In case you couldn’t tell, my photography work has picked up just about the time we see the light at the end of the doldrums.

It rained about twenty-four hours, off and on, here in North Texas – starting Saturday night and carrying through much of Sunday. Today, the clouds departed, and the sun came out once again. At least there wasn’t enough heat to make steam out of the wet earth.

I did a deal recently, to photograph a wedding in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. If you have read TFC for awhile, you know I am partial to that area of Colorado. Expenses paid, and a good rate for the wedding photography … priceless.

There is a lengthy post in the works, another DIY story starting from scratch.

If you are wondering what’s been written in the past, here is a list:
Wolf Creek Anglers Report
Day 2 In Town and Running
Day 1 The Piedra
Colorado Fly Fishing Update
Colorado Day .1

That is just the recent history of Pagosa Springs trips. My fascination with that area goes back about ten years now, and shows no signs of letting up.

Stay tuned.

I had a call a few days ago from an acquaintance who is headed to Buena Vista, Colorado, ostensibly to fly fish. To an information geek, such as myself, that’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Personally, I know little about the Arkansas River and the Buena Vista area of Colorado, so as a courtesy I thought I would gather some research from the internet and compile it here.

Another Day in Fly Fishing Paradise
The Arkansas River in South Central Colorado gets a good write up in Mark Williams’ “So Many Fish, So Little Time.” On pages 238, 239 Williams gives a glowing review of the scenery and “riffle after riffle, pocket water galore under craggy mountains, chock-full of feisty brown trout. Say no more, South Central Colorado, a hotbed of conservative thinking, and feisty brown trout!

Williams does describe stretches other than the one from Buena Vista to Salida, a grand total of 100 miles. At that length, you would expect, and he verifies, that there are a lot of changes in altitude, incline and fourteeners as the background to this adventure.

The site that seems to have the most coherent gathering of information is Arkanglers.com, which includes a hatch chart for the Arkansas River.

As is common in Colorado, there are tributary rivers along the Arkansas and some reservoirs within range as well. My affinity for the high altitude lakes, where cutthroat will eat the shirt off your back, can be reserved for a day you rest from the weariness of big river fly fishing on the Arkansas.

We are fully into the monsoon season, which means, you can take the average day and cut it in half. Rains with wicked lightning are extremely likely to shorten your day to about three or four p.m. every day.

The dining choices seem to be even more abundant and diverse than the fish habitat. When I go to Buena Vista, you can be sure I am going to check out the Eddyline Pub with their own micro brewery and check here for a long list of Buena Vista, Colorado restaurants.

NOTE – If there’s a location that interests you, or if you have information about a location that hits the Texas Fly Caster radar, feel free to help your fellow fly fishers. You will be helping out more than 300 new visitors who find Texas Fly Caster every day. Even though a post like this amounts to novice internet surfing, I suppose it has the value of concentrating the information in a “filtered for relevance” fashion.

THIS REPORT COURTESY WOLF CREEK ANGLERS

Well it’s that time of the year, “Summer Time”/”Dry Fly Fishing Time”!!!

As many of you may know most of the Northern Rocky Mountain States, including Northern Colorado have received Snowpacks upwards of 200% to 400%. Here in Southern Colorado, we were sitting on Average Snowpacks for most our drainages around 100% and a warm dry Spring. With the next two weeks forecasts showing highs in the high 70F’s to low 80F’s with 10% chance of afternoon showers in South Fork and highs in the low-mid 80F’s and mostly clear/sunny in Pagosa Springs. So what does this mean for all you fly fishers out there, well, while Northern Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Northern Utah’s Rivers are Blown Out, Flooding, Not Fishable and will not be for a long time. We are Fishing Dry Flies Right Now! We have Salmonflies and Caddis Hatching on most all our local waters now. Some of the smaller creeks and tailwaters have been fishing well all month and with multiple hatches of Salmonflies, brown stones, yellow sallies, multiple caddis, PMD’s, BWO’s, and midges the last two weeks and it’s only getting better. Fishing and water conditions are improving daily as flows step down, water clears, and warms. Within this last week we have seen the larger watersheds (Rio Grande, San Juan, and Piedra Rivers) improve drastically every day. All with hungry, happy trout willing to rise to dry flies.

Fishing, Hatches, and Water Conditions:
I’m not going to go into too much information on this newsletter because everything is changing every day and for the best….For the most up to date daily information Please Check Out Our Fishing Reports Page www.wolfcreekanglers.com or on www.fishhound.com I will be updating all reports daily.

