphs were becoming active in anticipation of a hatch. By 1:30 I was still stuck on five unimpressive fish, so I decided to move upstream. Perhaps the green drakes were at the upper edge of the range near the 10 mile marker, and I was missing the hatch? I needed to find out.

I threw my rod and gear in the back of the Santa Fe and drove up the road to the area near the spring which is near mile marker 10. I wanted to walk back downstream and fish back to the car through the long stretch of pocket water, but much to my amazement there were two fishermen in this area. I decided to walk downstream to a point 50 yards above the closest fisherman and fish upstream from there. A return to basics was in order so I tied on a parachute hopper and added a beadhead hares ear dropper. This combination was productive on the Taylor River, so why shouldn’t it work on the Frying Pan with no hatches evident? After fishing a bit with no takes, I observed a pair of fish moving subsurface and apparently feeding on nymphs, so I added a beadhead pheasant tail as a third fly. This tactic returned some immediate success as I landed two small browns before I reached the location opposite the spring where my car was parked.

At this point I felt that I could cross the river part way, then wade up the middle to a point where I could cross to the opposite bank. I fished some fair pockets and riffles as I negotiated across the river. When I reached the far bank there was a spot where the current angled against the bank and created an attractive run with a slower moving soft area next to the current seam. I tossed the hopper to the top of the run, and witnessed a refusal of the hopper where the current deflected off a rock. As I wanted fish to focus on the pheasant tail and not refuse the hopper, I switched the hopper out for a Chernobyl ant. This worked for a short while as I added two more browns that snatched the trailing nymph.

Fat Rainbow

Shortly after this activity I began to notice pale morning duns on the surface of the river. By now the light was quite low as some heavy clouds moved in and some raindrops descended. I was already wearing my raincoat so the rain did not affect my fishing, but the mayflies were apparently relishing the cloud cover. Another fisherman was above me on the bank next to the road, and as I watched he appeared to net a fish. I decided to go to my proven PMD performer, the light gray comparadun, AKA money fly. The next two hours were magical as I moved from 10 or 11 fish landed to 20 on the day as the comparadun performed like a champ. During this time I heard some rumbling and the rain intensified, but I continued fishing right through the storm. The fish were taking the money fly with confidence, and I landed some very nice fish including a 17 inch brown and a 16 inch rainbow. Some of the fish were targeted after rising, but others were surprises that rose to prospecting casts to likely holding locations.

17″ Brown Slurped Light Gray PMD Comparadun

It was exciting to experience a nice hatch on different water from the usual spots three miles below the dam. The character of the water was also attractive to me as there were a series of stretches where the water tumbled over some large rocks and then created a wide fan shaped pocket or pool. There were perhaps four or five such stretches as I moved upstream, and each became a bit narrower and deeper.

Area of Success Thursday Afternoon

By 5PM the rain slowed to a slight drizzle and the hatch pretty much ended, and I’d reached the top of the series of decent water locations, so I waded back along the bank and crossed to the road and called it a day. It was a great afternoon with fast paced action and my best hatch matching of the season so far. The hatch lasted for quite a while probably due to the cool overcast weather conditions. I was quite chilled as I stepped out of the water and crossed the road to my car, but I was also a happy camper with a 20 fish day on my first day on the Frying Pan River and some nice size fish to add to the excitement.

Time: 10:00AM – 4:00PM

Location: Same as Friday but upstream a bit

Fish Landed: 22

Frying Pan River – 08/25/2012 Photo Album

I woke up Saturday morning to the many sounds of my camping neighbors packing up their RV as they prepared to leave for Kansas. I stepped out of the tent to discover a cold crisp morning, quite a contrast from previous mornings. I quickly found my down parka and gloves and pulled them on for the first time this year. Even though the sky was bright blue and clear, there was more water on my tent and tablecloth due to condensation than could be found the previous mornings after rain.

Rabbitbush Along Road Overlooking Reudi

I quickly took care of the essentials and packed a lunch, but had some time to kill while I waited for the air temperature to warm so I took a walk from the campground to the dam of Reudi Reservoir and back. Along the way I snapped some photos and when I returned to the campground spotted a buck with velvety antlers browsing next to the bathroom. I snapped one photo from a distance and then walked around the loop and clicked some fairly close shots. Meanwhile I pulled out my binoculars that I always pack and never use, and watched the ospreys that built a nest in the high tension wire tower high above the reservoir. I saw an adult and a young osprey fly from the huge stick nest to various perches in the surrounding forest.

As Close As I Got

By 9:30 I loaded everything needed in the Santa Fe for another day of fishing and drove the short distance to the pullout above mile marker 11, the same place I parked on Friday. I planned to fish upstream from the previous day’s wanderings in the channels around the small island, the large rectangular rock pool, and upstream above mile marker 12 if it wasn’t occupied.

