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Trouts Journal

Trouts Frisco Forecast | October 2021 Edition

Zeke Hersh / Oct 13, 2021

Hard to believe we are in October and seeing the first snowstorms of the late fall and early winter. While I am not always ready for the winter, it does feel good to get a little change in the air and look forward to some snowy wintery days to come. With this weather change the fishing changes a bit too. Fish start to move into the deeper holes, anticipating the cold to come. They will also feed quite heavily when the situations are right. One of those situations is, blue-winged olive hatches on the cold and cloudy days. This is a must fish experience, so look for those cold and cloudy days for the opportunity to fish for rising fish with small dries.

RIVERS TO WATCH

The Colorado River below the Williams Fork Confluence:

This river is making the list again as this is a favorite location to find rising fish to blue-winged olives and small midges as we move through late fall and early winter. There are lots of fish in that section and on most days you can find rising fish even all winter long.

The Blue River below Dillon Reservoir:

This section, as well as north of town, is a great section to fish in the fall. There can be a good blue-winged olive hatch right below the dam with some of the largest blue-winged olives you might ever see. The only caveat is that you won’t see fish rising everywhere. Venture north of town and there are also opportunities to see blue-winged olives, loof for fish moving into deeper holes preparing for the winter months, and also look for browns moving up out of Green Mountain Reservoir.

The Roaring Fork River from Aspen to Glenwood Springs:

Sticking with the trend of blue-winged olives, this river is a must to fish, in the next month. If the conditions are right, you could see lots of blue-winged olives hatching and many fish rising to them. The flows are starting to get a bit low, but the float fishing has still been very good as well as the wade fishing.

The Arkansas River from Buena Vista Cañon City:

You got it, another favorite river to search for rising trout to blue-winged olives in the late weeks of fall. Look for some great activity on the colder cloudy days. The fish will have started to move to the deeper holes, but if the hatch is right you can find fish in the shallows and riffles as well.

The Colorado River from Kremmling to Dotsero:

As we move towards the beginning of November this section could only have a few more weeks of productive fishing. It can be any day, that we get a cold enough stretch of weather to start creating some ice flow and bank ice. That said, the next couple of weeks offer some great fishing and some great opportunities to fish for rising fish with blue-winged olives. The cloudy days usually offer the best opportunities for this but you should see some blue-winged olives on most days.

FLIES TO USE

THE SWIM COACH

Even though the theme has been blue-winged olives, I need to throw a streamer in for those stretches where you just aren't seeing fish rising, or you just need to fish something different. Besides, it’s fall, and streamers are the other goto to think about. This fly casts well, has just enough weight for a quick drop and some good movement, and comes in two of my favorite colors: purple and black and brown and yellow.

RAZOR MAYFLY

This fly has some superior floatation and works great alone or as the point dry fly in a dry dropper or double dry set up. If you are fishing faster runs or tricky eddies this fly will stay on the surface and be visible for the takes. This is a hot new fly that just hit our shelves so come swing by the shop OR message us over our live chat on our website to have us pick you up some flies!

Umpqua Iwan-E-Dun Para

I love to fish this pattern when the hatch is smaller and the fish are tending to be picky. It’s hard to tell the difference between the naturals and this pattern, so you might understand why this pattern fishes so well.

Umpqua Radiation Baetis

This is a favorite dropper pattern this time of year. In its larger sizes this pattern works great as your heavier first dropper but also works just as well as your smaller last fly. I tend to carry this fly in the peacock but all the colors are great to have in your box this time of year.

Tungsten Rainbow Warrior

Yeah, it’s back! Kinda hard for me not to talk about this fly, as it works well for me year-round. This is my go-to pattern on sunny days. I like to also use this as either the heavier first fly in the dropper rig or the smaller last fly. This really depends on the cloud cover and sun. On cloudy days, maybe a larger version as your first heavier fly, and on sunny days maybe a smaller version as your smaller end pattern. But I would add, always experiment.

River Gauges To Watch
Weather Outlook For October!

We have been experiencing some of the first snowstorms of the season in the high country, as well as some colder temperatures. The next week will warm up quite nicely again with some slight chances of precipitation. Look for this to be a trend for the next month or so, with a week of snow and precipitation and a week or two of nicer weather. Get out on cloudy days for blue-winged olives, but really get out on any day this time of year as the fishing should be quite good.

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