Spring Fishing Conditions Abound

Sorry it's been such a long time. I've had a ton of vacation time to burn the past six weeks and as you can guess, have been fishing my face off. Went and fished the Floriday Keys with two of our other guides and have lately been reminded of why I live in the Roaring Fork Valley. The fishing in the valley has been incredible and the weather, perfect! Taylor Creek has been teaching a number of the kids from Aspen High School how to become hardcore fly anglers. This week long program has included classes on gear, knot tying, rigging, entomology, reading the water, casting and of course - actual time spent on the water fishing. The kids are kicking butt so far, and have been able to stick fussy Frying Pan fish on dries as well as catching some really, really nice fish on the Roaring Fork using big stoneflies. Special thanks go out to our guide and shop staff who've been gracious enough to donate their time, efforts and flies (Travis, Tyler, Brandon, Josh and Will) Now that I'm back in the shop full time again, look forward to more and more blogs on here. I've gathered so much content in the past six weeks that it's amazing....never have I seen so many big fish caught in a spring! Talk to you all real soon, thanks for following Taylor Creek Fly Shops Blog. - Kirk Webb -

Pike Fishing On Rifle Gap

Often overlooked in the Roaring Fork Valley, Northern Pike are highly sought after gamefish for fly rodders. Every March I look foward to wading the shallow flats of Rifle Gap and Harvey Gap Reservoirs in search of large pike. Taylor Creek guide, Travis Lyons, and I headed down to New Castle/Rifle on Monday to go put an eyeball on the ice and water conditions on the two reservoirs. Harvey Gap still was still locked up in ice from bank to bank. We headed up the road a few miles to Rifle Gap where I knew that at least the inlet would hold some open water and possibly even be fishable. One quick glance and a short drive around the lake and we saw approximately 1/3 of the lake open water. Out came the fly rods....quickly.

Gearing up, I had high hopes of seeing some monsters laid up in the shallow water reeds. Perch and Crayfish colored flies have always produced well for me on both of these lakes. The majority of my flies are about 3-5" inches. Not too big, not too small. I've never been a fan of fishing with wire tippets out here as these fish bite much better, and much more frequently when your flies are attached to fluorocarbon tippets. I prefer to fish a two foot, 03X (25.3lb)Seaguar FX tippet section that attaches directly to my fly. Though blind casting to pike can often be effective, I'm here at early ice out to stalk fish in less than two feet of water. Long story short, we found a few fish laid up. All in all, between the two of us in two hours of fishing we saw somewhere in the neighborhood of about 13-16 fish. Most of those were hammer handles about 20-24" inches in length. We did see a very few fish in the 26-30" inch range and two nice specimans that pushed 34-36" inch length. Trav and I probobly had half a dozen shots each, at some of the better fish we saw. Both of us hooked up once, lost both fish and left after two hours.

I got my first yearly injection of pike fishing out of the way only to turn me back into a frequent pike junkie. I'll be making weeking visits now and hopefully will post up some fish pics soon from me and some of the other boys! Keepin' it real in the Valley, I'm out. -Kirk Webb-

Spey Fishing In Colorado

Say what? Spey fishing in Colorado? Absolutely! You're missing the boat if you've yet to try spey fishing and casting. It'll open up all kinds of new trick casts, many of which can translate into single hand rods and casting. Trout sized spey rods or switch rods are ideal to fish with along the Lower Colorado as well as the Lower Roaring Fork River. Taylor Creek sells many of these short two handed rods and even the versatile switch rods, which are shorter yet (under 12 feet) and suitable for either single hand or two hand applications. Come in the shop and let us show you first hand what you're missing out on.

I borrowed a 12' 5wt from Will Sands the other day to go fart around on the Colorado River. I'm definately a novice when it comes to Spey fishing, but what I do know is that they are a ton of fun to cast and punch as much line out as you want. When it comes down to fighting fish on these long rods, my enjoyment skyrocketed through the roof. Every move the fish makes transcends into the rod and your hand. It's almost like fishing a 2wt for 12" inch fish. What a riot. Perhaps what I like most about Spey fishing is that I get to learn how to fish all over again... -Out- Kirk Webb

