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Fishing report: Delayed runoff

Will Sands
Special to The Aspen Times
Aspen, CO Colorado

Extended fishing opportunities abound this week, and anglers should take advantage!

Generally at this time of the month the Roaring Fork should be in the beginning stages of runoff, especially below the confluence of the Crystal River. Cooler weather this past week has slowed the spring snowmelt, however, and we are experiencing some very good fishing that would not normally be available to us. Thus anglers have the choice to still fish the Fork for a bit longer, and, because of the caddis hatch, fishing has been very good.

This week the hatch often known as the “Mother’s Day” caddis has been in full swing. Many years we are unable to fish this hatch on the Roaring Fork because the river is already too high and muddy. But since the weather has delayed this a bit, anglers can still take advantage of some superb nymph fishing and very good caddis dry fly-fishing – probably through the weekend.



With warmer weather predicted, this window is not going to last too much longer. Currently the hatch is most dense between Basalt and Carbondale, and will move upvalley as the week progresses.

We often talk about our valley’s hatches as moving upvalley, and this is a result of water temperatures. Hatches begin as a result of warming water temperatures, and since downvalley weather warms earlier the hatches begin in Glenwood Springs and progress upvalley throughout the season, depending on what insect hatch is taking place.




This week anglers should focus primarily on caddis imitations, but be sure to have a few Stoneflies and Blue Winged Olives as well. The hot caddis nymph or pupa patterns this week are the Yuba Pupa, Nuclear Caddis, Z-Wing Caddis and Peacock Soft hackle. Caddis Dries that have been producing well are the Medallion Caddis, E/C Caddis and Peacock Caddis. Be sure to have a few Pat’s Rubber legged stones, Golden Wired stones and Pandemic BWOs and BLMs to round out the bug quiver.

This report is provided every week by Taylor Creek Fly Shops in Aspen and Basalt. Taylor Creek can be reached at (970) 927-4374 or taylorcreek.com.