On the Fly: Fishing the spring flush on the Fryingpan

The Fryingpan River is offering up everyone’s chance to catch the biggest trout of their life during the annual spring flush, and guides who have spread all across the country (and the world) are starting the annual migration back to Basalt. We have guides coming back from Florida, Pennsylvania, Mexico, and Cuba in the coming weeks in anticipation of another great season.  

Many visitors are “concerned” about the flows on the Fryingpan, but those in the know realize this is our opportunity to stick some nice fish — ones that don’t look like they’ve been caught six times since Sunday. A healthy concern is a good thing; we all need to keep safety in the forefront during these high-flow times of year. The increase in flow pushes many big fish out of their hiding spots and helps spread the insects around the river. The sight fishing in the flats and the upper Fryingpan is as good as it gets, if you don’t mind seeing a few other anglers out there. 

This looks like it will be another epic fishing season here in the Roaring Fork Valley. Our snowpack was near-average, it’s been a cool and slow-melting spring, and conditions should be perfect after the rivers clear in the coming weeks. We will be fishing twilight green drakes on the Colorado and lower Roaring Fork rivers soon, and before you know it, the frenzied caddis, yellow sallie, and pale morning dun hatches that make this valley famous will be in full-swing. 

I look forward to all the stories of the returning itinerant guides, as they fish all over the world and usually have a few knee-slappers to share when they return. The guide staff may be full of type-A personalities, but when it all boils down, all guides in all fly shops are family, albeit a sometimes dysfunctional one.

Be safe out there during these high flows, restock those fly boxes, and fix your leaky waders — this year is going to be sweet!