Fly Fishing Colorado

High Plains Drifters Chapter of the Federation of Fly Fishers held their monthly meeting 2/19/08.  Landon Mayer, professional guide, author and big trout hunter, presented strategies for big trout hunting in Colorado.  Landon covered each of the 4 seasons but the focus was on Colorado winter fly fishing.  Large trout are less wary during a cloudy winter day in a snow storm than on a bright sunny day of summer.  Of course a lot of us fly fisherman are not prone to go to the river during those conditions.

Landon showed pictures of chunk ice floating down a stream at 9 AM.  But he said to stick around for a couple of hours and most of it would disappear.  Then fishing could be good until almost dark.  In Colorado, midges are a year round food.  Midge activity will pick up during the warmer part of the day and offer some fine winter fly fishing.

Landon said he always carries these three midge patterns in his fly box year around. 

Rojo midge, Charlie’s Jujubee midge and the Black Beauty. These are mostly thread or fine wire type midges.  The links will display a tutorial courtesy of Charlies Fly Box in Arvada, CO.  Charlie Craven is the shop owner and developer of the Jujubee fly and others listed in the flybox list.

Landon said that the Rojo can be fished in the surface film, or clip a bit of the tuft at the front off and fish it just under the surface or clip the tuft mostly off and fish it as an emerger, or as a nymph with a bit of weight. The red bead is a good attractor for fish.  The black beauty is a year round producer and the Jujubee too.  Try sizes 18 thru 26. (Editor note: try a small 16, 18 or 20 Gregs emerger in the morning on some of the small streams.  Also the gray, black or olive RS2 in 18 - 24 are also good small flies to try.)

Landon stressed several times the necessity to become a stalker or hunter of fish if you want a large fish.  Large trout become wary and often feed more readily at night, dawn or dusk or in bad weather.  This is partly to avoid being spotted by overhead winged predators and because some insects hatch during the early morning or evening. 

He talked about learning to "Think Outside the Box" when fishing.  For example when fish migrate upriver from a lake or reservoir to spawn, they are probably used to feeding on larger size insects than may be in the stream.  Such is the case in the spring and fall when the rainbows and browns migrate from Eleven Mile Reservoir into the Dream Stream between Spinney Mountain Reservoir and Eleven Mile.  For a year they have been feeding on size 14 and 16 insects.  The Dream Stream contains a lot of size 20 - 24 insects.  But the trout are keyed in on the larger sizes so show them what they are used to seeing.  This means knowing major food sources in the lake or reservoir they come out of.

In winter, the fish in rivers typically feed more slowly because of the cold water.  Landon talked about using large mice and streamers in the winter to get the larger fish interested.  He finished his presentation with trailers from John Barr’s and Landon’s new DVD "Weapons of Bass Production" and the previous one "Landing The Trout of Your Life".  Both trailers were fascinating.

 Landon guides out of the peak fly shop in Colorado Springs.  He can be reached at www.landonmayer.com .  His DVDs can be purchased at www.madtroutmedia.com  pick broadband or dialup.  Watch some trailers.  His publishing company is www.wildriverpress.com  for Landon’s newest book.

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