It's Time To Get Off Your Butt And Fish....Hard

It's that special time of year again. Time to dust off your gear and get out on the river. Spent my day yesterday fishing with Tyler Sessions (our new shop guy...what a smart kid and talented angler/tier!) Matt O'Connor, sales rep for Patagonia, and a friend of his, Bobby, from Boulder. Started on the Pan near Old Faithful and caught fish after fish after fish. The fishing was simply on fire. Fish were focused on Micro Eggs in the shade and fast water and various midge pupa patterns fished well all day long. Though we didn't land any monsters, several above average fish were landed. The dry fly fishing is kicking into high gear and despite the bright sun, Matt even caught a few on Midge dries around Rosie's. If you can find some shade or overcast that's key. You'll see fish rising in the sun, but these fish are picky and don't feed as rhythmically as those fish found in the shade. It's no secret, the best dry fly is a Bills Midge Emerger. It's been a staple fly for us for years and years. Around noon-thirty, we took off to fish the Roaring Fork below Basalt. The Fork was a bit hit and miss as some runs fished really well yielding several fish, while on others we blanked. The quality and brilliance of the fish we stuck on the Fork was much more impressive than those caught on the Pan. What can I say? The fishing is really turning on in this warmer Spring weather. -I'm out- Kirk Webb

Recent Pics of the Pan and Fork

I had a bit of time on my heads so enjoy some pics from this past week of Pan and Fork fish. See you all soon. -Kirk Webb-

Roaring Fork Midge Mania

It's February finally! The days are getting longer and warmer and with that comes Midge Mania. This is easily one of my favorite months of the year for fishing. It's kind of like a bomb waiting to go off. Any day now the fishing is set to go off the charts and just explode. These longer, warmer days make the midge hatches really intensify. This is the month where the midges hatch in such numbers that fish begin rising and moving out of the traditional deep and slow pools transitioning into the riffles during the afternoons and evenings following the bugs. In my eye it's the first sign that spring is on the way...Thank God. I love winter fishing but there's just something special about the renewel of spring and spring fishing. A good customer was in the shop today and called February the fifth season. I like the sounds of that and it couldn't be anymore true. We're all fired up with the superb fishing taking place, knowing that somehow it only gets better and better each and every day. Needless to say, all of us have been getting our waders wet as much as possible lately. I've been fishing the Roaring Fork more and more lately with the abundance of ideal water and weather conditions Not only are these fish hot, but often the largest fish of the year are caught during the prespawn months of February and the first half of March. I've noticed in my own fishing lately that the big bows of the Fork have come out of hiding and are eating really well too. I'll try to post some more pics and info in the coming week. Until then, get out there. -Kirk Webb-

Demystifying Mysis Shrimp

The Frying Pan River is world renowned for producing some of the largest rainbow trout to be found on this planet. Plus, you don’t have to travel the globe for the opportunity to fish to these behemoths that can easily push the 5 pound, 10 pound, 15 pound and even 20 pound mark. Fish of these sizes are what most anglers’ dream of. It’s no secret that the bulk of these large fish are caught during certain times of year or when river flows are substantially raised or lowered. Some of these factors can be predicted and some cannot. Tying into these unproportioned fish will require skill as well as a little bit of luck.

The Mysis Shrimp Factor

Why do fish in the Frying Pan grow to such large sizes when compared to other quality fisheries? The answer is very simple. Mysis Shrimp, aka mysis relicta. These freshwater crustaceans (shrimp) single handedly are the reason for our fish’s quick growth rates and large sizes. Mysis Shrimp were originally transplanted into Ruedi Reservoir in hopes of making for a good forage base for the reservoirs kokanee salmon. These shrimp never ended up benefiting the intended species and its respective fishery, but instead had a unique affect on the tailwaters of the Frying Pan. Mysis Shrimp prefer the deep depths of the reservoir and this keeps them out of reach from many potential predators. Although living at these depths helps them from being eaten within the reservoir, it does not prevent them from being sucked out into the river below where trout happily do.

Mysis Shrimp are transparent in color when living, and turn opaque-white when dead or dying. Due to this color variance we fish two different styles and colors of flies. When fish are focused on mysis shrimp we typically will tie on a double nymph rig consisting of two mysis shrimp patterns. One fly imitates a dead/white mysis, and one fly imitates a living/transparent mysis. Our two favorite mysis shrimp patterns are Tim Heng’s Mysis Shrimp which is opaque-white in color and Will Sands’ Epoxy Mysis Shrimp which is transparent-clear in color. We will fish these in tandem together until we find out which type of mysis (living or dead) that the fish are focused on, and then switch to tandem setups of the fly that the fish are specifically looking for. These flies typically will range in size from #16’s down to #20’s.

