AVON — Don’t let the calendar fool you. Spring has sprung in Colorado’s trout country, and the fishing couldn’t be any finer.
“It’s crazy around here,” said John Packer, owner of the (970-845-8090) shop at the base of Beaver Creek Resort in Avon. “The fishing is better than the skiing these days. It’s been really good.”
In a typical winter, the traditional go-to fishing spots for Colorado’s die-hard, open-water anglers consist of technical tailwaters such as the Blue River, Fryingpan, San Juan and Arkansas below Lake Pueblo, where reliable dam releases create fish-friendly feeding pools. But in the waning week of this anything-but-typical season, fishing guides in the mountains have been blessed with quality catches and open-water angling opportunities on freestone streams including the Eagle, Roaring Fork, upper Arkansas and Colorado for weeks prior to Friday’s first official day of spring.
You can debate the reasoning behind the early ice-out all you like. For local fishermen, the answer is simple.
“The river has been on fire,” surmised FFO guide Kip Wolcott of Edwards.
With annual fishing licenses only recently for Colorado’s 2015 season, Wolcott is approaching double digits for guided trips since February as savvy anglers seek a jump on spring trout fishing.
Flowing at just about 600 cubic feet per second last week, there’s even enough water for float fishing opportunities on the upper Colorado River, although the hull of a fiberglass drift boat is occasionally tested where the river braids and flows are spread thin through multiple channels. Pockets of snow remain on the south shore, sage to the north where the bank slopes toward the sun-splashed river.
Between the banks, rainbow and brown trout lurk in the deep-water seams and shelves below river riffles.
“It changes every day,” Wolcott said shortly after launching last Thursday from the State Bridge Landing boat ramp for a 4-mile reconnaissance mission of the Colorado. “(Wednesday) it was all midges and small flies and we were catching rainbows. (Thursday) it’s been big stonefly patterns and almost all browns.”
If there has been a constant in this early fishing window, it’s been the size of the trout Wolcott and his clients have been catching. The bigger bruisers appear most eager to replenish any calories they may have lost to the lean winter months. Considering the mild winter, though, they may not have much to make up.
“My first float of the Colorado in February, we put three fish in the boat over 20 inches,” Wolcott said.
Fly-fishermen, of course, ultimately depend upon insects for successful fishing. If there are no flies to imitate, the fish aren’t likely to eat.
For that reason, fly-fishermen will often wait until the warmer months of summer and the prolific insect hatches that coincide. But given the prevailing warm-up of winter, guides suggest there’s little reason for cold feet. Bugs are already hatching, and trout are rising to sip flies from the river surface on sunny days.
“I’ve seen some blue wings (mayflies) coming off already on the Eagle this year. And a lot of midges. The Roaring Fork was thick with midges on Monday,” Wolcott said. “When you have a week of 50-degree weather like we did a few times this winter, that really warms up the water. If you get into those runs that are in the sun, you’re going to get some fish. The river warms up pretty good.”
As usual, the fish aren’t making any promises, especially considering the volatile weather of spring. Riding the warm winter tide, however, even a marginal weather window for fishing reconnaissance yielded a double-digit haul of brown and rainbow trout on the Colorado, along with a single spirited whitefish, all of substantial size.
“(Thursday) was probably the slowest day I’ve had all winter, and we still did good. The size of the fish we caught was definitely up there,” Wolcott said. “I haven’t had a bad day yet.”
Scott Willoughby: swilloughby@denverpost.com or twitter.com/swilloughby
