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Showing results for tags 'trout fishing'.
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Content deleted. Basically, a sales pitch. This falls under the "no selling before you reach 30 posts or more" rule.
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Well this was an amazing trip! I did not put all the fish I caught in the video, because the video would have been way too long. I caught probably 30+ fish, and almost all of them on my 4wt Redington Butterstick. A few fish on the dry fly, and a few on nymphs. Some hard fighters as well, especially on my 4wt. I had quite a few of them run line hard, and most of them were very acrobatic and jumped quite a few times. Just one of the most productive times Ive had in a long time. Molas lake is a high mountain lake run by the town of Silverton Colorado and is located in between Silverton and Durango. From what I gathered its a Fishery that Silverton uses to hold hatched fish until they grow bigger, then use the lake to stock many of the creeks, streams and rivers in the surrounding area. So its good fishing, and there are a few really good sized fish in there. Make sure and stop in the Molas Lake Campground Park Office, to get the current regulations and fish report. Also there is a small fee for camping, and I paid it to fish as well.
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I finally was able to get some small creek action on my new 7'6" 2wt fly rod. It was truly amazing to be able to site fish these beautiful little fish. Granted, they were small, but size isn't everything, at least thats what I tell myself... HAHA So this really was one of the prettiest places I have ever been. The video really does not do it justice, but it was amazing! Beautiful mountains surrounding a small meandering creek, with tall grasses and brush cluttering the banks. I really could not have asked for a more amazing setting. The fact that the fish were so eager to hit the dry fly was truly an amazing thing. This was the first time I had ever fished where the dry out fished a nymph. I was really happy I got some this early in the season on my grasshopper pattern that I call "Mini-Me". -
The Animas is one of those rivers that can either be amazing, or terrible! I have fished it many times getting skunked, and I also have fished it where I have excellent days! Today was an excellent day. While none of the fish were monsters, I did catch lots of them. And they were very fun. I got to fish with my buddy Carter, and he also brought one of his friends who has only been fishing for a little while. He was able to catch a wild rainbow for the first time. He had caught trout before, but never wild trout, always stockers in ponds and lakes. I fished all day with that new zealand indicator system. It seemed like the trout weren't fully committing to the flies, and just making little nibbles. This means that without a sensitive indicator, I would have missed lots of bites. In fact thats why I think Carter and Eric didnt catch as many fish, I saw their indicators barely move a few times, which is hard to detect. Also, I fished all day with 2 flies. One was the GTI Caddis, and the other was more of a simple dubbed caddis. I have tied the GTI Caddis before on camera, and here is that link... https://youtu.be/-lszOLv1gbQ
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If you remember a few weeks back, I went fishing the San Juan River with Fresh Salt Fishing, and we had a great time! We caught many Brown Trout, and one was really really large! They came back to fish with me, and we decided to hit up the Animas River. We had a float trip scheduled for the next day, however we had some time this day to wade the river. Fishing the Animas can be tough. Its not one of those rivers that many people can go out and guaranty a boat load of fish. But when you catch one, usually its a very good sized fish. Mostly browns live in this river, and they are wild. They pull hard, and make you fight for every inch of line. Keep in mind this river is very slippery, so if you come out, make sure and bring some wading boots with studs in them.
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Lets be honest, most people think of egg patterns as "not real flies". While that may be true, no one can argue that they aren't effective. There are times of the year, and certain fisheries that eggs can be one of the best flies you can use. Use it as an attractor, and at times you can use it as your main fly. While eggs aren't prestigious, or fancy, they will catch fish. So give them a try if you haven't before. The nice thing is, they are so easy to tie, you can tie 30+ an hour. Sit down, grab a drink, and tie them up in whatever colors you want. Load up a box, and you will be good for a few weeks of fishing! Hook: Umpqua U202 in size 18 Thread: UTC Ultra Thread 70 in red Fiber: Glo Bugs Yarn in "egg" color UV Resin: Solarez "Bone Dry"
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Last episode I setup camp at the blue mesa escape camp ground, and went to fish the Gunnison river. I ended up getting dehydrated and almost didnt make it back. I only caught 2 fish, and both were rather small. I ended up going out to Gunnison to talk to the local fly shop, and got some advice for the river. And boy am I glad I did, because I caught some nice fish this trip! I started off nymphing with a large wire worm and small nymph. I hooked and landed a large wild rainbow trout. One of the prettiest I have ever seen. The colors were vivid, and it was very dark. A good fighter too. Hooking it on a small midge made the fight difficult however it was also very fun! I was so happy to get a fish so early on in the trip. A little later in the day, after fishing many spots with no success. I noticed the trout started hitting the top of the water. So I threw on a dry fly, and hooked a decent brook trout on the small adams dry fly. He was also very beautiful, with well defined spots. I started noticing some large moths on the water, and flying in the air. I didnt have any other large dry fly except a stimulator. So I threw that on, and hooked a really nice trout on that large dry fly. Overall I was very happy with the trip, an absolute great day on the water!