These protein packed morsels are available to the trout on any given day. They do seem to be most effective however, when river flows are high or have just been raised. The more water coming out of the dam equates to higher numbers of mysis shrimp spilling through and into the river. The higher the flows, the further downstream the mysis drift and the more effective these patterns become. Higher flows on the Frying Pan can typically be found in May and June (200 cfs on up). At certain times, flows on the Frying Pan are raised without notice. If the water is noticeably rising count on finding plenty of mysis shrimp and hungry trout available on the upper stretches of the Frying Pan. The fish follow the mysis just like guides would follow a free beer sign. Mysis Shrimp have neutral buoyancy which means you can effectively fish these critters from the top to the bottom of the water column. The key is to watch an individual fish’s feeding rhythm and at what level in the water column that specific fish is feeding at and then present your flies at that level.

Prespawn: The best time to Hog Hunt on the River

The prespawn period is bar-none the best time of year to find large rainbows scattered on the upper Frying Pan. At this time of year, when the fish are staging near their spawning grounds will provide anglers with sight fishing opportunities to these big fish in shallow water. This prespawn period is usually from mid February to early April. In addition to mysis shrimp we also will fish with midges and baetis (bwo) patterns at this time of year. The best area to sight fish to these fish are in the Flats. The Flats is the area directly below the first plunge pool below the dam (aka Toilet Bowl) prior to the first bend in the river appropriately named the Bend Pool. It is about ¼ of a mile long and has good river bottom substrate (pea sized gravel) that the fish find most suitable to do their annual spawning rituals. The key to fishing the Flats is being able to read the river bottom and to look for any slight deviation or hole that is deeper than the surrounding areas. Often times these divots might only be six inches to a foot deeper than the water surrounding them. Much of the Flats is only knee deep with very little structure and variations in the water. Sight fishing to these fish require a keen eye and good polarized sunglasses. If you do not have polarized glasses you are literally fishing blind. Other good areas to fish at this time of year include the Gauging Station, Two Rocks, Boulders, Bridge Pool, and C&R #1 (you can find these areas on the newly updated Frying Pan and Roaring Fork Access Map which sells for $9.95 and is available at Taylor Creek’s two store locations). Mid April through May are the peak spawning periods on the Frying Pan River. Large female rainbows can be seen on their spawning beds often paired with one or several smaller male rainbows. At this time of year we do NOT fish to these trout in order to let them spawn undisturbed to better improve the gene pool and population of fish in the river. Plenty of post spawn or non spawning fish can be found throughout the river anyway at these times. Spawning fish are immensely fun to watch doing their annual dance and can make for some fun viewing when eating lunch or passing time by.

Going Bowling

Easily, the bulk of the large fish hooked in the Frying Pan every year come out of the Toilet Bowl. The Toilet Bowl is the first pool below the dam where the discharge comes out of the reservoir. The Toilet Bowl is a true phenomenon among Mysis tailwaters. On other mysis tailwaters the discharge below the dam is off limits to fishing, hiding many of the large fish from anglers. Not the case on the Frying Pan! So let’s talk technique here.
For fish that are holding in the depths of the Toilet Bowl which is an estimated 20 feet deep or so we employ some unconventional setups. I want to get my fly to the fish’s level as soon as possible. Throw away your conventional leaders and pull out your tippet material. A 10’ foot piece of tippet in size 0X (16lb) will be attached directly to our butt section. This smaller diameter “leader” penetrates and sinks in the water quickly, in addition to providing a miniscule amount of drag or resistance in the water. To finish our leader we will then add 2’ feet of 2X tippet, followed by an additional 2’ feet of 4x tippet to round out the overall leader length. Split shot is added above the knot junction of the 2X and 4X tippets. Our first fly (Tims Mysis Shrimp) will be attached to the end of the 4x tippet. We will then add an additional 18” inches of 4X or 5X tippet to the bend of the first fly and then complete our setup by attaching another different mysis pattern (Will’s Epoxy Mysis) to the end of our remaining piece of tippet. We recommend using fluorocarbon tippets when constructing this leader for its ability to sink faster than that of the equivalent monofilament, having a higher pound test strength, and for it being more abrasion resistant.

