Colorado Fly fishing Top Spots
Colorado offers some absolute beautiful places to go fly fishing. While the fish are not exceptionally big, they are hard fighters. When you combine the scenery, the aquatic bugs and the fish, you have a marvelous fishing experience.
The Arkansas River between and Salida and Cotopaxi offer some extraordinary fly fishing almost year round. The river along this stretch has an abundance of aquatic life for the fish to eat. The fish seem to be wild and will fight hard. There are mainly Rainbow trout with an occasional Brown trout sprinkled in for variety. The largest fish are 18-19 inches long with the majority being in the 14-16 inch range.
Each year right around Mother’s day the Caddis fly emerges from its aquatic larval stage to its adult flying stage. This happens when the water temperature reaches a certain point. It usually occurs in late morning to early afternoon. Fishing with a Caddis emerge in the morning usually generates excellent fishing.
When the Caddis emerge from the river, switch to an elk hair dry Caddis fly to a #16 fish hook size. The fish go crazy eating the flies and they come out of the river by the millions. The air is so thick with flies that you can hardly see. It is just spectacular. Look for an online fishing video showing this event.
A few miles north of Evergreen on Upper Bear Creek there is some fantastic fishing for small Brook trout. The Bear Creek at this point is only about four feet across and maybe knee deep at the deepest points. The water is crystal clear and full of aquatic life.
Here are few fishing tackle tips to make this an exciting trip. First use a light weight rod with super lite floating fly line and a light weight six foot leader. These little brookies love to go after dry flies, so bring a good assortment.
Second, bring a lunch and leave your cell phone in the car. There’s no cell service so you won’t be able to play online fishing games.