Eagle River, CO Rainbow Trout caught during a guided private water wade trip.
Fly Fishing Report: Eagle River May 2019
The fly fishing on the Eagle River has been great but we need the runoff to start right now. Mother Nature has given the rockies an exceptional winter and continues to bring moisture into the region. In fact I am watching it snow (May 28th) as I type this. What does this mean for the Eagle River? well it means that the river level is going to drop over the next couple days prolonging runoff once again. The water temps will also cool off keeping the caddis from hatching. So if you go plan on nymphing the softer seams and pools. Midges and BWO’s have been the hot nymph patterns with a trout occasionally taking a caddis larvae. Floating the upper section of the Eagle River has been productive with streamers as well as dry dropper rigs.
If you are throwing streamers be sure to keep covering water. Look for drop offs, shallow riffles, pockets and eddies. Good colors to be fishing are black, olive, yellow and natural. If you find that fish are not moving on streamer fly patterns try going to a dry dropper set up. We have been running at least 4 feet to our bottom dropper fly and fishing it in the softer water about 4 feet from the bank. We have been finding some trout in the fast riffles but the majority are holding in slow deep runs. A chubby Chernobyl has been the dry of choice. This fly holds up heavier nymph patterns well and is visible. Productive nymph patterns have been; Soft hackle PT, Slim Shady, Cream Midge, Black Jig, Frenchie, Buckskin Caddis, Black Copper John, Purple Ju Ju. Personally I like to fish an unweighted nymph pattern between my bottom dropper and my dry. This allows me to cover two different water columns.
What to expect: Look for an increase in water flows as we move closer to the end of the week. The weather is supposed to warm up which will begin to melt more snow. If it reaches the 80’s the Eagle River will stay high until runoff peaks, which is usually the 3rd week of June. During this time the Eagle River is very difficult to fish. The river is off color and so high that it is in the willows. There is also a lot of debris floating down the river making it dangerous to wade. Once the Eagle River peaks it will begin to clear and drop. Although this process can take several weeks it slowly becomes fishable again. Once the Eagle River drops below 1700 cfs expect the fishing to be spectacular until the end of the year.
If you are looking to fish the Eagle River before our big surge of water comes down the mountain, we recommend that you get on it this week. As always feel free to contact us with any fly fishing questions before your trip. 970-368-5959.
Fly Fishing Report: Eagle River May 2019
The fly fishing on the Eagle River has been great but we need the runoff to start right now. Mother Nature has given the rockies an exceptional winter and continues to bring moisture into the region. In fact I am watching it snow (May 28th) as I type this. What does this mean for the Eagle River? well it means that the river level is going to drop over the next couple days prolonging runoff once again. The water temps will also cool off keeping the caddis from hatching. So if you go plan on nymphing the softer seams and pools. Midges and BWO’s have been the hot nymph patterns with a trout occasionally taking a caddis larvae. Floating the upper section of the Eagle River has been productive with streamers as well as dry dropper rigs.
If you are throwing streamers be sure to keep covering water. Look for drop offs, shallow riffles, pockets and eddies. Good colors to be fishing are black, olive, yellow and natural. If you find that fish are not moving on streamer fly patterns try going to a dry dropper set up. We have been running at least 4 feet to our bottom dropper fly and fishing it in the softer water about 4 feet from the bank. We have been finding some trout in the fast riffles but the majority are holding in slow deep runs. A chubby Chernobyl has been the dry of choice. This fly holds up heavier nymph patterns well and is visible. Productive nymph patterns have been; Soft hackle PT, Slim Shady, Cream Midge, Black Jig, Frenchie, Buckskin Caddis, Black Copper John, Purple Ju Ju. Personally I like to fish an unweighted nymph pattern between my bottom dropper and my dry. This allows me to cover two different water columns.
What to expect: Look for an increase in water flows as we move closer to the end of the week. The weather is supposed to warm up which will begin to melt more snow. If it reaches the 80’s the Eagle River will stay high until runoff peaks, which is usually the 3rd week of June. During this time the Eagle River is very difficult to fish. The river is off color and so high that it is in the willows. There is also a lot of debris floating down the river making it dangerous to wade. Once the Eagle River peaks it will begin to clear and drop. Although this process can take several weeks it slowly becomes fishable again. Once the Eagle River drops below 1700 cfs expect the fishing to be spectacular until the end of the year.
If you are looking to fish the Eagle River before our big surge of water comes down the mountain, we recommend that you get on it this week. As always feel free to contact us with any fly fishing questions before your trip. 970-368-5959.
