Category: Riffle and Rise Blog

Getting some nice browns on the Taylor with small dries and ant patterns. (Click on images to enlarge.)

When the bugs aren’t popping and the fish are not really looking up, stalking the banks with an ant pattern can be productive. Love those slow sips!

Had a fun day with the Fergusons from Texas this week. It was their first time out with a fly rod and they did great. They caught some fish and had a good time here on the Taylor River.

Had a nice trip over to Scotland for the last half of June and was able to get out to fish one day. My guide from Alba Game Fishing, Cuillin Rae, was great. We had a good time looking for wild brown trout up north on the River Lyon, which is a tributary of the River Tay.

Big rainbows are looking up now and eating small mayfly emergers and adults. Summer is here. (Click on the photo to see a larger image.)

Some of our smaller mountain streams are fishing really well right now. It’s been hot and dry though, so I’m not sure how long the creeks will last this summer. Some are already very low. We could certainly use some rain.

We’re seeing some BWOs hatching on the Taylor now and fish are looking up. The river is rising as they increase flows out of Taylor Reservoir this week, and a lot of fish are feeding near the banks now. I saw this nice brown sipping on the bank and caught him on a size 22 mayfly emerger. Stalking big fish on the banks is super fun. Click on the photo to see a large version. Just a beautiful fish.

We’re seeing midges, small caddis, and BWOs hatching on the Taylor River now. Some of the big fish are sipping small bugs in the slack water. I caught this nice rainbow on a #18 black ant after trying small midge and mayfly patterns with no luck.

I caught this nice cutbow on the Gunnison River the other day. The rivers have been up and down with the temperature swings we’ve had. We have had temps in the mid 60s and then snow. Rivers are up again now with runoff, but there is another cold front coming and we may get some snow in the high country. Winds have been brutal, with gusts to 50 mph. I’ve seen a lot of trees down. I’ll be glad when this settles down.

It’s been really warm lately (in the mid 60s) with good fishing, but now we’re seeing the early stages of runoff. The East River is getting swollen and dirty, and this is bringing runoff into the Gunnison River. We’ll probably see the flows go up and down for a bit, but once we’re in full runoff with the high country snow melting, it will most likely last several weeks.