Time: 9:30AM – 4:30PM
Location: Between Reudi Reservoir and Baetis Bridge
Frying Pan River 05/09/2018 Photo Album
While we visited the Taylor Creek Fly Shop on Tuesday, I mentioned to Ed and Steve that during past trips I capitalized on the misfortune of other anglers, when I scooped two plastic canisters containing purchased flies from the currents of the Frying Pan River. I estimated that the quantity of flies contained in these two cylinders was thirty-five, and at $2 per fly this equates to $70 worth of flies. Relating this story reminded me of the cylindrical containers, so I searched the zippered pocket of my wader bib and discovered that they were missing. I recalled removing them prior to my trip to New Zealand, so I searched the pockets in my fishing bag and recovered them and returned them to my wader pocket. This bit of foresight would prove to be critical to my fishing story of Wednesday, May 9.
After breakfast at the Taylor Creek Cabins on Wednesday morning, my friend Steve checked his weather app, and it forecast clouds and overcast skies for the entire day. We rejoiced at this bit of news, and in fact the prediction was mostly accurate. Whereas the high temperature in Denver reached eighty degrees, cloudy skies predominated along the Frying Pan River, and this translated to cooler temperatures in the low seventies at our fishing destination.
Ed, Steve and I once again teamed up; and Ed drove to the upper section of the river below Reudi Reservoir. We turned left before Baetis Bridge and parked along the road on the north side of the river. We immediately split up with Ed migrating upstream, while Steve and I walked along the road in a downstream direction. I chose the first left after passing some thick impenetrable brush, and then I waded along the edge of the river to a long pool with a relatively strong current closer to the opposite bank.
Neat Spot Pattern on This Brown Trout
I considered defaulting to a tyical dry/dropper approach, but I paused to observe and noticed several rising fish. A source of food was not readily evident, but quite a few tan colored midges buzzed about above the river. My fly box did not contain a matching adult midge fly, so I plucked a griffiths gnat from a foam slot and knotted it to my line. I learned from past experience that a griffiths gnat is a solid all purpose adult midge imitation.
Spent Nearly All Day in This Spot
As this thought process and fly selection played out, more and more fish began to rise, and most ignored my gnat, but through persistent casting I landed two nice brown trout. The second one was a fine muscular specimen that measured in the fifteen inch range, and I savored my early dry fly success. This scenario continued throughout the remainder of the day. Fish rose throughout the pool in waves, and I repeatedly advanced and retreated along the twenty yard length. Unfortunately I could never identify a consistent fly. My best producer was a size 24 parachute Adams that I discovered in…one of the windfall canisters that I returned to my wader bib pocket before departing for the river! This fly accounted for six brown trout, before I returned to Ed’s car for my lunch break. By this time the hackles unraveled, and the hook was bent from repeated removal from the tough bony mouths of the fish. Before I returned to the river after lunch, I once again searched in my fishing bag and removed a small plastic fly box that was broken at the hinge. This relic of early 1990’s fly tying efforts harbored a decent supply of tiny midge larva and emergers, so I stuffed it in my front pack for the afternoon.
Lovely Colors
S Curve
The micro Adams was unfortunately one of a kind in my fly supply. In the afternoon I rolled through RS2’s, WD40’s, and an emerger style RS2 with a stubby white tuft of poly for an emerging wing. All these flies were fished like a dry fly, as I applied floatant to the bodies of the tiny nymphs, and they produced eight additional trout. I found and tried nearly every fly in my possession that had a gray body and was small. Eight trout may sound impressive, but each fly generated a couple random takes, before they were ignored like inert flotsam. I executed a prodigious number of casts and utilized dead drifts, twitches, and skating techniques. Between 12:30 and 3:30 the entire pool was alive with an impressive quantity of feeding fish, yet my fly was ignored a high percentage of the time. I could not comprehend why a few fish munched my flies, while the bulk of the fish selectively fed on the naturals.
Outstanding
By 3:30 I departed the pool that I occupied since 9:30 and shifted to the gorgeous run and pool just above Baetis Bridge, where I joined Steve. My last two trout came from this area, with one attacking the parachute RS2 and the other chomping a classic RS2.
Beauty with Fins
Sixteen trout was a very rewarding day on the Frying Pan River, and at least three measured in the 15 – 16 inch range. The downside to Wednesday was the unbelievable number of casts and fly changes required to achieve fishing success. By the end of the day I was exceedingly weary of attempting to follow tiny flies that enabled me to catch one fish among fifty casts. A significant hatch was preferable to none at all, but matching barely visible midge emergers carried a heavy dose of frustration. What would Thursday deliver?
Fish Landed: 16
Steve Creates a Loop