I began fishing at the bottom end of the small island with a Chernobyl ant and beadhead pheasant tail. I plopped one or two casts in all the obscure small pockets and runs that I’m sure are overlooked by other fishermen in their greedy push for the prime spots. Along the way I landed three small browns and one 12 inch rainbow in the large rectangular rock pool at the top of the south channel. The rainbow drifted back under the Chernobyl for three to four feet then turned away and then abruptly turned and lunged on the Chernobyl after it had drifted another foot. I’ve only seen this happen a few times in all my days of fly fishing.

By now it was 11:30 so I decided to return to the car and eat lunch. I walked down the road a short distance and sat on the edge of the bank overlooking the nice pool where I’d landed quite a few fish the previous day. The area was 20 – 25 feet wide with a large boulder hosting a tree or bush at the top of the mild riffle over three to four feet of water depth. I spotted several fish at the tail of the riffle and filed that for future reference.

After lunch I decided to try the technically challenging left channel that ran next to the road. The middle and bottom sections of this channel are relatively slow moving with shallow smooth water. I tied on an ant as I spotted occasional rises but no mayflies on the water. I worked up through the smooth water with a pair of rejections to show for my effort. Perhaps they were on something specific, I thought, as I tied on a CDC BWO. This didn’t even attract rejections. As I got toward the middle area, I spotted one green drake bouncing in a riffle, and a fish slashed and missed the huge fluttering morsel. It almost looked like the fish rejected a real fly! With this episode noted, I tied on a large green drake comparadun, but this resulted in no reaction. I stuck with the green drake for several of the juicy shorter pools at the very top of the left braid, but when I got to the top of the island I declared it a failed experiment and resorted to a parachute hopper with a trailing BHPT.

Fine 15″ Rainbow Smashed Parachute Hopper

I picked up a small brown that grabbed the trailing BHPT and then approached the sweet deep pool behind a huge boulder just beyond the tip of the island. I shot some casts to the area where two currents merged and noticed a rainbow leave its holding spot and elevate a foot or so but then return to the stream bottom. It looked like the parahopper was going to be another nonproductive attractor, but I persisted and shot a cast to the edge of the current seam below the large rock. As the hopper drifted along the seam and just before the point where the currents merged, a fifteen inch rainbow tipped up and swallowed the fraud. The fight was on and I worked the rainbow and netted it and shuffled to the bank for a photo.

Here Is the Bedraggled Hopper Afterward

I continued fishing a bit further upstream, but pretty quickly the river degenerates into a white water chute. As I did this I began to notice a few sparse mayflies emerge, and it was close to 1PM. I wanted to be at a prime spot such as the base of large rectangular rock pool when the hatch blossomed, so I decided to circle back to the bottom of the island and work back up the right channel. I did this with the hopper/dropper and experienced a few refusals in the obscure pockets. One particularly noteworthy refusal occurred in a small deep pocket in front of a horizontal tree that fell across the river. I stood on the downside of the tree and flicked a cast to the still water. While it bobbed and slowly drifted toward the current a large fish rose from beneath the tree to inspect, but spurned my handiwork and returned to its holding spot.

I tried a few more casts but ultimately surrendered and moved up to the large pool. By now I could see more mayflies bouncing along on the surface and rising off the water. They appeared to be the olive colored ones that I’d observed early on Friday, so I went to the size 14 sulfur comparadun. I cast this repeatedly over a fish that rose fairly regularly, but I couldn’t entice a take. I gave up on the fish which was across and down from my position and shot a cast directly upstream. Again I observed several refusals as fish moved to look but didn’t finish. Perhaps the fly was too big? I clipped it off and downsized to the same fly but in a size 16. I flicked this upstream and managed to pick up a couple small brown trout in the 9-10 inch range. I could see sporadic rises higher up in the pool where the faster current fanned into the smooth side pool, so I moved to a position closer to the top.

The Sulfur Comparadun Did the Trick

On my previous pass through this area I’d experienced a refusal to the Chernobyl ant where a small run returned from the left bank to the main current around a rock. I flicked a cast to the tiny pool between the rock and current seam, but nothing happened. I flicked a  second cast closer to the seam and a brown smashed the comparadun. This was a nice feisty wild fish and I played it for a bit back and forth in the main pool before eventually bringing it to my net and photographing. I recall noting that this was my tenth fish on the day.

Brown Taken from Shallow Lie at Big Rectangular Rock Pool

Next I observed a brown rising at the very top of the run in some fairly heavy current before it dumped into the pool. Typically fish that move into heavy water such as this are big strong fish. As I looked on I saw the fish rise a second time, but the rises had fairly lengthy intervals in between. Meanwhile I ran quite a few casts along the edge of the wave and into the small smooth pocket next door with no success. As I continued to observe, a huge green drake popped through the surface, and my target fish refused it but then turned and ate it two feet below the initial refusal! This was like watching a movie. I immediately dug into my fly canister and removed a green drake and tied it to my line. Surely this fish would go for my imitation. Not even close. I put ten or more drifts over the fish, and not even a dinker showed interest.

