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Trouts Journal

Trouts Frisco Forecast | April 1st Edition

Zeke Hersh / Apr 1, 2021

Welcome to the Trouts Frisco/Mountain Forecast!

Spring is officially here and there have been a few days when this is quite evident, but we are still seeing some good snow falling in the mountains and still dealing with some snow melting off in the front range. It's here though and you can just feel and see spring emerging. I was able to get down on the lower Colorado and enjoy some warm weather a short while ago and with the number of bugs on the windshield, I can attest that spring has arrived. Yes, there will be some snowstorms still moving through for the next couple of months, but there will also be some nice warming trends as well. So, get out and enjoy!

A few places I think about visiting this time of year:

The Blue River North of Silverthorne:

The Blue is making the list again as I feel it is underappreciated this time of year. There are the obvious spots, and sure you can fish them. But take a walk and find those areas where people don’t venture this time of year, and you might just surprise yourself with some good fishing and some good-sized fish as well. You can fish various nymphs from; stoneflies, mayfly patterns, caddis patterns, baetis, midges, and more with some good success.

The Eagle River below Avon:


The Eagle has been fishing quite well! This river has such a healthy bug life the fish just can’t help themselves from eating heavily. This makes for some great fishing for some fat and healthy trout. As a freestone river, you can fish various patterns from stoneflies, mayflies, caddis, baetis, and midges. Also, look for blue-winged olive hatches and midge hatches.

The Arkansas River from Buena Vista to Canon City:

I’ll talk about this river again because this is one of my favorite times of year to fish this river. More water is opening up above Buena Vista as well, so this opens up tons of opportunities to get away from people and find some great fishing. The nymphing is quite good here right now, but I’m really thinking about finding fish rising to blue-winged olive and midge hatches. These hatches will roll right into the “Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch” so we are talking a couple of months of potential dry fly fishing on any given day.

The Colorado River from Kremmling to Dotsero:


This section of the Colorado is open and fishing well. This is a great time to get to this section before we start seeing some runoff hitting the river. Late in warming trends, the river can start to see off-color water from snowmelt. So, watch the river gauges during these warming trends and steer clear if you see some spikes in the flows from the Piney River or other gauges. This time of year, nymphing and streamer fishing will usually be the most productive, but blue-winged olive and midge hatches are not uncommon.

The Wild Card*-
The South Platte River above Spinney Mountain Reservoir:

The ice should be dropping any day now on some of these sections. The South Platte, Middle Fork of the South Platte, and South Fork of the South Platte River will all emerge from their ice in the next few weeks if they have not already in some areas. This is a great time of year to get off the beaten path, look for fish in the Platte’s deep bender holes and maybe even find some fish moving out of South Park’s reservoirs.

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Flies:

Meat Whistle

The Meat Whistle is one of my favorite streamer patterns. With its basic sparse tie, this fly casts easily and sinks fast. Tied in various colors, this fly performs in various water colors and catches many different species of fish.

Tungsten Prince Nymphs

Springtime makes me think about fishing one of my favorite patterns of all time. The prince nymph is such a great attractor, representing everything from large stoneflies to caddis and mayflies. Have this pattern in all of its sizes for the months to come and I am sure you will catch quite a few fish on this pattern.

Copper John

If you watched “Five Flies for March” you might have seen that - I’m the egg man. Well here’s an egg again! The last fishing day I had, the fish were so keyed in on a pink egg, it literally was the only fly I was using. With rainbows spawning and a great attractor pattern, this fly should be well stocked in your box for the months to come.

Juju Baetis

This has been a staple pattern for quite a few years now. I really like its durability, sparse tie, and the small bit of flash on this fly. With various colors and a good size range, this pattern should be carried in your fly box at all times of the year.

Para Baetis

With blue-winged olives starting to hatch on many rivers in Colorado, we need to add a favorite pattern. With this pattern's dark upright wing, this pattern looks so much like the real thing the trout will have no choice but to give it a sample.

Flows:

The Blue River below Dillon Reservoir- 55.7 CFS

The Eagle at Gypsum- 143 CFS

The Arkansas River at Granite- 260 CFS

The Arkansas at Salida- 394 CFS

The Colorado at Kremmling- 529 CFS

The Colorado River at Dotsero- 847 CFS

The South Fork of the South Platte below Antero Reservoir: 6.68 CFS

Weather:

The weather for the next ten days looks to be warming up quite nicely for the first half of the ten days. Then we will see a slight cold down with some chances of precipitation. However, this looks to be very slight chances and still warmer temperatures. Looks like a great two-week window to get out and look for some blue-winged olive hatches, some warmer weather, and some fun on the water.

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