Time: 3:45PM – 5:00PM

Location: Upper river south of Minturn

Eagle River 07/22/2024 Photo Album

As I slowly bounced down the pot holed dirt road after fishing Cross Creek, I decided to experiment with the upper Eagle River south of Minturn. I found a nice wide pullout, and I remained in my waders with my fly rod already strung, so I charged immediately down a path to the river and began casting. The hippie stomper from earlier remained on my line, and it trailed a size 16 light gray comparadun.

Seam Along Whitewater Produced a Nice Brown Trout

Nice Catch after All the Small Brook Trout

Another Nice Catch

In the early going the comparadun duped an eight inch brown trout in some moderate riffles, but I also endured quite a few refusals to the stomper and the comparadun. I replaced the comparadun with a size 16 light gray deer hair caddis. These two flies clicked with the trout, and I progressed along the left bank and landed five additional brown trout including a surprise thirteen incher and a respectable twelve inch fish. All the trout materialized from slow and deep water tight to the bank or exposed rocks. By 5PM I reached a narrow section with fast chutes and tumbling pockets, so I retreated to a location somewhat upstream from my original crossing point and moved back to the roadside bank.

Marginal Bank Pocket Produced a Surprisingly Large Fish

Another Typical Productive Pocket

I was pleased with the results  of my 1.5 hours of fishing on the upper Eagle River. All the brown trout except the first were larger than my largest brook trout on Cross Creek.

Fish Landed: 6