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Haviland Lake is a beautiful small lake up north of Durango Colorado. You can kayak, swim, and camp at the lake. While you can catch fish off the shore, having a boat really improves your catch rates. I was able to stop into 4 Corners Riversports the morning of my trip and rent a kayak from them. An awesome shop with lots of really nice kayaks for sale, and also very nice kayak rentals. They also sell and rent other items used in watersports as well, like paddle boards, rafts, water games, and more. Keep in mind that these fish are stocked, and meant to keep. You can catch and release, but my wife wanted to cook up some trout and have a meal with my parents. So I kept 4 fish, and Carter took home 3. They were really good, and none was wasted! We ate every ounce of fish!
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Electra Lake is an awesome lake with some monster trout! It was Very easy to catch them, at least the day I went. They were stacked up in the river and inlets of the lake, and I was able to hook 4 fish in a 20-30 minute period. Just absolutely amazing fishing! Electra lake doesn't allow for wading into the lake, or for boats except for those run by the people who live on the lake. However, there is some great fishing from shore, and you won't be disappointed in the quality of these fish. Every fish I hooked was a good sized and colorful fish. If you haven't been there before, its well worth the $15 to fish the lake. Check it out!
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Hey guys, so I wanted to get everyones idea's on this video. I was thinking of doing this for more species... Obviously some of you will have different idea's on which flies I should have chosen. Maybe next time I should do some "honorable mentions"? Just to say what other flies are good as well in those categories? I thought with the trout flies I should choose one dry fly, one nymph/sub surface, and one streamer. Let me know what you guys think about the video... The best fly patterns are the ones that are the most versatile. Ones that can mimic many types of forage. Trout flies are no different. You can be out on the water and all of a sudden, out of no where, you notice that the trout start rising to the surface, or stop coming up for mayflies and go deep. Conditions change, and you don't want to be caught off guard. Its important to have flies in your box that can cater to a wide variety of conditions and techniques for when those unexpected changes happen. I have picked 3 flies that I feel will allow you to fish pretty much any situation presented to you. If you have all 3 of these flies, they will cater to anything the trout throw at you. My dry fly pick is the adams, a wonderful and amazing dry fly pattern that really can cater to any dry fly fishing situation. Ive used smaller ones for midge imitations, and larger ones for mayfly. You won't easily find a rising trout that won't eat an adams. My nymphing pick is the zebra midge. Midges are probably the most important and common food source for trout. They are in almost all rivers throughout the world, and trout never stop feeding on them. Even when all else shuts down, trout will still occasionally sip up a midge when it drifts past their nose. They cannot resist it. This is why the zebra midge is probably the most important and versatile nothing (sub surface) pattern. It can mimic midges, but it will also mimic other aquatic bugs when tied in different sizes and color patterns. Its also very easy to tie, so you can make up a few hundred in an afternoon. My streamer pick is the wooly bugger. This is probably no surprise to most of you. The wooly bugger is well known as a very versatile fly. One that can be fished in many different ways, tied in many different colors, and for many different species. Try fishing a smaller bugger by dead drifting it by a trouts nose. They won't say no to that meal. Or to cover more water, you can swing it through the current. You can also strip it through slow moving pools. It really is probably the most versatile fly ever created. In all honestly, if you could only pick one fly, this would be the best bet. Ive even used the bugger as a dry fly once, when I forgot to bring my dry fly box with me. So it really is the most versatile fly ever made.
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Here is a quick video of my best brown. 27". I think some of you have watched the full length version 14.5 minutes.. However this one is just of that fish, not the entire day, so you don't have to listen to me ramble on... Its under two minutes, so a quick and sweet video.
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This was an interesting day to say the least. It was sunny, warm, and beautiful, however it was very windy, and the water was off colored. Nymphing proved to be very unproductive, and I tried all day. However I switched to a streamer and nailed 2 within a half hour of each other. However it was late in the day and I had to leave. I did it again, I left something and didnt bring it with me. My SD card was missing and I had to conserve filming with my hand held camera. So most of the day was caught on Go Pro.