The Big Rivers:
All of our areas Watersheds are dropping, clearing, warming, and insect activity is progressing as usual. The Rio Grande has Salmonflies and Caddis hatching now, within the next week, we will see more and better Dry fly fishing. By the last few days of June into the first week of July we can expect hatches of brown stoneflies, more caddis and then the Gray & Green Drakes, as well as Golden stones.

The San Juan River Pagosa Springs to Trujillo Float we have Salmonflies hatching in the canyon timed out perfectly to the end of run-off, the river is dropping & clearing daily to excellent floating/fishing conditions. This float can usually only be done in about a 2-3 week window of time, for fishable conditions and have enough water to float through. This float is one of the most unique floats in Southern Colorado floating through beautiful canyons and working ranches in an area that is “Totally Private”, only able to be fished a few times a year.

The Piedra River is also coming around quickly the Upper River and Forks have been fishing well all week and conditions are getting better daily. Should start seeing more Salmonflies, better fishing conditions lower down the drainage, and fish willing to eat dries throughout this next week.

The Smaller Creeks:
Most all the Smaller Creeks around South Fork and Pagosa Springs, have been fishing well most all June, and dry fly fishing started much earlier than the big rivers.
Around South Fork the guides and I have fished a lot of the creeks waiting for the Rio to drop & clear.

South Fork Creeks:
The South Fork of the Rio Grande: Is at Full flows, but dropping and clearing. Nymph fishing, streamer fishing, and a possibility of BWO’s & midges hatching in the slower pools. So you may be able to get your first dryfly fish of the year… Try to focus your fishing above some of the tributaries early in the morning as it is the peak of the flow for the day, just keep heading NW/upstream till you find clearer/fishable water.
The Guides & myself had fished the South Fork often recently with great success Grand Slams, good numbers, and nice fish, mainly nymphing, but some surface activity.

Beaver, Park, and Pass Creeks, are full and fast but, clear to good color. All have peaked from run-off on the fall & clearing. Wading fishers should focus on these streams or higher up in the drainage’s if on the east side.

La Garita, Embargo, Alder, Willow and many other smaller creeks in the South Fork area are at full flows, and clear, fishing well, nymphing and dry/dropper rigs.

Pagosa Springs Creeks:

Williams Creek flows are full & fast, but clear to cloudy. Fishing has been Great. Mainly nymphing, been getting some really large fish out of this little creek lately! We all have fished & guided Williams a lot lately, with great success, tons of hungry happy fish! Getting more dry fly activity daily, with the warmer weather. Salmonflies Hatching on Williams Creek, as well as yellow sallies, caddis, PMD’s, BWO’s, and midges!!Dry Fly Season is Here! I fished Salmonfly dries on Williams 2 days ago for about 3 hrs. with great results, 30 some landed and a few lost, and 1 species away from multi- Grand Slams!

The Middle Fork of the Piedra is starting to fish well, mainly all nymphing and really nice sized fish (13-18″) being landed out of this little creek lately. The East Fork of the Piedra is clear, but pushing a lot of water, may want to wait a week or so for easier fishing conditions.

The West Fork of the San Juan is fishing good, streamers and nymphs for now, but some stoneflies are starting to hatch. The East Fork of the San Juan is still a little fast and cloudy but fishable, nymphs & streamers, should get better every day.

Lakes:

All of our area lakes are clear of ice, roads, trails and gates are open. Most all the Lakes are fishing great; lower elevation lakes have hatches of chironomids, damsels, and caenis (white curse!). Higher elevation lakes are still a little on the cold side, fish are feeding more on woolly buggers, leech patterns, and streamers mostly. Also the Lower Elevation lakes warmwater fishes are feeding well with the thicker weed growth and warmer water temps.

The Fly Shops:
We are getting in tons of new products in every week in the fly shops, a lot of brand new gear and flies to come check out. We would also like all of you to Welcome our newest employee Eric Wiens, he will be working in our South Fork Fly Shop, Eric is pictured above & here with me with the two doubles we caught his first day in South Fork.

Check out Local Fishing Reports on : Wolf Creek Anglers Fishing Reports page and Fishhound.com

Sales & Specials: We have many items on an preseason sale at the fly shops! Many discontinued items being replaced for 2011, please call either fly shop if interested in picking up some new discounted gear.

Wolf Creek Anglers “Summer” Fly Shop Hours:
Pagosa Springs & South Fork Locations- OPEN 7am. to 7pm. 7 Days a Week.