SW Colorado: Season of the San Miguel

Late July in SW Colorado offers some of the best fishing of the year on our freestone rivers and creeks.  Hatches decline on the tailwaters, including the Lower Dolores, but the high country is at its best.  Afternoon thunderstorms are critical for sustaining water levels now that the snowpack is mostly gone.  Bring a rain jacket, your wet wading socks and a 3-weight!

San Miguel River: (184 cfs)   Terrific fishing with ideal water conditions.  The San Miguel fishes best between 125 and 200 cfs when it is completely wadeable, but also deep enough for big fish to move around. Major hatches of PMDs, caddis, midges and yellow sallie stones are accompanied by terrestrial insects including hopper, beetles and ants.  It's a smorgasbord out there.

Dries:  In full daylight, throw your big attractors (sizes 6-10), such as the RL Stimi, Perry's Bugmeister, Chubby Chernobyl,  foam boddied PMX and other high-floating, leggy, indicator-style flies.  In the evenings, the fish move up in the water column and are more willing to eat smaller dries.  Stimulators, caddis patterns, etc in the size 12-16 range are perfect for the evening rise.

Nymphs: Wire Prince, Queen Prince, Pulsating Caddis, Diving Caddis, Pat's RL Stone (in all colors and sizes), Guide's Choice Hare's Ear, Haden's Black Stone, Beefus Wire Stone, Poxyback Stone, Morrish's Iron Sallie and Stalcup's Yellow Sallie Nymph.  As a generalization, fish these droppers in sizes 14-18.  Our guides are starting to fish more technical droppers including the Mayhem, Red Headed Stepchild, Micro May, Split Case emergers and the Winker Midge.  When fishing unweighted droppers, use a micro shot 6-8 inches above the dropper fly.

Dolores River: (130 cfs at Dolores, 35 cfs at Rico, 80 cfs below McPhee) Low and clear above Rico.  Afternoon thunderstorms are playing an important roll in keeping enough water in the river.  Hatches are prolific, but a more stealthy approach is required to catch fish consistently.  In general, the creek tributaries are fishing excellent.  The creeks have more cover than the main branch of the Upper Dolores, so the fish stay happy longer into the low water part of the season.  Hatches include caddis, PMDs, yellow sallies (actually several species between a size 12-16, olive to yellow in color), midges, a few golden stones and lots of terrestrials.  Ants will play a major roll in the trout's diet through late summer and fall.

Dry Flies: Bloom's Para Caddis #14-16, RL Stimulator #14-16, Stalcup's Para Caddis Emerger #14-16, Morrish's Foam Hopper #10, Perry's Bugmeister #12-16, Para PMD #16-18, Turck's Power Ant #11-13, Green River Ant #12, Yeager's 409 #14.

Nymphs: Wire Prince #16-18, Guide's Choice Hare's Ear #16, Pulsating Caddis #14-16, Mayhem #16, Oops! #14-16, Split Back Emerger #16-18, Jewel Crawler #16-18, Micro May #16-20.

The Lower Dolores River is still fishing well enough to entertain advanced anglers who take satisfaction in butt kickings at the hands of tough trout, but hatches have slowed and a preponderance of sunny days has limited dry fly action.  Hatches include a few late PMDs, scattered caddis, midges and mahogany dun mayflies.  Terrestrials offer your best big fish dry fly opportunities over the next couple weeks.

Uncompahgre : (398 cfs below Ridgway Reservoir)  Great fishing.  The summer PMD hatch has turned it on.  We're catching fish all day long on nymphs and in the middle of the day on PMD patterns.  Increasingly, Uncompahgre trout want a well-tied fly, so choose your dry flies wisely. 

Hatches: Pale Morning Dun Mayflies

Dries:  We're throwing hoppers and Bugmeisters primarily as indicator flies and technical PMD patterns during the mid-day hatch.  Our favorite match-the-hatch PMDs include the Burk's Silhouette Dun, Pink Albert, Pink Albert cripple, Melon Quill and Lawson's No Hackle.

Nymphs: Mayhem, Micro May, Split Case PMD, small Soft Hackles.

Gunnison: (665 cfs below Crystal Reservoir)  Isn't it funny that there is a mass exodus from the Gunnison when the salmonfly hatch ends?  The end of the salmonfly hatch signals the beginning of a solid month of excellent fishing in the Gunnison Gorge.  Salmonflies have been replaced by a host of less famous but equally tasty aquatic insects for the trout to dine upon:  caddis, PMD mayflies, midges, yellow sally stoneflies and Trico mayflies.  July is also the best hopper fishing month of the year.

Dry flies: Morrish's Foam Hopper #10, Kicking Hopper #8-12, Parachute Hopper #8-12, Yeager's 409 (yellow or brown) #14, Furimsky's BDE #12-16, Bloom's Para Caddis #14-16, Stalcup's Para Caddis Emerger #14-16, Melon Quill #16, Burk's Silhouette Dun PMD #16, Trico Spinner patterns.

Nymphs:  Soft hackle hare's ear and PT patterns #14-16, The Mayhem #16-22, Split Case PMD Emerger #16-18, Trina's Present Tail #16-18, San Juan Worm #12-16 (pink and red), Pat's RL Stone #8-10.