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So I just got this new rod which is a 10' 3wt rod custom built by Midwest Custom Fly Rods. Its amazing! In many of my episodes I had trouble landing larger fish on these small 24-28 sized midges. I would always pull these small hooks right out of the fishes mouth. But now having a 10' light action rod, really helps me keep from putting too much pressure on the fish. I hooked 2 fish all day, and both were rather large. Unfortunately I did loose one of those fish, but that is still 50% for the day, so not too bad! Especially with these tiny midges. The fish I landed was about 18" and the one I lost I think was at least that, if not up to 20". Pretty fun day. The wind got really bad throughout the day, and I had to move to the braids in order to get out of the wind. There were times where I couldn't even get my fly line to stay on the water. Also there was tons of junk in the water. Mostly moss and algae, but some leaves and small twigs as well. I spent half the time cleaning my flies from this junk. So while I was able to land a great rainbow trout on a small midge which made it a great day, it was also a frustrating day as well. This was a Saturday, so it was really busy. Literally every spot was taken. I finally was able to find a few secluded spots away from people, but this took a lot of walking around.
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So, the weather was miserable, and cold. We fished all morning in the snow without seeing the sun. Finally the sun came out, and we actually got a fish. Then the storm came again and we got caught in sleet, snow and some small hail on our way back to the car. Was the weather bad? Yes... Did we still have a great time? YES!!!. Don't ever give up on fishing just cause the weather doesn't look great. Bad weather fishing days can be some of the most memorable.
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This was a very fun day on the San Juan river fishing with some friends. A subscriber of mine had seen me at the pub a few weeks prior to this, and we talked about fishing for a while. We decided we needed to go out fishing and today was the day. We had a blast, and got to explore many parts of the river. While the day wasn't too productive, it was still a fun day. I hooked 11 fish, and brought in 7. Most of which were small, and all the ones I brought in were under 15". However I did hook a 17-18" fish but lost that due to bumbling around with my go pro since I wasn't filming at the time.
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Well this video was a few months in the making. On my 2nd episode I met Joe out on the river. We were both fishing the San Juan River and struck up a conversation. He told me he made fly reels, so I was obviously instantly interested in taking a look at these reels. When I first saw the reel, I was blown away by the beauty of the design. It really is a pretty reel. However I hadn't gotten to fish with it until today. After fishing with it, I feel that the reel is really well made. Unfortunately I didnt get to hook any fish that stripped drag, however I could tell that it was smooth by just stripping line off. Also, while fishing with it, I liked the click sounds (very quiet which is good) and I liked how light the reel was. However it was solid feeling, unlike some super light reels that are hollow. This is really solid and really high quality. So the day on the San Juan was kinda slow to say the least. We didn't even see a single fish hooked by anyone until probably 11:30 or so. But even at that, it was few and far between. Finally after hitting Texas Hole around 1:00 the action picked up a bit and Joe was able to hook 3 fish and bring in 2 of them. One was a really good sized brown! 24" or so. So the day was fun even though it wasn't super productive. Its always great having someone else on the river with you as well. We enjoyed ourselves even though we weren't bringing fish in left and right. The San Juan River is a great river located in the north west corner of New Mexico. The river usually fishes amazing, and all through the year. However the last few weeks have been kinda slow as the river flows have been up and down and the weather isn't always permitting for nice fishing days. But there have been days on this river where I have netted 20+ trout. Its fun to fish and you will see trout everywhere when the water is clear. They will come up and nip at your waders.
