Fly Fishing - Flies And Fins

Danno · Newbie Joined: Oct 05, 2006 Posts: 5

Hi all! I am a newbie fly fisherman (this is the end of my second year back to the sport), and I am interested in hearing any advice people may be willing to give. Especially concerning small stream fishing in Colorado.

Thanks in Advance Smile

jeremy · Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:13 pm Post subject: hi

hi,

welcome to fliesandfins.com ... i think you will find that most of us consider ourselves eternal beginners .... always learning something new ... that's what keeps it fun ..

i don't personally have too much experience with small streams in colorado .. i know joey does, jason does, whippa does ... but i can give you some advice that has yet to fail me ...

1. have fun -- and carry an olive conehead wooly bugger, copper johns and prince nymphs ... those 3 flies have yet to fail me anywhere in the world .... especially the conehead olive wooly bugger ... it even worked very well on crystal clear spring creeks in wyoming ... its easy to fish and i have yet to find a trout/salmon species that doesn't like it ... simply tie it on with about 6 feet of straight 3x leader ... you can really do no wrong .. cast it up stream and dead drift it - that works - cast it across stream and strip it back to you - that works -- cast it quarter downstream and swing it - that works .... ............... seems simple .. but many times .. simple is nice ... ok -- try it out .. let me know the results ...

ps .. don't be afraid to drop a copper john 18 inches or so off the back of it with 5x tippet and dead drift both the wooly and copper john with or without an indicator .. that is deadly too ....

have fun ..

Danno · Newbie Joined: Oct 05, 2006 Posts: 5

Thanks for the tips!! I will definitely give those a shot!

Bwallace44 · Newbie Joined: Aug 31, 2006 Posts: 6

Hey Danno,

I live and fish in Colorado and have for over 10 years. As far as small stream fishing, I would add a couple of things to Jeremy's reply:

1) If you need a couple of good places to go, check out the small streams in Rocky Mountain National Park. These are great for new fisherman and the scenery is absolutely amazing. You will find pretty good brook and cutthroat fishing. Basically just check out a map of the park - nearly every blue line will hold some type of fish. If you want to hike a little bit, it can be truly fantastic.

A second area to check out is the huge area west of Salida to Leadville. I am not going to get into specifics here, but there are some great small streams in this area.

2.) As far as flies - everything that Jeremy said will work and work well in small streams in CO. I would add a couple of flies - first are your standard caddis patterns (deadly in the summer in Rocky Mountain national park) as well as yellow and orange stimulators. You need to have some kind of Blue Wing Olive pattern - in my opinion, not much is better on a cloudy day in CO. My other favorite is your standard Adams, or a parachute adams if you have trouble seeing.

As for nymphs, (aside from copper johns and princes which Jeremy mentioned) have some Barrs emergers and RS - 2 in green and grey. Any of those behind a prince should produce fish.

When I go backcountry, I usually fish with a 3 or 4 weight, I'll bring my 5 weight if there are any decent sized lakes.

Alright well I hope this helps - others may disagree but these flies and setup have always worked well for me. Good luck - please let me know if have any other questions.

Danno · Newbie Joined: Oct 05, 2006 Posts: 5

Hey, thanks a million. Hopefully the weather will be clear enough this weekend to get up into the hills and try these out!

chernoble_kid · Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:59 pm Post subject:

Howdy Danno! I'm new to this site as well, but I'v been flyfishing for about four years. I'v never been to CO but if the rivers are anything like
the ones in Idaho this might help. Try using some grasshopper,chernoble
ants, in the summer the cuttroat just go crazy for those flys up here in the summer. hope this helps!!