Weekly Fishing Report: 08/02/23

Rio Grande River: The Rio is holding on to floatable water. With evening rains up high, we have been seeing releases from the reservoir. The fishing has been good. All floatable water is from Wagon Wheel Gap put-in down to CR-17.

Hopper dropper fishing has been great from Gap to CR-19. Down stream of 19 your best bet is indicator rigs. Don’t shy away from big bugs. Size 6-12 Pats Rubber Legs, 8-12 Prince Nymphs, 10-14 Drake Crawlers (we like dark brown), and 10-14 Olive and brown hairs ears. These are our favorites for under the indicator. A few of our guides are addicted to new school perdigons. For these patterns anything black and blue, black and green, olive, lime green, etc… should do the trick.

When throwing a dry dropper, big hopper patterns in tan/black, tan, cream, and olive have been the ticket. We like throwing anything from a size 6-14. On cloudy days we like the olive, and tan/black. Bright sunny days we like the light colors for our hopper.

If you’re someone that likes to throw single dries you can still get it done. For a single dry your best bet is throwing a smaller hopper (something you can skate and twitch in and out of seams) and something that can float well. We like a parachute adams size 10-14, madam x size 8-14, fuzzy wuzzy size 8-14 or any mid size caddis pattern that can move on the water.

Fish are holding in shallow fast water in the mornings while the temps are cool and moving into heavy seams and mid river currents later in the day. Think oxygen. With warmer water temps, the fish are seeking for deep holding water or buckets underneath big riffles and turbulent currents.

Creek fishing is great right now. Any dry fly pattern mentioned above should get the job done. Some of out favorite creeks are Lime Creek, Beaver Creek, Park Creek, South Clear Creek, North Clear Creek, or the South Fork of the Rio. If you want specific information on any of these creeks come into the shop and we will answer your questions.

View Current Dischargehttps://dwr.state.co.us/Tools/Stations/RIOWAGCO?params=DISCHRG

For the rest of the summer there will be weekly fishing reports so tune back in for more information!