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One of the last free-flowing rivers in the state of Colorado, the Animas River is a unique and rare treasure. With the newest and one of the best Gold Medal Water fly-fishing sections in Colorado, the Animas is a river that should be on your list of places to fish. When Juan Rivera passed through this corner of Colorado in 1765, he named the river El Rio de las Animas Perdidas en Purgatorio, “The River of the Lost Souls in Hell.” To Rivera and his Spanish compatriots, the valley was remote, bleak, and had little to offer them in the way of riches. The Animas River is the major stream draining the high alpine terrain of the Needle Mountains. It heads in small meadows on the flanks of Cinnamon Mountain north of Silverton, then plunges through wild canyons as it carves a route between the Needle and West Needle Mountains. By the time it reaches Durango, the Animas has grown to a large river. Out of the mountains the Animas meanders through a shallow depression across broad plains. South of the New Mexico border at Farmington the Animas joins the San Juan River. Fortunately, public access to the Animas River within the city of Durango is plentiful with almost 7 miles of river from 32nd Street Bridge to the Rivera Bridge south of town. Two parcels of private land are found in this stretch, but they are well marked. Foot and bike trails parallel the river through much of town, providing abundant easy access. The Animas is big water. In Durango the river is almost 100 feet wide, filled with huge rocks and deep holes. The river offers extensive riffles, freestone conditions, and stretches of pocket water. The bottom consists of gravel and cobbles. The rocks are as slick as those in any river in the West, and anglers must always be very cautious when wading. Wet wading is popular in summer, but waders are called for in the early season and in the fall. A year or so back, the EPA spilled about 3 million gallons of toxic chemicals into the river. These chemicals included heavy metals like lead, arsenic, zink and iron. For a week the river turned bright orange and many thought the river was done for. However after cleanup, and time, the river has seemed to turn back to what it originally was. Fish show no signs of poisoning, and supposedly the river water is safe to drink. This trip started (and almost ended) very frustrating. I didnt see a single fish all day, and didn't even get one bite on the line. At the end of the day when I was further down stream, I fell in the water which pretty much made me quit fishing. As I walked back to the car, I decided to try one last spot. The spot where I hooked a big trout my last trip. I ended up hooking a very good sized brown trout, one of the largest Ive ever caught. It had to have been 24-25" at least. It was a beautiful fish, with hooked jaws. The rod I hooked that fish on was a 9' 6wt Sage Method, with a 3250 sage reel. I had a 7wt outbound short line with an intermediate sink tip, and I was fishing a size 10 cone head slump buster streamer in olive. Some of the above info about the animas was gotten from the Duranglers website with their permission.
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One of the last free-flowing rivers in the state of Colorado, the Animas River is a unique and rare treasure. With the newest and one of the best Gold Medal Water fly-fishing sections in Colorado, the Animas is a river that should be on your list of places to fish. When Juan Rivera passed through this corner of Colorado in 1765, he named the river El Rio de las Animas Perdidas en Purgatorio, “The River of the Lost Souls in Hell.” To Rivera and his Spanish compatriots, the valley was remote, bleak, and had little to offer them in the way of riches. The Animas River is the major stream draining the high alpine terrain of the Needle Mountains. It heads in small meadows on the flanks of Cinnamon Mountain north of Silverton, then plunges through wild canyons as it carves a route between the Needle and West Needle Mountains. By the time it reaches Durango, the Animas has grown to a large river. Out of the mountains the Animas meanders through a shallow depression across broad plains. South of the New Mexico border at Farmington the Animas joins the San Juan River. Fortunately, public access to the Animas River within the city of Durango is plentiful with almost 7 miles of river from 32nd Street Bridge to the Rivera Bridge south of town. Two parcels of private land are found in this stretch, but they are well marked. Foot and bike trails parallel the river through much of town, providing abundant easy access. The Animas is big water. In Durango the river is almost 100 feet wide, filled with huge rocks and deep holes. The river offers extensive riffles, freestone conditions, and stretches of pocket water. The bottom consists of gravel and cobbles. The rocks are as slick as those in any river in the West, and anglers must always be very cautious when wading. Wet wading is popular in summer, but waders are called for in the early season and in the fall. On this trip to the Animas I only got to fish a few hours. I had a late start on this impromptu fishing trip. I also forgot my SD drive for my go pro so I could not film everything. However It still was a fun trip even though I didnt land any fish. I did hook a very large fish though, but could not bring in this big brown. He threw the hook within a few seconds of hooking him. I was fishing nymphs all day, and the fly rig I hooked the big one on was a small (18 size) red copper john, and a 20 size two bit hooker. Im guessing the one he hit was the two bit... The rod was my custom rod (a bit stiff of a rod) and the reel was my sage 2250. I was using the basic Rio line, "mainstream WF5F". Some of the above info about the animas was gotten from the Duranglers website. You can see more info about the Animas on their website http://www.duranglers.com View the youtube video below, or click this link to view on my website. http://www.mcflyangler.com/episode-5-fly-fishing-animas-river
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If you haven't ever fly fished the quality waters on the San Juan River in New Mexico, you are missing out. Trout are everywhere, and its difficult not to hook a few. The problem there though is that your best bet for hooking trout is with small midges in the 28-32 size verity. Also you need to use really light tippet like 6x. Flourocarbon is best. Because the river is fished quite heavily, the trout come accustom to knowing what is a fly, and what is not, so you need to fish really light. These are not small trout, and therefor its difficult to bring them in. The small hooks rip out of their mouths, and the light tippet snaps when you put any pressure on the fish. Fighting a large trout can take you 10-20 minutes before getting it in, and by that time you have lots of chances to loose them. This trip was one of the more frustrating I have had on this river. I hooked 3 large trout, and lost all 3. One of those monsters was over 20". Frustrating indeed. However I did manage to land countless other smaller fish. It was a great day though even working through the frustrations. I was using a rod I tied myself. The blank, and components were purchased from the "hook and the hackle". I find this rod to be excellent for the money, and a great streamer and larger nimphing rod. However it is a bit stiff for what I needed today, and the loss of 3 fish proved it. The rod always preforms well though, especially for casting. The reel I was using is a Sage 2250, and the line was Rio Mainstream WF5F, a simple $40 fly line. You don't need much more then the mainstream line on this river due to not having to cast very far often. I think I would have faired better with a 4wt fly rod that had a bit more bend to it. Less pressure on the fish, and less chance of ripping that hook right out of their mouths. I even bent a hook on one of the fish.