I returned to the size 16 light yellow comparadun, and I noticed my buddy rise a couple more times to PMD naturals. I also noted more precisely where the fish was surfacing and began running my drifts right on the edge of the heavy current. Finally on a nice drift the brown humped up and engulfed my fly. It was a nice strong fish, but not as large as I suspected, but an interesting challenge nonetheless.

I left the pool and worked up through some nice deep pockets with no success. I tried the run and pocket where I’d earlier duped the 15 inch rainbow, but nothing was doing there. I decided I didn’t want to circle back a third time, and I considered fishing the same water as Friday, but then rejected that idea and resolved to continue working upstream along the edge of the heavy white water chute. I picked up a decent brown in the soft edge at the start of the chute, but the remainder of this type of water was unresponsive to my quick prospecting with the PMD comparadun.

The pool and run at mile marker 12 were occupied so I hiked along the road to the nice series of stair step riffles of moderate depth. There was a guide with a man and woman above the four stair step riffle sections, so I had room to fish here. I slid down the bank and landed a pair of small browns in the first riffle section. The hatch was now reduced to a sparse shadow of its former self, but this was the time on Friday when I experienced a lot success with opportunistic late feeders. I’d bypassed the large rectangular rock that juts perpendicular from the bank and creates a twenty foot back eddy, so I decided to wade downstream ten yards and crawl out on the rock and see what was happening. As I flopped on my belly and peered over the edge, a huge rainbow drifted to the surface and sucked down a PMD. Did I have a shot at this big boy?

Natural PMD

I dapped my imitation in the vortex off the edge right next to the rock, but I fear the rainbow had spotted my rod on its way up for the previous meal. I spotted two fish facing downstream looking into the eddy current. One was six inches from the bank in an extremely shallow position. I flicked a cast beyond the fish and it showed no response. I placed my second cast nearly on the bank to the right of the target fish, and as the small dun did a little curl as the current caught the leader the fish darted up and ate it. I jumped down from the rock and netted a pretty 13 inch brown.

Fine Brown from Back Eddy Above MM12

I returned to my perch and focused on the second fish that was twenty feet downstream and two feet out from the bank. I placed two casts behind and to the left of the fish, but the third cast was perfect and two feet ahead of the fish. As the fly came over the fish it confidently rose up and sucked it in. This trout turned out to be a nice 13 inch rainbow and I was feeling pretty good about my day so far. Seeing no more fish in the eddy I vacated and returned to the stair step riffle area.

Rainbow from Same Eddy

I prospected through the second section and third section and picked off a couple small browns, but also spotted quite a few refusals in the process. When I peered into the fourth area, I spotted a decent brown in front of a small rock in a very shallow lie. I shot several casts over this fish and it demonstrated the telltale tail wiggle and slight acknowledgment that it saw my fly but wasn’t interested. I cycled through a series of fly changes in an effort to dupe this guy with the last being a parachute ant. I also spotted a couple additional fish in this area that also flipped their fins at my offering.

I was considering wading across the shallow riffles to another medium depth stretch in the shadows on the other side of the river, but as I was working the obstinate brown, two new fishermen arrived and crossed below me and cut me off from the desired water. I gave up on the area and walked back to the car and decided to have a final look at the spot that I overlooked while eating lunch. From above I could still see the rainbow at the tail of the riffle. I cautiously descended the bank with a low profile and positioned myself to cast upstream at an angle as the current bent around the large rock. I still had the parachute ant on my line and decided to give it a try.

Lunch Spot Where I Landed Quite a Few Fish Fri. and Sat.

It turned out to be a good move as I fooled a pair of small browns and a twelve inch rainbow with the ant. I also had a  few refusals and the longer I cast to the area and watched the more I saw a few lingering mayflies and rises to them. I clipped off the ant and returned to the size 16 light yellow comparadun and added another catch in the faster riffles below and to the right of the large rock. I hadn’t really tested the water up high to the left of the rock and slightly above it, so I moved to the left a bit and shot a cast two to three fee above the rock. As the small fly danced in the riffles next to the rock a large form emerged and engulfed my fly. The fight was on, and I played a beautiful 15 inch brown into my net and carefully released it to fight another day.

It was now close to four o’clock and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the air temperature was quite warm particularly compared to the previous two days. I thought about wading across the tail to the area where the main river current angles against the far bank where I’d experienced nice success on Friday, but I didn’t relish staying Saturday night and putting a wet tent in my car for the return trip in order to beat heavy I70 traffic. I decided to call it a day and return to the campground and pack everything up and return to Denver.

It was a great three days of fishing on the Frying Pan River, and in spite of some great action on the Taylor River in 2012, the Frying Pan remains my favorite Colorado river.