Time: 10:00AM – 12:00PM

Location: Near Carbondale, CO

Roaring Fork River 03/21/2026 Photo Album

Jane and Amy reserved a time slot to hike to Hanging Lake at 2:00PM, so my fishing window was confined to the late morning on Saturday, March 21. I knew that prime hours for hatch activity were 1:00PM – 4:00PM, but I needed to optimize the window I was allocated. I chose to fish another section of the Roaring Fork relatively close to Carbondale.

I arrived at a parking area at 9:50AM, and I quickly prepared to fish. I rigged my Sage One five weight, and I pulled on my raincoat for some additional warmth, as the temperature was in the low fifties. I was not very familiar with the area, so I chose an upper trail out of the lot, and this necessitated a .3 mile hike, before I found a worn path to the river. A trail sign at the parking lot displayed “fisherman access”, and I now know this was probably the means to accessing the lower river next to the parking lot.

This Spot Teased Me

To begin I rigged a gray chubby Chernobyl, a 20 incher, and an olive perdigon. For the first hour the fish failed to cooperate. I fished some very attractive runs and holes with nary a fish sighting. During this time I cycled through the olive perdigon and an olive midge larva, before settling on a Frenchie.

Big Gap in My Grip

The dry/dropper finally clicked with the 20 incher and Frenchie, and I landed two superb trout in the eighteen inch range. One was a hook jawed brown, and the other was a rainbow. These fish emerged from a nice band of slower moving riffle water along the left bank over moderate depth. Apparently the warming temperatures woke up the fish from their cold night stupor. The brown chomped the 20 incher, and the rainbow snatched the Frenchie.

Rainbow of Similar Size

I continued moving up the river along the left bank and landed a twelve inch brown trout on the 20 incher to boost the fish count to three. A short lull ensued, as the clock ticked toward noon, my chosen departure time. By 11:45AM I approached a deep angled pool above a dense collection of driftwood that formed a makeshift dam. I climbed on top of the stick dam, and I began to fire casts to the deep hole.

Just before this approach I noticed a stray strand of something poking out from the 20 incher. I stripped in the fly to discover that the strand was a spike of tinsel rib that had apparently been cut by the teeth of a trout. I nipped off the rogue strand of wire to create a ribless 20 incher. Perhaps my lull was attributable to the damaged fly, because my third cast to the curled deep hole resulted in a take, and I battled an energetic fourteen inch rainbow into my net. I held my rod high and stripped quickly to prevent the bow from running beneath the stick dam, as that would have been game over.

Scene of Bank Eaters

Upon releasing the rainbow, I flicked a cast to the slower shelf section of the pool, and a ten inch brown immediately crushed the ribless 20 incher. By now it was quitting time, but I executed the proverbial last cast, and the chubby dipped thus provoking a hook set. I was connected to a very energetic rainbow, and I once again raised my rod high to prevent branch entanglement; however, in this instance, the estimated thirteen inch rainbow popped free.

It was now minutes after noon, so I hooked the Frenchie to my rod guide and hustled back to the car to meet my Hanging Lake engagement. Saturday was another surprise success on another new stretch of the Roaring Fork River. The ratio of large to small fish during my two brief days was amazing. Amy can expect plenty of future visits from her dad to the Roaring Fork Valley.

Fish Landed: 5