Salomone: Four flies for right now.
Michael Salomone/Courtesy photo
The Eagle River is cooling down to a predictable pace. Fish are seeking out sustenance wherever it can be found. Minuscule midges and teeny Blue Wing Olives are the only insects showing up in respectable numbers at this point. Trout can be tempted with dwarfed examples of stoneflies. And a fly that isn’t a bug at all drifts down the river in ever increasing numbers. Anglers approaching the river with these four flies in their box are going to encounter some fish.
Midges are the mainstay for food during the winter months. Trout will eat a midge 12 months a year, but in the winter these small insects fill the hunger void a nibble at a time. The effort to eat a midge almost eclipses the amount of protein attained. Still, trout will pick them out of the water again and again and again.
While there may be windows of opportunity to cast a midge dry fly in the afternoons and early evenings, the majority of midges taken by trout are in the larva or pupa stages. This makes cold-weather nymphing the tactic of choice. With the arrival of snowy weather in the Colorado high country, anglers should make adjustments accordingly.
The zebra midge is the number one fly for cold-weather angling. In fact, this is a fly to always have in your fly box. Productive colors begin with red, followed by black or olive. On the Eagle River, the red zebra midge is a necessity.
One observes incredible temperature increases in one day. The warmth from morning sunlight and the arrival of afternoon clouds brings Blue Wing Olives — BWOs — back into favor. These small mayflies are hardy and pop up when conditions do not appear to be stellar. Anglers should look for the small adults during the shoulder seasons between summer and winter.
Support Local Journalism
A size 18 RS-2 with the long tails flowing in the current works down deep in the river or nymphed with moderate weight in the mid-column. Allowing the nymph to swing up and rise at the end of the drift mimics an emerging BWO. Gray is the preferred color and black is a good backup.
Small stoneflies flex and curl in the current when dislodged from the security of rocks. Trout will not pass up a stonefly nymph in autumn. I’m not talking about the large, Pat’s Rubberlegs either, but rather the Copper John variety. A small, red Copper John holds weight other nymphs do not possess. The fly drifts tighter to the river bottom and is a good choice for pairing up in a tandem rig with a midge or BWO nymph.
Trout not keyed into spawning will take advantage of the bounty that eggs filling redds and washing away downstream represent. Trout recognize a food source when it is plentiful. It’s good or bad depending on how you view them, but eggs get eaten regularly. This is a food source that trickles through and is present for an extended period.
Two types of fish spawning at once pushes a lot of eggs into a system experiencing a downturn in bug numbers, which means increasing food scarcity. Eggs are easy to eat with no form of locomotion other than current and offer more sustenance in each bite than a minuscule midge. The ultimate egg fly is the Otter’s egg. The soft, milky egg imitation in tangerine color is about all that is needed. They feel real and look edible. These eggs float in the water like true spawning flesh.
River flows have diminished. The amount of weight needed to attain workable water is less than at other times of the year. A small split shot dials in specific depths and can be removed easily. In an ideal world, you could pinch on a BB and call it good. But the fly fisher who is keyed into presenting their flies perfectly will want to give their rig more attention.
Strike indicators are a matter of preference. Airlocks are the tools of choice for me. A huge variety of indicators work. However, fish have seen them for months and a good recommendation in low, clear water is to go with something less obtrusive like white.
Warmth triggers bug activity. Afternoons are midge heavy. Overcast days brings out the Blue Wing Olives. And the fruits of spawning tumbling down the river provide a substantial bite. Zebra midge, RS-2, Copper John and Otter’s eggs — four flies for right now.
Michael Salomone moved to the Eagle River valley in 1992. He began guiding fly-fishing professionally in 2002. His freelance writing has been published in magazines and websites including, Southwest Fly Fishing, Fly Rod & Reel, Eastern Fly Fishing, On the Fly, FlyLords, the Pointing Dog Journal, Upland Almanac, the Echo website, Vail Valley Anglers and more. He lives on the bank of the Eagle River with his wife, Lori; two daughters, Emily and Ella; and a brace of yellow Labrador retrievers.
