June 2, 2020
The river is on!
(all pictures provided by Brian Kenney)
Since I haven’t been able to get out to the river for the past couple of weeks due to a painful turf toe – I’ve been fishing vicariously through my buddy Brian Kenney. He has been giving me updates on his trips - he’s hit the river 3 times last week and once already this week. So I’ve decided to provide a fishing report with his info.
The Denver Water Board has been decreasing flows from the 300 cfs range on May 26th to the current 95 cfs – which has been held steady since May 30th. This is typically not good news for the fishermen – as the fish usually take a few days to acclimate to the lower flows. With the lower flows they also feel more exposed with the water clarity and lack of cover – making them spooky. Adding to the complexity, the flows have even bounce around a bit between the 26th and 30th – which makes their acclimation, and catching them even tougher.
This has not been the case however - the river is on! Brian has reported consistent catch rates in the high teens – and may have even been in the low 20s – on one or two of those days. That’s a lot of fish in the net! Even with the lower flows the fish are spread out, as Brian has been taking rainbows, brownies, cutbows, and suckers in the riffles, seams, pools, and tailouts. Yes – suckers too! They are spawning and are aggressive, which is providing some opportunity with egg patterns. The crowds have thinned out too.
The fish are hitting larger midge patterns at this time. Don’t shy away from going to a #18, and they are also still interested in #20s and #22s. The flies of choice have been the Chocolate Thunder, Black or Purple Zebras, and Top Secret Midge. With the sucker spawn, it’s no surprise that the trout are keying on egg patterns, with peach color being most effective bringing fish to net.
There has been some dry fly action as well with the BWOs coming off in the late morning / early afternoon. And there has been spotty caddis hatches in the late afternoon. Recommended flies are #20 Sparkle Dun BWO, Parachute BWO, Barr Emerger Dry (try it as a dropper off your second fly), and #18 Puterbaugh Caddis and Elk Hair Caddis.
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