No strike indicator is employed in fishing this setup. Instead we are tight-line fishing. We’re basically making our cast, letting our flies sink, and keeping the line taunt as it dead drifts in the water. You will feel the strike when tight-line fishing. More often than not the fish hook themselves when fishing in this manner. This technique single handedly accounts for most of the large fish hooked in the Bowl.

Excerpted from a 2006 article by Kirk Webb published in our annual newsletter, The Fly On The Wall. We strongly encourage you to sign up for our newsletter: http://taylorcreek.com/newsletter3.htm

Prespawn: The best time to Hog Hunt on the River

The prespawn period is bar-none the best time of year to find large rainbows scattered on the upper Frying Pan. At this time of year, when the fish are staging near their spawning grounds will provide anglers with sight fishing opportunities to these big fish in shallow water. This prespawn period is usually from mid February to early April. In addition to mysis shrimp we also will fish with midges and baetis (bwo) patterns at this time of year. The best area to sight fish to these fish are in the Flats. The Flats is the area directly below the first plunge pool below the dam (aka Toilet Bowl) prior to the first bend in the river appropriately named the Bend Pool. It is about ¼ of a mile long and has good river bottom substrate (pea sized gravel) that the fish find most suitable to do their annual spawning rituals. The key to fishing the Flats is being able to read the river bottom and to look for any slight deviation or hole that is deeper than the surrounding areas. Often times these divots might only be six inches to a foot deeper than the water surrounding them. Much of the Flats is only knee deep with very little structure and variations in the water. Sight fishing to these fish require a keen eye and good polarized sunglasses. If you do not have polarized glasses you are literally fishing blind. Other good areas to fish at this time of year include the Gauging Station, Two Rocks, Boulders, Bridge Pool, and C&R #1 (you can find these areas on the newly updated Frying Pan and Roaring Fork Access Map which sells for $9.95 and is available at Taylor Creek’s two store locations). Mid April through May are the peak spawning periods on the Frying Pan River. Large female rainbows can be seen on their spawning beds often paired with one or several smaller male rainbows. At this time of year we do NOT fish to these trout in order to let them spawn undisturbed to better improve the gene pool and population of fish in the river. Plenty of post spawn or non spawning fish can be found throughout the river anyway at these times. Spawning fish are immensely fun to watch doing their annual dance and can make for some fun viewing when eating lunch or passing time by.

Going Bowling

Easily, the bulk of the large fish hooked in the Frying Pan every year come out of the Toilet Bowl. The Toilet Bowl is the first pool below the dam where the discharge comes out of the reservoir. The Toilet Bowl is a true phenomenon among Mysis tailwaters. On other mysis tailwaters the discharge below the dam is off limits to fishing, hiding many of the large fish from anglers. Not the case on the Frying Pan! So let’s talk technique here.
For fish that are holding in the depths of the Toilet Bowl which is an estimated 20 feet deep or so we employ some unconventional setups. I want to get my fly to the fish’s level as soon as possible. Throw away your conventional leaders and pull out your tippet material. A 10’ foot piece of tippet in size 0X (16lb) will be attached directly to our butt section. This smaller diameter “leader” penetrates and sinks in the water quickly, in addition to providing a miniscule amount of drag or resistance in the water. To finish our leader we will then add 2’ feet of 2X tippet, followed by an additional 2’ feet of 4x tippet to round out the overall leader length. Split shot is added above the knot junction of the 2X and 4X tippets. Our first fly (Tims Mysis Shrimp) will be attached to the end of the 4x tippet. We will then add an additional 18” inches of 4X or 5X tippet to the bend of the first fly and then complete our setup by attaching another different mysis pattern (Will’s Epoxy Mysis) to the end of our remaining piece of tippet. We recommend using fluorocarbon tippets when constructing this leader for its ability to sink faster than that of the equivalent monofilament, having a higher pound test strength, and for it being more abrasion resistant.

No strike indicator is employed in fishing this setup. Instead we are tight-line fishing. We’re basically making our cast, letting our flies sink, and keeping the line taunt as it dead drifts in the water. You will feel the strike when tight-line fishing. More often than not the fish hook themselves when fishing in this manner. This technique single handedly accounts for most of the large fish hooked in the Bowl.