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If you haven't ever fly fished the quality waters on the San Juan River in New Mexico, you are missing out. Trout are everywhere, and its difficult not to hook a few. The problem there though is that your best bet for hooking trout is with small midges in the 28-32 size verity. Also you need to use really light tippet like 6x. Flourocarbon is best. Because the river is fished quite heavily, the trout come accustom to knowing what is a fly, and what is not, so you need to fish really light. These are not small trout, and therefor its difficult to bring them in. The small hooks rip out of their mouths, and the light tippet snaps when you put any pressure on the fish. Fighting a large trout can take you 10-20 minutes before getting it in, and by that time you have lots of chances to loose them. I hooked 3 good sized trout on this trip, and brought in 2 of them. The 3rd one I lost never got on camera due to my batteries dying. This trip was a tough trip though even though I landed a few fish because I was struggling to get bites. I only had 3 hit all day, and I was lucky enough to bring in 2. Finally the hunt for the San Juan River trout is over, and I can move onto another river in my next series of fishing rivers. Some would consider the San Juan to be more of a creek as its not very wide, but there are spots that are very wide and those places are slow and shallow, but there are big trout all throughout this river. I landed 2 fish, and hooked a 3rd on this trip. That third fish was just too big, and too strong to bring in. I lost him about 2 feet from landing him in the net. All around a great day fishing. The first time I fished the San Juan must have been a once in a blue moon trip because I landed 20+ trout in about one hour. This river is considered one of the best in the United States, however its not quite like some of these rivers you see in New Zealand. There are lots of people, and its not so remote and secluded feeling. However its a great river still none the less. The rod I was using is a TFO Lefty Kreh Professional Series II which is a bit more moderate action then the rod I was using in the first video of this series.. The reel I was using is a Sage 2250, and the line was Rio Mainstream WF5F, a simple $40 fly line. You don't need much more then the mainstream line on this river due to not having to cast very far to often.
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If you haven't ever fly fished the quality waters on the San Juan River in New Mexico, you are missing out. Trout are everywhere, and its difficult not to hook a few. The problem there though is that your best bet for hooking trout is with small midges in the 28-32 size verity. Also you need to use really light tippet like 6x. Flourocarbon is best. Because the river is fished quite heavily, the trout come accustom to knowing what is a fly, and what is not, so you need to fish really light. These are not small trout, and therefor its difficult to bring them in. The small hooks rip out of their mouths, and the light tippet snaps when you put any pressure on the fish. Fighting a large trout can take you 10-20 minutes before getting it in, and by that time you have lots of chances to loose them. The rod I was using is a TFO Lefty Kreh Professional Series II which is a bit more moderate action then the last rod I was using. However it didnt seem to help much with bringing the larger sized trout in on these tiny nymphs. I tried very hard not to put much pressure on the fish when fighting, however I still lost them. The reel I was using is a Sage 2250, and the line was Rio Mainstream WF5F, a simple $40 fly line. You don't need much more then the mainstream line on this river due to not having to cast very far to often. I hooked 4 good sized trout, and one was well over 20". In fact, the one I lost due to it wrapping around "big rock" was easily 22-24". I just could not put enough pressure on him to steer him clear of the rock.
